Thursday, March 6, 2014

Profile: Gavin Hood

HEAT OF THE MOMENT: THE FILMS OF GAVIN HOOD
by Bennett Campbell Ferguson 
In 2006, director Gavin Hood took to the Kodak stage and accepted an Oscar for third feature film, the crime drama “Tsotsi.”  But though that moment gave him the clout to join the Hollywood elite, it was also the start of a downfall that has seen his movies inundated with dispiriting receipts and dismissive reviews.  So yes, that gold statuette is still his to keep, but over time it’s been clouded by the indifference of audiences who neither understand nor care about his work.     

            But that doesn’t matter.  Why?  Simply put, because I believe that Mr. Hood is one of the most intelligent and passionate filmmakers of our time.  And while his work may not be perfect, I think he offers something better than perfection—a raw, fearlessly emotional style that leaves you at once bruised and exhilarated.  Just watch the opening scene of his 2009 film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which an enraged boy stabs his father’s killer and then charges into a forest, while Harry Gregson-Williams’ score stocks the scene with tragic momentum.    

            That, in my view, is a perfectly directed moment, though Mr. Hood had to hone his craft on smaller films before he was ready to execute it.  And just as importantly, he needed to develop his core theme—the ways in which people become torn between compassion and violence.   It’s an idea present in “Tsotsi,” in which the title character (a young thug played by Presley Chweneyagae) shoots a woman, steals her car…and finds a baby in the backseat. 

Not an ideal situation, to be sure, for Tsotsi or the baby.  Yet because Tsotsi has become sickeningly corrupt (bullying and humiliation are the least of his crimes; torture and murder are the worst), his new companion presents a unique challenge—a call for him to find some fatherly compassion within himself.  And thus, we’re left wondering: will Tsotsi devote his existence to his newfound responsibility?  Or return his life of killing for profit?    

            You might think this choice between selfless love and vicious violence would be easy to make.  But is it?  I’m not so sure.  After all, Mr. Hood (who was drafted into the South African military when he was a teenager) seems to understand the temptation of brutality better than any other director, as his two science fiction films, “Wolverine” and the recent “Ender’s Game” (an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel) suggest.  The titular boy soldier of “Ender,” for instance, hates inflicting pain on others, yet relishes the surge of strategizing, both on the battlefield and amongst his troops.  In fact, you find yourself getting caught up in the dark thrill of wartime leadership with him…until Mr. Hood drops the bomb and reveals the true cost of such intoxication.  And suddenly, you’re not immersed in escapism anymore—you’re caught in a nightmare.

            But why, you may ask, should you endure such horror?  It’s a fair question, though I think it’s somewhat irrelevant since Mr. Hood clearly understands that sober meaning is just a pain without some grandly romantic entertainment to wash it down.  And in accordance, he’s allowed his films to become awash with magnificent images—Wolverine standing atop a nuclear reactor as the Sun rises; Ender drifting through zero gravity; and Tsotsi raising his hands to surrender, looking almost like Jesus.  Because like all of Mr. Hood’s heroes, he chooses redemption, even if it means bearing the shame of his crimes.

I have to wonder if such redemption is in store for Mr. Hood.  In a perfect world, he would be allowed to direct whatever he wanted, but I’m worried that his increasingly mushy reputation will hamper his career prospects.  Yes, his powerfully shadowy compositions and impassioned anger at corruption and cruelty have made him a worthy blockbuster auteur (in the vein of Christopher Nolan or Bryan Singer).  But the fact remains that he will need the support of attentive and thoughtful moviegoers if he’s to continue directing thematically ambitious and emotionally shattering films like “Ender.”

And that, above all, is why I ask you to watch one of Gavin Hood’s films and really look at its images and listen to its ideas.  Because I believe that while you may not come to love “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Ender’s Game” (by far his best works) as I do, you will likely find yourself drawn in, overwhelmed but unable to look away until the final scene.  “I’ll find my own way,” Hugh Jackman says as “Wolverine” concludes.  If you make it that far, you may just realize that Mr. Hood deserves a chance to find his own way too. 

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