Feature Post 3
After I had finished watching the film Affliction, I saw that this movie held comparisons to
two other films that we have watched in the past: The Pledge and Hardcore. While the director for
The Pledge is Sean Penn, director Paul Schrader created the other two.
two other films that we have watched in the past: The Pledge and Hardcore. While the director for
The Pledge is Sean Penn, director Paul Schrader created the other two.
To start off with the comparisons, I'll start off with the films Affliction and The Pledge. One of the major similarities I saw between the these two films was that by the end of the film, in a way both of the main characters have reached their own demise.
When it comes to the main character, Jerry Black from The Pledge, and the true nature of the movie's plot, Roger Elbert states that "The film hasn't been about murder but about need. Everything he has seen and everything he has done has been driven by his need, to prove himself still a good detective. Still a man." Even though he is aware that everybody at the police station cares and respects him by genuinely being happy to throw him his retirement party, he jumps at the chance to take on one more case, as if he does not really want to retire at all, and still prove he is a man and a reliable, smart detective. As the movie progresses, he has wrapped up an innocent mom and her daughter into his plan to catch the killer of the little girl from the case he pledges to the deceased parents that he'll find and identify the killer. When the woman, Lori, figures out what Jerry's true plans were with her, or especially her daughter, she confronts him in disbelief and anger telling him that he is "fucking crazy". By the end of the film, he is deemed a crazy man by his old co-workers, he loses his relationship with Lori and her daughter, and he never gets to catch the killer.
When it comes to the main character, Jerry Black from The Pledge, and the true nature of the movie's plot, Roger Elbert states that "The film hasn't been about murder but about need. Everything he has seen and everything he has done has been driven by his need, to prove himself still a good detective. Still a man." Even though he is aware that everybody at the police station cares and respects him by genuinely being happy to throw him his retirement party, he jumps at the chance to take on one more case, as if he does not really want to retire at all, and still prove he is a man and a reliable, smart detective. As the movie progresses, he has wrapped up an innocent mom and her daughter into his plan to catch the killer of the little girl from the case he pledges to the deceased parents that he'll find and identify the killer. When the woman, Lori, figures out what Jerry's true plans were with her, or especially her daughter, she confronts him in disbelief and anger telling him that he is "fucking crazy". By the end of the film, he is deemed a crazy man by his old co-workers, he loses his relationship with Lori and her daughter, and he never gets to catch the killer.
Jerry at the end of the film, drunk and all alone
Now when it comes to Affliction, the main character, Wayne Whitehouse, is right away shown by the audience as an irresponsible father an a man who has an unfortunate temper. He gets in a fight with his daughter, and when he ex-wife and her boyfriend/partner comes to pick her up, he makes a scene. Before his ex-wife even arrives, he leaves his daughter at the Halloween event to get high, which is definitely not what a responsible father/being would do. As the movie progresses, Wade gets wrapped up in believing that a deer hunting accident, is no accident at all, and is thus determined to prove that Jack is the killer, even it means deteriorating his relationships.
While this movie might come off initially as a murder mystery, the true intention of the movie/ genre is revealed. The real issue that Wade has troubles coping with is not being able to properly deal with the emotional and physical abuse he had endured as a child by his father, who still belittles him as a grown up. Within an interview done with Josh Zeman, Paul Schrader is able to say this as well when he states that "You (audience) realize that this small-time cop who thinks he is going to redeem himself by solving a murder is really going crazy, because there is no murder. The real drama is about his father, not about this 'hunting accident.'" As much as he despises his father and wants to be nothing like him, at the end of the film, Wade horrifically learns he has been like the being he hates so much. The unfortunate part is that he comes to realization that he can't fix what has been done. He scares and hurts his daughter, he shocks and disappoints his girlfriend (now ex), he loses respect from the town, he gets fired from both of his jobs, and his ex-wife has found another reason to hate him more (from him talking to a lawyer about custody of their daughter).
While this movie might come off initially as a murder mystery, the true intention of the movie/ genre is revealed. The real issue that Wade has troubles coping with is not being able to properly deal with the emotional and physical abuse he had endured as a child by his father, who still belittles him as a grown up. Within an interview done with Josh Zeman, Paul Schrader is able to say this as well when he states that "You (audience) realize that this small-time cop who thinks he is going to redeem himself by solving a murder is really going crazy, because there is no murder. The real drama is about his father, not about this 'hunting accident.'" As much as he despises his father and wants to be nothing like him, at the end of the film, Wade horrifically learns he has been like the being he hates so much. The unfortunate part is that he comes to realization that he can't fix what has been done. He scares and hurts his daughter, he shocks and disappoints his girlfriend (now ex), he loses respect from the town, he gets fired from both of his jobs, and his ex-wife has found another reason to hate him more (from him talking to a lawyer about custody of their daughter).
When it comes to the similarities that Hardcore and Affliction share, it is also a reminder that both of these films are made by the same director. If one takes a look at the beginnings of both films, Schrader uses an establishing shot in order for the audience to comprehend where the movie is going to take place in (setting) whether it is in Grand Rapids, Michigan (Hardcore)/ California- later in the film- or a small town in New Hampshire (Affliction).
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Another similarity that the two share is the emotional or verbal abuse that both the males, Jake and Wade, put upon their daughters. For Jake, his obsession with religion effects the relationship he has with his daughter, as the audience learns by the end of the film that she ran away and voluntarily joined the porno world because she wanted to rebel against her conservative childhood and finally feel loved (emotionally) that her father lacked to give. Because he was so controlling of her, like Jim Hemphill states, he failed to treat her as daughter with child/teen freedoms. As for Wade, he is so fixated on himself and his problems that he puts it out on his relationship with his daughter. Viewers clearly sees that the daughter does not feel comfortable around his father and prefers her mother over him. He is aware of that and bickers about that to her, which does not help with becoming close to her. At the end of the film, he does not realize that his begging for wanting his girlfriend to stay gives his daughter the impression that her father does not know how to treat a women respectively, and knowing how erratic behavior, becomes scared for the girlfriend's well-being.
and this concludes my third Feature Post!
Citations:
Roger Elbert's Review of The Pledge
Josh Zeman talks to Paul Schrader about his new film Affliction
Paul Schrader is Wrong
Roger Elbert's Review of The Pledge
Josh Zeman talks to Paul Schrader about his new film Affliction
Paul Schrader is Wrong