| This film is difficult to explain to anyone who hasn’t seen it because it’s quite a unique beast of its own. For sure it’s a gangster film, but along with the obligatory graphic violence and language there’s humor and even bits of fantasy. |
The film is about Gal, an ex-safecracker who has retired to Spain with his ex porn star wife and their two friends. We get a glimpse of their retirement and it looks idyllic. At the beginning, a large tumbling boulder plummets down almost killing Gal. It cracks the tiles in his pool. This is a not so subtle symbol of the man about to enter his life causing an equal amount of damage: Don Logan, played in an Academy Award nominated performance for Best Supporting Actor by Ben Kingsley.
Don Logan's reply when Ga; says, "I'm gonna have to turn this opportunity down." Logan is menacing on a whole other level in this film, and is completely vile and psychotic. He’s given all the codes for us to read him as complex BAD GUY. Our first view of him he’s wearing a white shirt and dark pants. He smokes; he uses extremely foul language (the word fuck is in this move 115 times, cunt 21), yet objects when others cuss around him. He literally scent marks his territory while peeing in Gal’s bathroom; he shaves against the grain; he talks to himself; he manipulates others; he barks at people like a dog; he hits a kid with the butt of a gun (fair enough the kid was pointing it at him). Just his name brings up fear in the people talking.
But we’re not here to talk about Don Logan. I’d like to look at how Gal fit the Unwilling or Reluctant Hero archetype. Jessica Morrell writes:
A reluctant hero is a tarnished or ordinary man with several faults or a troubled past, and he is pulled reluctantly into the story, or into heroic acts. During the story he rises to the occasion sometimes even vanquishing a mighty foe, sometimes avenging a wrong. But he questions whether he’s cut out fro the hero business. His doubts, misgivings, and mistakes add a satisfying layer of tension to the story. (Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction 2008, p.620)
A reluctant hero is a tarnished or ordinary man with several faults or a troubled past, and he is pulled reluctantly into the story, or into heroic acts. During the story he rises to the occasion sometimes even vanquishing a mighty foe, sometimes avenging a wrong. But he questions whether he’s cut out fro the hero business. His doubts, misgivings, and mistakes add a satisfying layer of tension to the story. (Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction 2008, p.620)
Gal's initial state as shown in the opening shot of the film. Peaceful, easy, relaxing...all that is about to change.
Gal certainly meets this criteria. He’s different from an anti-hero in that he has a chance to become the hero to his wife and friends by his actions. The things he does are not heroic, but necessary for their survival. It’s a simple plot with complex characterizations and subtleties one might miss upon a single viewing. Even the humor is complex. That’s what has landed this film on the British magazine Total Film’s list of Greatest British movies of all time at number 15!
The only person scarier than Don Logan is Teddy...which goes to prove no matter how bad ass you think your are...there's always someone Bad Asser than you! hehehe
RSS Feed
