16: Cinematic Violence
Kathleen Norris on CINEMATIC VIOLENCE
I saw Fargo (above, 1996; Joel and Ethan Coen) with a Benedictine whose monastery is in western North Dakota. He’s from Montana, so naturally he enjoyed the film for the opportunity to laugh at North Dakotans and Minnesotans. (He once commented that he never had to worry about staying humble, because he exercised his humility every time he had to show his North Dakota drivers license). We both liked the film, but felt a little guilty about it because of all the violence in the film. While the camera doesn’t linger on the details, the film contains seven murders. The aftermath of one is remarkably gruesome. But, again, we don’t see the details, just an image that is so absurdly gruesome that somehow it’s also laughable. A typical Coen brothers trick. (And to my mind the pregnant police officer Marge, so splendidly rendered by Frances McDormand, is one of the greatest characters ever invented for film).
One thing that sets this film apart from from other violent movies, is that the monster isn’t killed at the end, providing the audience with a catharsis of “gotcha,” the satisfaction of revenge. The character played by Peter Stormare is clearly a psychopath; killed five people for profit or convenience. In the film’s most powerful and affecting scene, he’s under arrest, handcuffed and seated in the back of Marge’s police car. She knows he’s a murderer. She says: “And for what? A little bit of money. There’s more to life than a little bit of money— don’t you know that?” And as we see a snowy, desolate North Dakota highway, she adds, “And here y’are - and it’s a beautiful day. Well, I just don’t understand it.”
He’s incapable of understanding; he glances at Marge slyly, probably trying to figure out a way to kill her too. But he’s rendered helpless. We take some hope that Marge, even though she’s an experienced police officer, will keep on being too good, and too humane, to ever comprehend what drives a man like him to commit murder.
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