by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
A- Rated R 122 min
In the spirit of vigilante justice, as portrayed by Charles Bronson in the 1974 film Death Wish, filmmaker Neil Jordan went beyond an eye-for-an-eye sensibility, into the dark, paranoid, post-9/11 consciousness. He framed his mosaic in dark tones as his protagonist was forever changed by senseless violence.
In Death Wish, Bronson played architect Paul Kersey, who lost his wife when thugs murdered her. In The Brave One, Jodie Foster plays Erica, a talk show host who is similarly traumatized when she and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are attacked in Central Park by a trio of punks. They are viciously beaten and terrorized, leaving David dead and Erica seriously injured, physically and mentally.
Jodie Foster characterizes Erica with a combination of her trademark post-traumatic stress rigidity, similar to the rape victim she portrayed in The Accused, and a vigilante justice-turned-to-bloodlust that is unique to Erica. Once she kills, she can never go back to the person she was before the incident. Something inside her snapped and now she is a dangerous loose cannon.
Erica continues her talk show, keeping her vigilante acts secret, and callers pose the question: Is the killer a vigilante, a hero, or a villain? Is it justice or revenge? She forms a shaky relationship with the cynical detective, Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard), over David’s murder. Mercer also happens to be investigating Erica’s vigilante episode. This odd relationship is brilliantly acted by Foster and Howard. On one hand, they’re kindred spirits, but in the harsh reality of Mercer’s world, they are on opposite sides of the law. Ultimately, Mercer must make a fateful decision.
Like Bronson’s Paul Kersey, Erica goes looking for trouble. Foster portrays Erica’s bloodlust like a twisted sexual libido. Her low raspy on-air voice sends shivers down viewers’ spines as she revels in her new power. She would never again be a victim. She would go on a preemptive strike against the punks with black hearts. But where would it end? She couldn’t possibly kill all the lowlifes who needed killing. She was on a one-way mission to hell’s battlefield.
Despite Erica’s trip into insanity, Foster’s subtle acting doesn’t alienate the viewers who still identify with her rage and need for vigilante justice. As the subway vigilante Bernard Getz found out, there is a price to pay for placing yourself in a vulnerable position and luring the bad guys to your violent form of justice. Once the vigilante starts shooting, bullets find the innocent as well as the guilty. In this instant, mistakes are made and the vigilante is no different than any other murderer.
Neil Jordan’s direction and Roderick Taylor’s script ask what you would do? Is vigilante justice ever justified? Foster never loses the viewer’s vicarious identification. You will sympathize with her throughout the movie and feel her new power. Foster shows us how extreme trauma can cause a person to take the law into their own hands, but she also shows us the cost to her mental well-being. There is a fine line between justice and revenge, and this film leaves Erica’s judgment to you.
Although this vigilante genre has all but exhausted its ability to surprise us, it’s still a potent dramatic platform to display a range of human emotions. The horror of what Erica went through could never be erased by her vigilante campaign. In fact, she was becoming more like the thugs who beat her. Her rage was tuning into evil. Yet, Foster made Erica a hero to the frustrated victims of crime who couldn’t strike back. It’s better to let Jodie Foster take us on that vengeful trip than to attempt it in the real world.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
