3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for violence and drug content
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 2.22.13
Despite what’s suggested by the publicity art, Snitch is not another shallow action flick, but instead a grim, thoughtful and quite tense drama about an honest man’s foolish and extremely dangerous descent into the forbidding world of narco-trafficking.
It's also an impressive step forward for star Dwayne Johnson, mostly
known until now for, well, shallow action flicks. Until this moment, his notion
of “playing against type” meant silly comedies and family-friendly adventures
along the lines of Tooth Fairy and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. His
work here is in another league entirely, demonstrating acting chops that few
would have expected.
Don’t expect Johnson to bust heads and wreak havoc, the way he has done
since TV wrestling shows granted access to the likes of The Scorpion King and
the remake of Walking Tall. Writers Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh go for
credible drama here, and while the results certainly fall short of, say, Traffic, Waugh — also serving as director — ably delivers a believable
cautionary tale along the lines of Midnight Express.
I’d like to believe that at least a few naïve and stupid teenagers might
think twice about their own ill-advised activities, after watching this
consequence-laden saga.
Life-changing disaster arrives in the blink of an eye, as this film
begins, when 18-year-old Jason (Rafi Gavron) foolishly accepts delivery of a
package, as a “favor” to a friend, knowing full well that the box is filled
with illicit drugs. The thing is, Jason never quite agrees to this scheme, but
he does sign for the package. And then he opens it, at which point he’s busted
in a police sting.
The “friend” rolls over on him immediately, and suddenly Jason faces a
mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in a federal prison. His only avenue toward
earlier release would involve deliberately setting up other friends and
classmates, perhaps even fabricating evidence — against people he’s not even
sure do drugs — and that’s an act of betrayal he’s not willing to commit.
(One cannot help hearing echoes of the post-WWII House Un-American
Activities Committee trials, with their — often successful — attempts to
persuade Hollywood directors, producers and writers to “rat out” fellow Communists,
lest their own careers be destroyed. Breeding a culture of state-enforced
snitches never produces a healthy social dynamic.)
Jason’s estranged father, John (Johnson), is beside himself. Although
long divorced from Jason’s mother, Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes), John still
cares deeply for his son. He’s also a respected and well-connected businessman
in his American heartland community — with Shreveport, La., standing in for an
unspecified Missouri city — and thus secures a meeting with U.S. Attorney
Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon, sublime as always), an ambitious political
animal known as the “dragon lady” by cops who work with her.
Initially viewing John as little more than a nuisance, Keeghan
reflexively points to the quid-pro-quo nature of the mandatory-minimum
sentencing laws. (Sarandon delivers this somewhat condescending lecture with
just enough smarm to make it sound like a campaign speech ... clearly some
intentional shading on her part, and on the director’s.) With Jason unwilling
to “play ball,” she insists, her hands are tied.
Desperate for alternatives, John rashly offers to ferret out some drug
dealers himself, a gesture immediately viewed with considerable concern by veteran
DEA agent Billy Cooper (Barry Pepper, excellent in this strong supporting
role). Smelling possible, publicity-laden opportunity — with no risk to her own
career — Keeghan accepts this proposal.
After all, John is the perfect plant: He’s an established entrepreneur
who runs a trucking firm, a business model known to be threatened in this
uncertain economy. Long-haul semis are an ideal cover for drug smuggling, which
would make John attractive to ... whomever he’s able to find and persuade.
Thing is, though, John isn’t merely a divorced father trying to repair a
too-long-dormant relationship with his near-adult son. He’s also second-time
married, with a devoted wife (Nadine Velazquez, as Annalisa) and young
daughter: a guy with far too much to lose. And that’s the rub: Given this
film’s ominous, gritty atmosphere, we know full well that once John embarks on
this path, there’s no going back.
And, quite likely, no fairy-tale outcome.
Worse yet, John doesn’t merely endanger himself and his own two families.
Wanting access to the criminal underworld, he also involves one of his
employees: Daniel (Jon Bernthal), an ex-con and two-time loser who is genuinely
trying to put his life back on track, at least long enough to get his own
family out of a gang-infested neighborhood before his young son is seduced into
joining it.
Watching poor Daniel agonize over his options, I heard Al Pacino’s
Michael Corleone in my head, with his memorable line from The Godfather: Part
III: “Just when I thought I was out ... they pull me back in.”
But the similarity didn’t prompt a grin, because of the fascinating
duality Bernthal brings to his character. We feel for him even more than John,
in part because Daniel genuinely understands the stakes, having escaped “the
life” with the best of intentions. John buys Daniel’s participation with a fat
wad of cash, of course failing to mention the actual circumstances of this
scheme.
And Daniel can’t help himself. Although trying to better himself, he’s
still a hard, dangerous man in his own right ... and that much money is
irresistible to somebody trying to transcend his circumstances. His eventual
surrender — his reluctant willingness to help John — is a genuinely
heartbreaking moment.
Nor will it be the last.
Waugh and Haythe’s script is taut, tense and rigorously real-world. This
isn’t a cartoon, where heroes dodge hails of gunfire. People who get shot, die;
beatings result in hospitalization. John very nearly gets killed during his
initial, half-assed attempt to infiltrate the bad part of town.
I’m also fascinated by the parallel structure that Waugh and Haythe work
into their story, notably with respect to the children various men struggle to
protect. John wants to free his son from prison, while also being mindful of
the fresh danger being introduced to his second family. Daniel prays for the
means to keep his son, more or less the same age as John’s daughter, from the
influence of gangbangers.
And, on the other end of the spectrum, we note that drug cartel oligarch
Juan Carlos “El Tope” Pintera (Benjamin Bratt, quietly lethal), enjoying an
aristocratic life in the best part of town, dotes on his own, similarly little
boy.
Michael K. Williams is appropriately chilling as Malik, a “middle
management” player in the local drug trade, and John’s entry into this ruthless
world. The hulking Darnell Trotter doesn’t say much, but is similarly intimidating
as Malik’s bodyguard.
Waugh never strays from this story’s coldly authentic atmosphere, even
during a climactic confrontation that exposes the full extent of his hero’s
vulnerability. Johnson, in turn, brings considerable heft to his ordinary-guy
character; his stand-out scene comes during a visiting-hours session with his
son, when John realizes that Jason has been assaulted ... and we see, in
Johnson’s eyes, the horrible implications that could be concealed within that
word.
Gavron is just as good here: Jason’s terrified, shamed expression, in
turn, offers proof of John’s worst fears.
This film claims, as it opens, to be “inspired by true events,” in this
case a January 1999 PBS Frontline piece — also titled “Snitch” — that
profiled people given the Hobson’s choice of becoming informants or going to
jail. The news story, no surprise, focused on how mandatory minimum sentencing
and conspiracy provisions have, in many cases, rewarded the guiltiest and punished
the less guilty (or more naïve).
Pretentions toward real-world authenticity often are greeted by skeptical
smirks these days, but Waugh and Haythe deserve considerable credit for
effectively straddling the line. Clearly, these are fictitious characters
navigating a writer’s concept of actual fact, but at the same time we recognize
the genuine stakes involved, and understand the object lessons at play.
Bottom line: We are well advised to avoid getting caught in this
particular set of circumstances.
Not a bad take-home, for a modest little B-drama.
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