“Secrets and Ties”

 The Human Stain
directed by Robert Benton
screenplay by Nicholas Meyer
based on the novel by Philip Roth

Mystic River
directed by Clint Eastwood
screenplay by Brian Helgeland
based on the novel by Dennis Lehane

            Some people believe that what someone doesn’t know won’t hurt them.  Secrets are not lies and withholding information is even less guilty than either.  During a period of the nineties, “between the fall of communism and the rise of terrorism,” the public obsessions with political correctness and voyeurism reached a casual acceptance which is today only growing worse with a national expulsion of privacy approaching.  The Human Stain takes place in that tabloid era of embarrassment and circumspection contradictorily existing conjointly, telling of a man who effectively represents debatable issues of the time. 
            To put it simply, Anthony Hopkins plays Coleman Silk, an esteemed professor at an Irving-esque college town, who resigns following charges of racism.  His wife dies and he forms a friendship with local secluded writer Nathan (Gary Sinise) in order to get help with a book of his own.  He also, scandalously, becomes involved with an emotionally detached cleaning woman named Faunia (Nicole Kidman) whose baggage includes insane ex-husband Lester (Ed Harris). 
            Silk has a big secret which he hid back when people liked to dig up glass in order to break it.  He doesn’t really see it as important, even enough to tell his wife, as it doesn’t affect his life so long as it isn’t exposed to a society which shouldn’t be concerned anyhow.  The society is concerned, however, because people now dig up broken glass in order to then carefully walk upon it.
            Faunia is also a secretive person, wanting to have the affair without it getting too personal.  When Silk takes her to a meet Zuckerman, she flees in protest of his divulgence.  She tells Silk that they are just two people in the here and now.  Eventually Lester shows up and she’s forced to admit certain details.  When all the skeletons come out, the characters become more emotional, quarrelling about the perspective their lives have to things outside of themselves, particularly the Clinton-Lewinski headlines which provide a backdrop for the film. 
            Nicholas Meyer’s adaptation is laid out a bit too literarily.  The structure of Philip Roth’s novel is obvious and the script could have been more like its characters, restrictively.  There is a completely unnecessary voice-over by Sinise and it is debatable whether or not, cinematically, his character has any purpose at all.  In an otherwise beautifully and passively voiced film, the bookend narrative is a dispensable flaw.  Robert Benton continues to extract memorable performances from his actors.  Lester Farely may be Harris’ greatest supporting role yet, considerable for how little he’s actually on screen.  Wentworth Miller, as the young Silk, is also notable for supplying flashbacks as enjoyable to witness as any of the scenes involving Hopkins and Kidman. 
           The Human Stain is quite good, though imperfect like the people it puts on display.  It exposes us as a society and as individuals, depicting an oxy-moronic state into which we’ve fallen, hopefully making us think more about our own secrets and lies and our personals and privacies in a relative manner.
 

            In Clint Eastwood’s new film secrets aren’t so much hidden as ignored.  Strong bonds allow for forgiveness except in dire circumstances where vengeance becomes necessary.  In a small community outside Boston where brotherhood unites both sides of the law, becoming an enemy is only easy with an uttermost disrespect.  Mystic River is undoubtedly the most powerful film about fraternal loyalty since The Godfather Part II. 
           Beginning with a prologue fit for a Stephen King adaptation, three young boys are playing street hockey when one of them is kidnapped in broad daylight.  Roughly twenty-five years later, the three, no longer such good friends, are united through a tragedy.  Jimmy (Sean Penn) owns a neighborhood market and heads a happy family, until his daughter is murdered.  Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a homicide detective who finds the body.  Dave (Tim Robbins), the kidnap victim, ends up the prime suspect.  In addition to the connections these three have, the story connects a great deal of characters including Jimmy’s wife Annabeth (Laura Linney), her cousin, and wife to Dave, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), Sean’s partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne), the thuggish Savage Brothers (Kevin Chapman and Adam Nelson), Brendan Harris (Tom Guiry) and his mute brother Ray. 
           Relationships are key and as the film goes along, more and more are discovered and developed, many with characters who are never shown or held back until the end.  The tightness of a community is laid bare and the emotions felt from losing a part of it are explored with tremendous energy.  When Jimmy breaks through to the crime scene where his daughter has been found, it takes what looks like, in an overhead shot, a whole precinct of cops to hold him back, portraying the intensity of a man in such a moment with the equivalent strength of The Hulk.  It is an unforgettable shot, destined to be a part of film history. 
           Shadows and sunglasses play a supporting role in a film where inanimate objects are hard to notice along side the lot of terrific actors, some, like Robbins and Harden, at their best yet.    Eastwood blocks his characters and props with fine precision, the lit and unlit parts of the screen always of sharp significance.  Both detectives wear their shades as if separating themselves from the darkness found around them.  It is interesting to see one of the last shots when another character, conclusively free from conviction, puts on his own sunglasses to join the police in their cynicism and futile acceptance of things irreparable.
         There are a few too many coincidences involved which in any other film would be cause for more vituperation.  Plausibility is a minor concern with such an overwhelming picture that, if not causing tears, continually excites the lacrimal system in preparation.  Not to say that this is mushy fare.  Mystic River hits you hard, emotionally, mentally and psychologically. 

"I see an Oscar there in the distance.  And it sure as hell don't say 'Kevin Bacon' on it."