Lawless (2012)

The prohibition era was probably one of the most violent times in American history, also taking place during what is usually recalled as an innocent time. Since alcohol was illegal, moonshiners existed in gangs all over the country. Matt Bondurant's novel The Wettest County in the World, upon which John Hillcoat's movie Lawless was based, tells the true story of his ancestors' career as bootleggers. All of the ups and downs are documented thoroughly, with the legend that the Bondurants are immortal being put to the test in an occasionally graphic manner. Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke star as the brothers whose product has earned the respect of everyone in their small Virginia town, including the law. It is most unfortunate then that a special agent has been called in from Chicago, a flamboyant and gleefully despicable villain as played by Guy Pearce. Jessica Chastain co-stars as the lady just trying to escape her grimy past, and Mia Wasikowska also appears as a sweet preacher's daughter who manages to get mixed up in all the town violence.

While watching Lawless, I was reminded of the classic Warner Brothers gangster movies, particularly those starring James Cagney. They were made during and just after America's prohibition period, yet they plainly romanticized the lives of gangsters and their violent acts. In Hollywood at least, gangsters were often presented as figures to be respected. They may do terrible things, sure, but they operate by their own moral law, and acted with more conviction of character than the cops did. Again, it may have been ugly character, but it was something. There is such a gangster in this new movie, played by Gary Oldman. He makes only a brief appearance, but he has a powerful effect on the main characters, and his shadow seems to cover the whole world of the picture. He does some things that will cause you to cheer. The depraved policeman does things that will make you cringe. The movie is miraculously compelling when it should be horrifying. It earns our respect in the same way the story's criminals do: by acting with conviction. There have been cases where making a bad person the protagonist of a movie has made it impossible to enjoy. The way to avoid that is by focusing on the people themselves, as this film does, rather than on their actions.

Lawless is one of the best movies I've seen this year because it follows the same strange logic that allows corrupt movie characters like Alex DeLarge and Hannibal Lector to continue to be endearing. This is not accomplished by celebrating violence. In fact, in all of these movies, the violence is very plainly abhorred. The characters of this movie are set apart from the paper cut-outs of other movies in theaters because they are so very real. Most of this success is in the expert portrayals by LaBeouf, Hardy (who has a visibile face throughout), Chastain, and Pierce, and the crafty direction from Hillcoat. The movie flows so beautifully between two extremes, drawing us into its antique world and then spraying blood all over it without warning. The balancing of the material works so well that I can't imagine what would have happened to it in different hands. As it is, it is a captivating achievement.

9/10