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The Pledge
***1/2
Cinema Releases - October 19, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 124
minutes. Directed by Sean Penn. Written by Jerry Kromolowski, Mary
Olson-Kromolowski; from the novel by Friedrich Durrenmatt. Starring Jack
Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Pauline Roberts, Sam Shepard, Aaron Eckhart,
Tom Noonan, Harry Dean Stanton.
The cops find a girl in the snow, molested and
ripped to shreds. They pick up a mentally unbalanced Indian hobo and decipher
his ramblings as a confession. They are unable to do anything when he grabs
an officer's gun and kills himself, but hey, they think, case
closed.
Jerry Black is not convinced. Played by Jack
Nicholson, he is the main character of "The Pledge", and was
all set to retire on the day of this crime, but found himself in the parents'
house assuring them he'd find the killer. "Promise," says the mother, "Promise
on your immortal soul." Jerry is holding a crucifix that was crafted by the
dead girl when he is given this order; when he does indeed promise, we can
tell he's taking it seriously.
And so "The Pledge" begins, first as drama, then
as thriller, and eventually developing into character study and tragedy.
Jerry's colleagues are uninterested in pursuing the case, because they think
they've already seen the culprit come and go, but Jerry knows that he must
follow his instincts, and keeps turning up evidence that shows the killer
is still out there. He must prevent more children being killed to save himself
on judgement day, and cannot shake his duty. He does eventually retire --
moves out of town, spends his time fishing and running a convenience store
-- but even in a new area, with a new life, with a new girlfriend and
stepdaughter, he keeps looking for clues, hearing nagging voices, knowing
he must crack the case.
There are moments in "The Pledge" when we think
we can feel the ring of cliché and see how the plot wheels are turning.
I won't reveal the movie's specifics, but I will say that while some developments
are generally predictable, the movie ends up taking us on a thematic journey
that is unexpected and shattering. The heart of the film lies not in the
twists of the plot, but the way the story reveals its characters and muses
on the sometimes curious, sometimes damned cruel twists made by the hand
of fate.
Nicholson is amazing in the lead role, playing
a man spurred by integrity and following good instincts, who nonetheless
ends up driving himself to madness. And the directorial style of Sean Penn
is of course absorbing -- he has a way of meditating on things that never
gets boring and depicting action with a curiosity that makes every move
fascinating. Penn fills his movie with terrific actors -- among them Helen
Mirren, Benicio Del Toro, Sam Shepard, and his wife, Robin Wright; and yes,
things are put things together with well-chosen music cues, perfectly composed
shots and artful editing. But there's something else here. A certain presence.
A soul.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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