Apparently, the film’s based on a true story, and revolves around the defeats of a Jewish American named Samuel Bicke. He is recently divorced, he has argued with his brother, he has issues with his new boss/job, he has business plans, and he is nevrotically concerned with respect, proper behaviour and lying. He left his brother’s company because his brother “wanted him to lie”, as Bicke himself phrased, and he dislikes his new job as a salesman, because his boss tells him to lie to his customers. This is the starting point, and from here we follow Bicke as he becomes more and more obsessed with lies and honesty.
The film is basically very critical to American, and Western, society. Some would claim that this criticism is both naïve and overly idealistic, and it’s not helping that this criticism is put forth by an insane terrorist. However, the fact that he tried to use such despicable methods and that he was psychotic, doesn’t neccessarily mean that he was wrong, or that he doesn’t deserve to be heard. Because if you shred away the extremities, you find a man forced to betray his own moral code. In order to make a living in a capitalist society, he realizes that he must ignore his conscience and his integrity. He must debase himself so that he can rise to greatness. And this isn’t a price he is willing to pay, and so he sinks into despair and, in time, madness. He concludes that the system is wrong, and that he, a small grain of sand, as he refers to himself, must show the men in power that they cannot keep on lying and screwing the masses over, again and again and again.
This isn’t a funny movie, obviously. Unless you’re the kind of person who laugh at other people’s misfortune, it’s unlikely that you’ll even smile during the 90-odd minutes the film lasts. But unless you require a film to be amusing in order to see it, I recommend you to check this one out. Sean Penn carries the entire film on his shoulders, portraying the insane Sam Bicke as if he was born to it, and the rest of the cast (which includes such actors as Don Cheadle and Naomi Watts) also do a decent job, even though their characters completely drowns in the brilliance that is Sean Penn’s Sam Bicke.
Additionally, the 70s atmosphere seems, to one who never experienced it in RL, very authentic, and the entire film has a very pessimistic feel to it; there’s hardly a single glimpse of hope in the entire film. There’s only despair and desperation.
8.5/10.
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