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THE FORGIVEN (2022)
Director: John Michael McDonagh Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Saïd Taghmaoui, Christopher Abbott, Caleb Landry Jones, Mourad Zaoui, Marie-Josée Croze, Alex Jennings, David McSavage, Abbey Lee MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:57 Release Date: 7/1/22 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 30, 2022 A philosophy shared by a few characters in writer/director John Michael McDonagh's The Forgiven is that the world is a terrible place. Our protagonist of questionable character and morals, who is also a doctor based in London, believes that notion. A man who lives a quiet life in the Moroccan desert, searching for fossils to sell to Western tourists like the doctor, is certain that he knows it. That man has passed on the belief to his son, who wants more out of his life but whom the doctor kills on a desert road on his way to a party. There's an argument to be made that their pessimism about the world and humanity is what brings these three characters together. The father passed the philosophy to his son, who accepted it and decided to be out on that desert road at night with apparently ill intentions for the party guests. Meanwhile, the doctor is so cynical about life that he has become a high-functioning alcoholic over the years, and drinking an entire bottle of champagne before heading out on the road is a significant reason that David Henninger (Ralph Fiennes) doesn't see the local boy in front of his car. There's definitely something to this seemingly unlikely bond between these characters, who are brought together in misfortune by a fate that is somewhat of their collective making. McDonagh, adapting Lawrence Osborne's novel, clearly knows that this connection is the cold, cynical heart of this tale, and the resulting story has David and the father, named Abdellah (Ismael Kanater), making their way back to the local man's home to bury the son whom the foreigner has killed. All of this material is potentially fascinating, especially because of the uncertain ideas, the shaky motives, and the strong performances involved in it, but McDonagh's screenplay gets in its own way. There's a secondary story here, which occurs back at that weekend-long party at a restored castle in the desert. It's a big, empty distraction, and while that might be part of a bigger point about Western involvement in and dispassion about the fate of people in the Middle East and North Africa, it amounts to little—and even less when directly juxtaposed with the other half of the narrative. Again, a drunk and distracted David, driving while arguing with his wife Jo (Jessica Chastain) about how to get to the party, hits Driss (Omar Ghazaoui), a local boy who had been plotting something involving a rare fossil and a pistol. When David and Jo arrive at the festivities with the boy's body in the backseat, Richard (Matt Smith), the owner and part-time resident of the castle with his boyfriend Dally (Caleb Landry Jones), makes sure the couple's story is in order before calling the police. If things go according to plan, the boy's death will be declared an accident, and the party can just continue as if nothing has happened. That's what seems to happen, until Abdellah arrives, collects his dead son, and requests that David accompany him for the burial. The father's translator Anouar (Saïd Taghmaoui) lets the Westerners know that this is more than a suggestion, and going against his doubts and prejudices, David ultimately agrees to make the trip with the man he has so grievously wronged. Both Fiennes, as David is gradually humbled by his journey, and Kanater, as Abdellah battles with custom and his rage, are quite good here (Taghmaoui is a quiet, understated standout, too, as a man with more knowledge about both men than either companion has about the other, although he stays respectfully silent about that). The trek is filled with a significant amount of tension, although that's not because we necessarily sympathize with and worry about David. It is, though, because the tale is about these two men fighting their respective urges—the father for anger and vengeance and the doctor to remain uninvolved and untouched—for reasons that neither quite understands. It might be honor, or it might simple be some long-hidden inkling of a thought that people are generally decent and deserve understanding, respect, and compassion. Maybe each of the men especially believes that can be true of himself. Meanwhile, back at the castle, the party does continue with much drinking and sex, a debate about which of their home countries has a worse history in the region, and some ill-timed fireworks. Jo starts flirting with Tom (Christopher Abbott), who doesn't hide his own attraction for her (Their dialogue is awkwardly self-aware of how clunky it is, as if that's a substitute for actual characterization). Through it all, Richard's local servants, in scenes that suggest but never fulfill any kind of payoff, quietly hide their disapproval of the party-goers—especially when it comes to their boss being gay and Jo making a show of her infidelity to David, whom they now perceive as honorable. Here, then, is half of a story that shows and, as David and Abdellah realize things about each other and within themselves, slowly fulfills promise. The other half of The Forgiven, though, displays little and only confirms that assumption. The lesser half does the better no favors and, indeed, undermines its potential impact. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
language throughout, drug use, some sexual content and brief violence)
