Bad Lieutenant

What more can I say? Keitel gives an astounding performance. Then again, when has he let us down? I was able to find some interesting parallels to "Mean Streets." Aside from the use of "Pledging my Love" by Johnny Ace, it explores the theme of Catholic guilt and how one's temptation and hunger for evil can weaken spiritual judgments. The climactic scene is great, in which Keitel (literally) comes face to face with Jesus. I wasn't a big fan of "Mean Streets" and think this film better explores its Catholic themes. One may perceive this film to be sinful, and it received tons of controversy. It's very rare that a movie is able to show rape of a nun, and get away Scott-free with the MPAA. I think the NC-17 rating was mostly on account of the explicit nudity and sex. I don't know why the hell people are trying to scare viewers by regarding this movie as "graphically violent." About all we really see are aftermaths of violence. However, the language is extremely blunt, and that's about the only warning I can give. Of course, religious activists might protest its use of footage of Jesus on a cross and the aforementioned rape scene, but they simply have to look closer at what message Ferrara is trying to bring out. Cinema is an art form often misjudged by the prudish. The scene where Keitel pulls the two young girls over is classic, and I loved its darkly humorous element.

"Bad Lieutenant" is an impressive character study, and though it occasionally gets meandering and repetitive and seems to be missing something (which I might be able to identify on a second viewing), it's a moving story with terrific acting. I wasn't too thrilled with the other Ferrara pieces I've seen, "King of New York" and "The Funeral," but I was younger and I think I just had trouble understanding the subtle messages he delivers in his films. Of course, he specializes in gritty urban dramas like this, being a Bronx native what do you expect, so something like "Bad Lieutenant" naturally wouldn't appeal to general audiences. It's unpleasant, though somewhat humorous, but life can be the same way. You can't spend your whole life watching "The Wizard of Oz." Every once in a while, you have to take a break and watch graphic character studies like this and learn a little something. After seeing this movie, I'm curious about checking out some more of Ferrara's work, because I know he has talent.

I can tell this a movie I will have to watch again, because it's not easily understood the first time around, but I'm sure there's hidden messages that just flew over my head. I still think the film could've had more substance, but it's still an impressive work.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

All right let's get this out of the way. This is not a great picture. In fact I will bet 98 percent of the public would find it absolutely repulsive. Make that 99 percent. Hell, even I didn't understand it the first time I saw it. But what I realized the second time was brilliant method acting. And that ladies and gents is what makes this film shine. There is no solid plot, no supporting characters, and no reason to feel anything but disgust for Harvey Keitel. However, you find me another actor who could have dug as low as Keitel did or take as many chances and I will bet you that it will take more than the time to cook a frozen cardboard pizza. It is hard to view a soiled life like Keitel was leading without being on the road yourself which wouldn't be pretty. The backdrop of a baseball series and Keitel losing chunks of money made it even crazier. Again I have to say absolutely great acting. Keitel has so many good scenes that this may be a career role for him. I give him a multitude of credit for taking the chance to play a totally unlovable character. Watch this movie at your own risk and know going in that this is an outlier in the sense of normal movie making. Don't bother grabbing a flashlight or even a spotlight and trying to find a plot. There isn't one. Just sit back and watch Keitel spiral down like a squirrel who missed the branch.

While I found this film entirely irresistible, I have to say that I found it's strength more on the superficial level, rather than the metaphorical. I was completely uninterested in the obvious story of "the redemption of a damned soul", but I found the journey mesmerizing. Keitel is dead on here and I found myself wondering how deeply immersed in the character he actually was during the drug use scenes.(A la Estevez's drunken tirade in "Apocalypse Now") The use of real locations with no extras and the quasi-impromptu dialogue are probably the two biggest assets here(reminiscent of "Trash" but with better production value). All in all, it's quite a trip through a life of depravity and desperation that gives a great vicarious thrill to the viewer. Don't miss this film.

Abel Ferrara has on his hands a small masterwork of one man's existence in the doldrums, and he has such a way of dealing with "the streets" as a perpetually gritty, hellish world in a movie that I didn't disbelieve it for a second. In a sense he can be compared to the likes of Scorsese, however he certainly works in a different frame of honesty in mind in depicting his lead character and those he encounters.

At the core of this extremely well made, unconventional film is the best performance Harvey Keitel delivered in the nineties, a bravado piece of work in which he bares all of the qualities that can make up the badness in the lieutenant. The Lieutenant spends little time with his kids, and when he does is hardly happy, and when he leaves them he goes into the underworld to do coke, crack and heroin, gulps down alcohol like Evian, and tries to cling onto whatever dignity he has left in betting on the Mets in the championship series.

When a startling case occurs - a nun is raped by two street kids - the lieutenant is on the scene, however fogged in his muck, and can't understand how somebody, even a nun, can forgive such a crime. This leads into the third act of the film, and this is where the work propels itself into a higher ground, mature, spiritual, and ultimately fascinating in every aspect. Overall, Bad Lieutenant is a lean, un-abashed first-person singular in a rather sophisticated delivery. We are delivered a character, like Alex in Clockwork Orange for example, who is not even a half-way decent person.

But just by the way Ferrara and Keitel bring us into his world, and the details of his existence, a viewer can start to understand that the film works on other levels besides those of a conventional "all around bad-cop" story.

In New York, a corrupt and abusive NYPD Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel) is addicted in drugs and gambling and has a great debt with a shark. He takes advantage of his authority to make deals with drug dealers and criminals to get drugs and dirty money and his bookmaker advises him that he owes money to dangerous people. When a nun is brutally raped by two youngsters, the Lieutenant chases the criminals but the nun tells him that she had forgiven the punks. The Lieutenant is affected by her religious principles and asks Jesus to help him.

"Bad Lieutenant" is one of my favorite films by Abel Ferrara with a great story of addiction, corruption, forgiveness and redemption. Last time I had seen this film was on 27 September 2000 and after seeing once again, I realize that "Bad Lieutenant" is a timeless movie that has not aged. Harvey Keitel has one of the best performances of his successful career in the role of a dirty cop that finds redemption in the end. Unfortunately this film is only available on VHS in Brazil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Vício Frenético" "Frantic Addiction")

Note: On 21 February 2017, I saw this film again.