The Fixer

A real Oscar winning performance by Bates.Beats me why he didn't get it!The whole story portrays the times in Russia so well with anti- semitisem as a way to keep away attention from the failings of the Csar and his evil government. A unique actor who really feels his part as can be told by Bates eyes which reflect that his soul is part of what he his doing unlike todays mimik actors.

I came home from work after working a 24 hour shift and turned on the TV to find something mindless to numb my brain (ready to do the same thing tomorrow), and turned on this film, I had to watch it to the end. The story is simple enough, its the tale of someone who is wrongly accused of a crime in order to satisfy someones higher political manifesto but there's an ageless quality to it. I'm not particularly clued up on films or politics, and certainly not a critic but I have to say that in these times of arrest without trial or evidence, this film strikes a chord. This film highlights some of the best and worst aspects inherent to human nature, a truly remarkable work.

When is John Frankenheimer going to get the recognition he deserves as a true original film artist? A number of his films are either barely released or completely unreleased (99 and 44/100% Dead, The Challenge, The Fourth War).

Many of Frankenheimer's films dealt with the fight for social justice and human compassion and The Fixer definitely falls into this category. Alan Bates is terrific as a Russian Jew who "passes" for Gentile and decides to work for an anti-Semite for money. He's later accused by the authorities of a child murder he did not commit and must endure endless torture by the Czarist Russians to keep from confessing. Frankenheimer's experience, directing many plays for Golden Age of Television shows like Playhouse 90, demonstrates perfectly that he can master effective facial close-ups and enhance the great dialogue. So few American films can be brave enough to actually talk about ideas without having to always resort to action to appease those out there with short attention spans. Well, Frankenheimer can deliver the action goods (note Ronin and The Train), but give him credit for embracing the influence of great foreign films' sense of introspection. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the prison is so immense that the final scene is one of the most exhilarating I've felt in quite a while. Credit Trumbo also with creating a hero who is not totally perfect by any means. Yakov Bok had not only betrayed his heritage by working for anti-Semites, but also, as we learn later, is out of touch with relating to his family. Dirk Bogarde is also quite good as Bok's defense counsel as is a young Ian Holm as a sadistic Russian official.

This was Frankenheimer's second big color movie (after Grand Prix in 1966). Alan Bates was nominated for the Academy Award for his portrayal of Yakov Bok, and his performance was certainly Oscar worthy. The movie is based on Bernard Malamud's 1966 Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Bernard Malamud based The Fixer on the case of Mendel Beilis, a Jewish bookkeeper for a brick factory who was accused of ritualistically murdering a Christian child. With very little evidence against him, the Russian government pushed for the conviction of Beilis in order to justify anti-Semitic policies that were being enacted at the time. The novel's protagonist, Yakov Bok, also works in a brick factory, and he is charged, for no particular reason except being Jewish, for a crime just like the one with which Beilis was charged. As in Malamud's fictionalized version, the actual case occurred between 1911 and 1913 in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The Beilis case is credited with being one of the main contributing factors in bringing about the Russian Revolution by raising the sense of distrust Russian citizens felt toward their government and the anger of people around the world. The political situation surrounding the case is hardly touched upon in The Fixer. Most of the book focuses on Yakov's life in solitary confinement, waiting for years in prison for the murder charge to be formally levied against him so that he can get on with the trial.

The Fixer was published in 1966, more than fifty years after the Beilis case had been settled in court, but Malamud could count on his audience to be familiar with the circumstances of what had happened because the case was and is an important event in the history of the Jewish struggle for peace and security. The book won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and is considered one of the finest in the canon of books by one of America's finest authors." – Quoted from encyclopedia.com

--------------------------------------------------

The movie follows the odyssey of Yakov Bok (Alan Bates)—'a fixer' or handyman--as he leaves his small pre-Revolutionary Ukrainian town to travel to the city of Kiev. Although he has no strong religious or political feelings and never had thought that he could only be defined by one word--'Jew'--he lives in the ghetto. When a tailor in the ghetto suggests that he could make more money by passing as a Christian in the city, he tries. After saving a Christian, Lebedev (Hugh Griffith), in the street, he is taken in to Levedev's house and given work. Lebedev's crippled daughter, Zinaida (Elizabeth Hartman), seduces him and he willingly follows her. But, when he finds that she is 'unclean (having her period), he turns her down and leaves.

But, events change his life when he is accused of killing a young Christian boy in a 'Jewish ritual murder. Once imprisoned, almost everyone inside and outside of the prison hates him. Even though he is befriended by a defender, Bibikov (Dirk Bogarde), he is relentlessly tortured and badgered by his prosecutor, Grubeshov (Ian Holm).

During Bok's imprisonment, the case against him is built on a series of unproven accusations. The murdered boy's mother testifies that she witnessed Bok killing her son. Zinaida testifies against him (based on her previous embarrassment of having seduced him and then been turned down). However, as a Jew, he is never given the benefit of a public trial. His crime rests on the fact that he IS a Jew; that he reads Spinoza; and that he demands—and is refused--a trial for simple human decency. As his imprisonment and torture is extended he continues to grow more determined. When all attempts fail to get him to confess to the murder, a representative of the Czar offers him a pardon. But, he refuses the pardon since he has committed no crime. His determination to fight for a public trail continues until the very end.

Although this film is very good, it doesn't hold up as well as Frankenheimer's black and white movies from the 1960s. As the saying goes, 'the book is better than the movie,' Still, Bates acting is laudable and should be seen if possible.

It is not often that cinema can do justice to a great novel. This one brings out the existential questions of the lead character Yakov Blok in an honest manner, true to the original. I think I would place the credit more with screenplaywriter Dalton Trumbo for this effort. He did not even change some of the key lines of the book. I wonder what Malamud would have thought of the script.

Frankenheimer needs praise in some sequences, the prison sequences and the seduction sequence--but what amuses me no end is why he chose to cast the three actresses who speak their lines with no care for even a semblance of being East European.

Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde, Hugh Griffith, David Warner and Ian Holm are all good actors but Frankenheimer made no effort to make them speak like Russians or East Europeans. Bogarde is predictable in his role, but Alan Bates carried the film. He alone played his role with conviction. Maurice Jarre's music was good but not his best.

Like "Gandhi" this film will be remembered because of the subject, not because of its cinema. The true hero was not Bates, not Trumbo, not Frankenheimer--it was Malamud!