Homicide

Some David Mamet films have incredible notoriety amongst the literate set (Glengarry Glen Ross, Oleanna, House of Games). His 2 Oscar noms (Wag the Dog, The Verdict) as well as his non-nominated script for The Untouchables have him firmly established with Hollywood's power base as well.

For my money, the oft-overlooked Homicide is a true Mamet gem--startling in its genius.

Put simply, Homicide is a revealing look at a man's journey into himself. Many will be distracted by the subject matter and tune out, but try to hang on.

Joe Mantegna's Bobby Gold is a tough cop who denies his Jewish lineage, until a low priority murder investigation into an aged Holocast survivor forces him to re-evaluate his entire existence. The resulting destruction of the man is cruel and never-ending,…and brilliant.

William H. Macy, an until-now bit player, gets a well-deserved promotion to #2 man among the strong supporting cast as Gold's partner and sounding board.

The intricacies of the plot, the subtleties of the subtext, as well as the perfunctory Mamet attention to detail may mean a second, or third look is necessary for the viewer to get straight with what's going on------- but take the time, if you can, it just keeps getting better and better.

A big-city police detective, Joe Mantegna, who always ignored and downplayed his Jewish heritage, finds himself forced to examine his values after being pulled off what he considers an important case, at the request of influential Jewish citizens, to investigate the death of an old Jewish storekeeper, who might have been the victim of anti-Semitic violence. This film isn't without its flaws, but writer/director David Mamet deserves a great deal of credit for having the courage to present a number of provocative questions about what it means to be a Jew in an often hostile society. The film can also be applauded for not offering any simple answers. Usually in Hollywood movies, characters are rewarded for returning to their roots. In "Homicide," the reverse is true as Mantegna soon finds his life spiraling out of his control. The drama is always compelling, if somewhat heavy-handed and implausible at times. More importantly, the Mametisms which increasing mar his work, i.e., scripts where every character speaks in exactly the same voice, and big roles for non-talented wives, are kept in check here. This is my favorite Mamet film.

Not that I thought Joe was incapable of acting, but it's a little hard to take a guy seriously after seeing them in junk like "Baby's Day Out." Nevertheless, he gives a wonderful performance in this very intriguing film that was written and directed by "The Spanish Prisoner's" David Mamet.

Like "The Spanish Prisoner", "Homicide" is a movie that must be paid attention to at all times or you will miss tiny, but very important details. I will admit that I missed a few of these details, but since I watched it in a film class, we discussed it the next day and other people pointed them out. Anyway, this style of work seems to be David Mamet's "signature" and I think it's great. I hope he wins an award some day.

Getting back to the movie, besides containing numerous small details, "Homicide" is a genuinely interesting story about a Jewish cop who has gotten out of touch with his religious side. It is only after he is assigned to a case involving a murdered Jewish woman, does he finally began to get in touch with his roots. Of course there is struggle, not to mention people who do not appear to be what they seemed. It's a good movie, though a little hard to get into at first, but don't let your mind wonder, or you could be missing a vital element to the plot.

Bobby Gold, a jewish homicide detective involved in tracking down a cop killer, stumbles onto the shooting of an elderly jewish lady. Although starting only very reluctantly, he gets drawn deeper and deeper into this second case, eventually getting involved with a militant pro-Israel group which causes him to question his own identity as a Jew. This naturally leads to neglect of the first case. Bad things happen as a result.

If you like Mamet films, then you'll certainly enjoy this one. As is typical, his tight dialogue creates wonderful tensions with a minimum of words and the acting is excellent. Unfortunately, the movie fails to live up to its promise. Part of the blame is in a relatively weak finale and a conclusion which goes by so fast you'll miss it if you blink. The real problem, however, is that we never develop any intimacy with the human relationships and personal conflicts which should be the heart of the movie but instead just end up providing support for the actual events taking place. We should be leaving the theater with the story playing over and over in our minds for some time to come, but instead we leave simply having been entertained and enthralled for the duration of the film. Not a bad thing, but not as good as it could have been.

Give me Joe Mantegna and William H. Macy as partners and I'll guarantee that there will be a movie worth watching. Macy has been moving up the chain, and is brilliant here.

The whole issue of Jewish persecution is woven in the story, and Mantegna is conflicted because he is Jewish, but obviously not a practicing one. As things go, his Jewishness is challenged by the investigation. "You say you are a Jew, and you can't read Hebrew. What are you then?" He is finally confronted with the reality of hate and his role as a cop takes second place to his Jewishness.

It is about realizing that he is nowhere until he finds out who he really is. The language of the police is raw and brings everything out into the open. Detective Gold (Mantegna) doesn't find himself at the end of the film. He has a ways to go, but now he has a direction.