Betrayed - Tradita

This was one of those mythological films that I speak so highly of in other reviews. This was a gem hidden in the darkness. Looking at the cover, you would never guess that this would be such a powerhouse of a film, but let me be the first to say that it was.

Berenger and Winger are amazing in their roles. Winger giving the best performance that I have ever seen her do, while Berenger takes a character riddled with evil and makes him human. When I first began this film, I was expecting a very true Hollywood production. One that would be dark at first, but all of the sudden create this happy world at the end. This film did nothing close to that. What was amazing about this film was that it let the audience make it's own decisions. Not much was handed to you on a silver platter.

Upon the first ten minutes of this film, you would probably assume that it was a love story. It is anything BUT a love story. It is a crime/thriller/drama film, and quite possibly one of the strongest that I have seen in some time. There are some scenes in this film that I couldn't believe I was watching. The sheer brilliance of the director left me wondering if this film was really made in 1988. The cinematography was outstanding. There is one scene that stands out the most in my mind. After Berenger tries to "put down" his dying horse, he can't pull himself to shoot a living creature, so he has his side-kick do it. After it is done, he runs out into the rain behind Berenger wrapped in a plastic tarp. The image here is of the devil riding close behind. It is so vivid and so beautifully done that you can't help to wonder what that may represent. There are a couple of scenes very similar to this as well.

Now, this isn't a film without some small flaws. The young girl was annoying. Perhaps I find young children in these types of films always to be annoying, but in this case it was especially bad. Also, there were some dopey scenes to this film. There were some parts that I felt I was the director of the film watching some bad lines happen between Berenger and Winger ... but it was only a couple.

Betrayed ends like an open-ended question. It tells you that justice has been served, but not eliminated. It does not paint a pretty picture of our society. Be prepared if you see this for some embarrassing, yet disturbing images of ethnic hatred in this film. Some scenes that you will not believe ever happens in our country, but in the back of your mind you know certain evils do exist. But then also be prepared to see John Mahoney (of Say Anything... fame) do his best work ever. The war took his son, the bank took his land, why shouldn't he fight in this battle of supremacy? Dark and impressive ... WOW, I am lucky to have found this one.

Grade: ***** out of *****

I found this movie to be effective as both fiction and non-fiction. Debra Winger and Tom Berenger both give first rate performances. This movie reveals how racism is passed down from one generation to the next. The passage, "the sins of the father are visited on the son" seem particularly relevant. I was surprised that it did not receive a higher user rating. Eventhough I saw it years ago, it remains in my memory as a very powerful and important movie.

****SPOILERS**** Shocking disturbing but at the same time penetrating film by director Costa-Garvras about terror in Americas heartland spilling over into the big city, Chicago. A popular but controversial Jewish talk show host Sam Kraus, Richard Libertini, gets gunned down by a group of white separatists in the garage of his apartment building the killers leave their calling card on the murder scene Z.O.G : Zionist occupied government. A phrase that the separatists use to refer to the US government all throughout the movie.

The FBI in trying to find and arrest those who perpetrated the crime send agent Cathy Phillips/ Kathy Weaver, Debra Winger, undercover to the farm land in the area where they think that the killers come from. Due to the very high anti-government sentiment there with farmers in danger of losing their land. It turns out that Agent Phillips should have been the last person for the FBI to put on a case like that due to her very sad home and family life. Phillips lost her parents at a very young age and had no family her entire life but her employer the FBI which was anything but loving and personal to her.

In the farm land and being undercover as Cathy Weaver she falls in love and lives with murder suspect Gary Simmons, Tom Berenger, and his family. Simmons is a widower with children who's mother also lives with him that has Cathy/Katie for the first time in her life have the family that she always longed for. This very fact is what Cathy says is "Screwing up her loyalties" to the government and FBI that she works for.Cathy/Katie desperately wants to be taken off the case before she betrays the man, Gary, as well as the family that she loves. Still the FBI refuses to do so because Cathy's in too deep and is too close to break the case on the Kraus killing.

Gary is also very honest with Cathy/Katie by telling her about himself and what he and his friends, the anti-government white separatists, are all about. Gary even takes Cathy/Katie out one night to a "Hunt" where Gary and his friends hunt down and murder a terrified young black man in the back woods. This makes Cathy/Katie feel terribly guilty since she's not honest with Gary even though Gary is so brutally honest with her about himself.

Debra Winger is phenomenal as the FBI undercover agent who's emotions are stronger the her senses and is tortured in what she's doing by setting up her lover as well as his family for the FBI. Even though he's a murder and is planing with his friends to commit a major attack and assassination of a number of top government leaders. Tom Berenger is as good as he ever was as the all-America Vietnam war hero who comes across as a cross between Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart that it's hard to believe that he not only believes the radical ideas that he openly talks about but also practices them. Meanwhile with all this going on there's a sinister sub-plot about an Illinois election that is connected with Gary's group that goes totally unnoticed by the FBI until it's too late that Gary kept from Cathy/Katie which exploded at the end of the film.

Pre-dating April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by seven years and the 9-11 terrorists attacks on New York City and Washington D.C by thirteen the film is without a doubt one the best movie about terrorism on US soil ever made and It puzzles me why Costa-Garvras' "Betrayed" doesn't get the attention that it should after those two terrible events.

Debra Winger plays an FBI agent investigating the death of an obnoxious radio talk show host, but he may have been killed by some white supremacist group. She goes undercover in America's heartland and befriends farmer Tom Berenger, who may have had something to do with the whole thing.

Racism and political beliefs courtesy of Costa-Gavras. Many viewers feel this film completely missed the mark on both accounts. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed the film very much and think of it mostly as a drama piece, focusing mostly on Berenger's and Winger's relationship. As a suspense flick it also delivers, with high tension especially during the climatic finale. Granted, some scenes are pretty tough to take, but from my point of view this is an excellent study of how many "pure" white folks see the world. They're not depicted here as complete and utter monsters, but regular folks who have radically different worldview than most (I hope).

On the trivia side, Berenger himself said in an interview that this was his favorite among all his films.

"Betrayed" is loosely based on the real life murder of a left-wing radio personality by the name of Alan Berg by a white supremacist group called The Order headed by a guy named Robert Mathews. The actual murder happened sometime in the 80s (I believe). In the film Debra Winger is an FBI agent sent undercover to a farming community in rural Illinois to find out information about a possible suspect (Tom Berenger) when a Chicago radio personality is killed.

I've watched this film a number of times over the years. Something keeps pulling me back to it. As someone else mentioned, there are moments that really burn their way into your memory. I can't believe somebody else commented on it, but there is a moment after Tom Berenger's family horse is "put down" and as Bergener and a young Ted Levine are leaving the barn in the rain we see Levine wrapped in plastic holding the gun he used to shoot the horse and walking slightly behind Berenger. For some reason, I've always found the image haunting. Someone else said the image of Levine signifies the devil, which certainly makes sense.

Another moment is when Winger and Berenger are watching through a window as the combine girls leave the motel and the entire scene is played out with the camera outside, and something is blocking the lower part of Berenger's face, so all we see throughout the scene are his eyes. And Winger says, "I don't like people getting hurt". And Berenger says "They aren't people. They're mud people." Something about it is very disturbing and strange.

The racial tirades in the film are quite jarring, too. Especially when the kids say them. The ugliness and hatred of the words contrasts so sharply with the obvious innocence of the children. We see so clearly that the children are not inherently bad, and are simply being taught hatred, as someone would teach a child the alphabet.

The hunting scene, as almost every reviewer has mentioned, is very disturbing, and is clearly meant to be disturbing. I still have trouble watching it.

I do think this is an important film, however. Most films depict the Aryan nation and similar groups as quite simply evil, without offering any kind of logic or shape to what they are about. Betrayed is a film that actually dares to show them as real people. The character of Shorty, played by John Mahoney is a brilliant creation and his campfire speech to Debra Winger, explaining his motivation for behaving like he does, is extremely important for anyone who wants to learn why some people would join a radical group.

Incidentally, there is also a (very disturbing) play entitled "God's Country" that is about the Alan Berg murder and Robert Mathews. And the Oliver Stone film "Talk Radio" is loosely based on Alan Berg's life and murder.