La Main droite du diable

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.

If you found American History X powerful, check this out. This movie walks the fine line between fiction and reality, in that it starts out with a portrayal of the murder of the Jewish talk show host in Denver, a real life event, by racist extremists. This is a movie that is especially relevant now , with the upsurge of white supremacist groups. The acting is good; the content is chilling and sobering.

"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.

What do you get when you team up the director of MISSING and Z and the writer of SHOWGIRLS and FLASHDANCE? A political film where the FBI is portrayed as even less honorable than the Klansmen and neo-Nazis they're trying to fight, and the female lead (well played by Debra Winger) is a victim of both sides, valuable to the FBI only because of her sex appeal, and unable to trust anyone except her small stepdaughter. That said, BETRAYED is an interesting, very watchable and disturbingly credible movie with some powerful moments, and the cast (particularly Berenger, Winger and the juveniles) give excellent performances.

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.