Arlington Road
The opening sequence of this film is the most intense and disturbing I have ever seen. If you are of a sensitive disposition, do not go to see it. It is a brilliant device, because the pain it portrays, devoid of context, meaning and explanation, functions both to engage the audience and provide a paradigm for the whole narrative. This film aims to challenge your response to violence at the deepest level.
Jeff Bridges is the good guy, and Tim Robbins is the bad guy: and make no mistake about it, he really is a bad guy. The men are neighbours, and the story begins with an injured child bringing the two men together for the first time. The scene is comfortable urban America; the action is two families building a relationship. We are some way into the film before the real plot starts to shows itself. I have a problem here, because if I tell you any more of the story, I run the risk of ruining the whole thing for those who go to see it. Suffice it to say that one neighbour begins to suspect the other of planning acts of urban terrorism as per the Oklahoma bomb.
It is a thriller with traces of action movie, and it captures the best of both. The direction is thoughtful, the acting is good, the subject is captivating, and there is no gratuitous sex or mindless, explicit violence. There certainly is violence, but only with good cause, and never the gory close-up or the glorified macho fist-fighting that Hollywood serves up so monotonously. This film is thoughtful, and thought-provoking.
