Review of Detachment (2011) by Hoddie C — 16 Mar 2012

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." Akira Kurosawa would have loved this movie. The counterpoint to Waiting for Superman? Not really. Guggenheim's ode to Michelle Rhea is not in the same class as Detachment. In his best performance, maybe, since The Pianist, Adrian Brody congers up the demons. In a good way. Critics who write that Detachment "wants to be an expose of the pervasive horrors of modern life," but "Instead, it just forces us to detach as well," illustrate very nicely personal symptoms of the societal negligence Detachment probes. On the other side of the spectrum are folks like Henry Barthes, the long-term substitute teacher played by Brody. Henry can't detach. And neither can his colleagues. Able to understand the pain of others through his own wounds--empathy is not a dirty word--fully aware that he is likely the last thing standing between depressed teenagers and a quick turn to street level hooking, suicide, or worse, Henry cannot look away. He cannot detach. And the price for caring in an uncaring world is high.

See this movie. It's hard to watch at times, but you'll be better off for having seen what you see through the lens and poetry of Tony Kaye.