Review of Ironweed (1987) by Craig T — 22 Apr 2012

Héctor Babenco somehow managed to take a cold and dark story and give it some sparse amount of warmth and light. A story about two struggling bums, trying to make it one day at a time, must be a difficult project to sell. Babenco chose his lead actors wisely and emerged himself into an underworld we never want to imagine. To be homeless, to be nobody, and yet have all the memories of a normal life to carry. What it must be like to have no food, no family, and no shelter. Then, one must consider how do such people obtain the basic human necessities. That is a sucker-punch reality to live in and one captured and revealed here with superb accuracy and raw emotion. The writing is very in depth and very relevant. All the things we take for granted like warmth and clean socks are explored here, and on what better faces than Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep? Babenco uses these talents to reach deep into our hearts and has us on the verge of tears so often but for some reason, we can't turn away. Poverty and hopelessness have never been studied so delicately.

Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep play Francis and Helen, two homeless people who have found love and companionship in each other. They are a team and take care of one another as best they can. Nicholson is an alcoholic and we quickly see evidence that he is carrying heavy demons. Over 20 years ago, he had been drinking and accidentally killed his infant son. He is now haunted by his past and has disturbing hallucinations of many other people he has wronged. Helen, who does not see that she is a drunk, has lost hope and lives in desperation, often not eating. She rants and shouts about being wronged and how what happened to her is not fair. She used to be a singer and was once successful, just like Nicholson (who used to a baseball player). Doomed to live and die on the streets, a whole community of homeless people are introduced to us with unflinching direction by Babenco. When the characters celebrate we are so glad for them, and when they fight and argue, we quickly sadden just like they do. These lost souls have nothing but each other and we are invited to spend a few days with them during The Great Depression. Nicholson and Streep were deservingly nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress at the 1987 Academy Awards for their flawless portrayals as Francis and Helen. I'm not sure that anyone that year topped either of them. The attention to detail by the director and cast is confounding.

What touching performances by Nicholson and Streep! Rarely do we see such strong male and female leads play off of each other and share the screen like this. Both play drunk, hopeless, and lost so incredibly well. Near the very beginning, we see Nicholson crumble at his son's grave and confess his pains. It is deep, my friends. I have seen Nicholson play everything from a petty thief in Cuckoo's Nest to the comic villain in Batman, but never anything quite like this. Here stands another monumental role for one of the best actors of all time. His teeth are rotten and his soul is searching for something it will not let itself find. Mirroring his portrait of a lost man is Streep, who embodies a low-bottom drunk so elegantly flawed. She has a scene where she sings to Nicholson in a bar. She reaches back into her old days of glory and vocalizes "He's Me Pal" in front of all the patrons. It is captivating and sensational! Streep may very well be the best actress of all time and she shows another fine example of it here. These fragile creatures are pushed away by everyone and forced to sleep in broken down cars (or worse). The entire film I couldn't help but feel cold and lonely. That is powerful storytelling and storytelling that connects on so many human levels. Ironweed is gloriously crushing and bashfully tender. Yet the human spirit is beautifully present in this tale, and despite the nature and condition of it, I can say that this film hit me on a profound personal level. After sitting through this, I can appreciate the direction, performances, and writing but more importantly, I can appreciate my quality of life a lot more. (A).