Review of The Devil's Own (1997) by Erich R — 04 Jul 2011

...not an American story; it's an Irish one.... Pakula's last film.

On a 2nd viewing, I find it even more beautiful and smart and moving.

Now...it's not a perfect film - and maybe not the kind of 'action' flic some were expecting. But the idea that a masterpiece is going to be perfect is, I believe, a mistake. Is the Mona Lisa a perfect painting?...not to some, who wonder what the hell is going on with that enigmatic smile (I like Sister Wendy's explanation best....). West Side Story is not perfect, though I disagree with a number of complaints made against it - and I and others maintain it is a masterpiece. And it improved on Romeo and Juliet in 2 plot-points...but Romeo and Juliet is still a masterpiece.

Yeah, it's a bit crude that Ruben Blades shoots a fleeing criminal in the back - unlikely, I suppose - but unrealistic? - the guy did shoot at the po-po. What really bothered me (and I was only smart enough to notice these 'flaws' on my 2nd viewing), was when Harrison Ford and his wife (as usual with these stars, she looked young enough to be his daughter) enter their home and see the masked intruder - I just can't buy that Ford would not have immediately told his wife to get out of the house, run to the neighbor to use their phone. A mistake a civilian would make, but not this officer, especially considering the way he has been presented to us.

And now that "the Troubles" are finally over, we know very well that there were indeed rich American financiers who, practically as a hobby, gave money to the IRA.

The critical nonsense about Pitt's accent is bewildering to me. I am part Irish, and have many Irish friends. No two people of any country speak quite alike, and he sounds perfectly believable to me, and more importantly, he is consistent, and lets the accent serve the psychology of the character.

These years after its initial release, the film looks very much the swan song of Pakula, and I suspect critical taste will come around. It is a quiet morality tale, and it is also largely about the differences between two cultures. I love that short scene in the car, when Pitt first sees New York. It is pitch perfect, It reminds me of a moment in a book I am reading, 'High Flight' by David Hagberg, when an East German terrorist describes.

Seeing America for the first time, and immediately knowing that his was the losing side.

And, of course, there is the father and son relationship between Ford and Pitt which, if you allow yourself to buy into it, is very moving indeed, and very common in real life, in just the way that theirs is - quiet, largely unspoken, mostly felt in subtle ways, but almost never discussed. At least not until maybe the recent generation of men, the very recent development in which everyone says everything they feel....

I liked the film the first time I saw it, But I didn't completely.

'get it'. I've really fallen in love with it now, and it may eventually be recognized as something of a minor masterpiece, or at lest a beautiful contemplation of the ideas Pakula was interested in and explored throughout his illustrious career.

Pakula is a film director who we are better are better off for having had in the world, and a young filmmaker could do worse than take him as a model, and take a look at his oeuvre, and consider how this kind of work might speak to today's world.