Review of The Pledge (2001) by Stuart K — 29 Mar 2014

Directed by Sean Penn, his 3rd film as director after The Indian Runner (1991) and The Crossing Guard (1995)), this was based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman.

This is a sparse and cold detective film with a difference, it's set in America but it has a European feel to it. But Penn get's some brilliant performances from everyone on board. Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) has just retired from police work, but just before he's officially retired, he takes on one final case, the murder of a little girl in the woods.

The girl's mother Margaret Larsen (Patricia Clarkson) makes Jerry swear on a cross that he'll find the murderer. It seems like they have when they arrest retarded native American Toby Jay Wadenah (Benicio del Toro), and it seems like another case closed.

But, Jerry isn't so sure, he doesn't believe Wadenah is the killer, in the meantime he's befriended bartender Lori (Robin Wright Penn) and her daughter Chrissy (Pauline Roberts), who has been visited by a mysterious stranger.

This is a film which will require patience, and it's outcome may prove as unsatisfactory to those wanting a straight forward cop film, this is anything but. Nicholson shows a sensitive side he's seldom shown in films before, and it's benefitted by Penn's confident direction and from tight cinematography by Chris Menges.