ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Atlanta

Richard Jewell: The End of the Innocence

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They’re a common sight around malls, retail stores, and companies these days. They help make sure things go smoothly yet are often ignored or make fun of. Of course, I’m referring to the humble security guard.

Perhaps the most infamous of all security personnel in the past 25 years has to be Richard Jewell. For the younger generation, his name is not one that will likely register as important. Director Clint Eastwood wants to change that with his latest film Richard Jewell. It is a tale of heroism, woe, and frustration that will reward the patient filmgoer and serves as a reminder of life before the world’s innocence was shattered one fateful evening.

Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) was a rather portly individual who lived in the Atlanta area and had a dream of getting into law enforcement. He was good with guns, extremely good at remembering things, but absolutely lousy in people to people relationships. His track record wasn’t the best either, partially due to the people he was trying to protect making fun of or simply ignoring him.

At the opening of the film, Jewell’s trying to make ends meet as a supply clerk in a law firm. He encounters Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), a no-nonsense lawyer who doesn’t take anything from anyone, including elected officials. The two briefly get to know each other over candy bars and a discussion in a video arcade before Jewell takes another job, this time as security detail at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he helps protect a music venue inside Centennial Park, the hub of action outside the sporting venues.

All is well for the first few concerts until one fateful evening when Jewell spots a suspicious backpack under a bench near the sound and lighting tower. He calls the police over to check (this is an international event, after all) and begins getting people out of the way. Suddenly the backpack explodes, raining fire and shrapnel throughout the park. Two people were killed and over 100 injured, transforming the capital city of Georgia instantaneously. Jewell goes home that evening, content that he helped keep the situation from being significantly worse.

The next day, he discovers that his observation and quick thinking has won him fame in the eyes of the world. People want to talk to him on television, people cheer when they see him, and he becomes an instant celebrity. Meanwhile, the FBI begins to look into who planted the backpack and called 911 with a warning about the bomb. They don’t have any real leads, but after acquiring information from Jewell’s past, they suddenly begin to think he was the culprit, doing it for fame and notoriety. With that, Richard’s quiet lifestyle (he lives in an apartment building with his mother [played by the always excellent Kathy Bates]) is completely shattered as the FBI does everything possible to make him the world’s biggest enemy.

Usually such situations are kept fairly quiet. However, Kathy Scruggs, a rather arrogant and pushy reporter from the Atlanta Journal newspaper (played with realistic smarminess by Olivia Wilde) is able to coerce one of the FBI detectives to inform her who they’re going after. They have a paper to print, you know. When she finds out, she makes the FBI’s intentions known to the world. 

Cue circus music.

Jewell suddenly cannot move more than 15 feet without a reporter yelling questions at him or hearing the shutters of cameras go off. He doesn’t know what to do. At this point, he reaches for the one person who might be able to help him–the lawyer he stocked with candy bars a few months earlier. Since then, Watson Bryant has gone into his own practice and decides to help the poor guy out. The question is whether the mass of humanity descending on Jewell or the FBI will destroy him first. 

Richard Jewell is a film that, for me, hit very close to home. You see, I was at Centennial Park a few hours before the bomb exploded. I played in the fountains and snapped a few 35mm pictures before heading back to South Carolina. That night, my friends and I huddled around a television set, aghast at the video news outlets were showing of the aftermath and thankful to God that we left when we did. I also distinctly remember the media’s evisceration of Jewell and how he was made to look like had the whole bombing planned (in reality, Eric Rudolph confessed to it a few months later). I remember feeling sorry for the guy but had no idea how much his life changed as a result of the FBI and media. Of course, the film shows Jewell as an avid owner of guns and is extremely knowledgeable about security–things the FBI used against him. Bryant tells him to not say anything, but he keeps talking (since he’s so big into law enforcement), making things worse on everyone around him. It’s only after he realizes how the ordeal has hurt his mother that he finally gets the nerve to confront the FBI directly. 

As for the film itself, it’s very good and has some incredible acting. Bates was nominated for a Golden Globe recently for her role as Jewell’s mom Bobi. Hauser and Rockwell are great in their individual roles but magical when they share the screen. You see and feel their relationship build, change, and eventually transform each other. Munn seems to me to be the weak link, but after giving it some thought, she adds a necessary layer to transform the film from ho-hum to must-see. And this is a film that deserves to be seen and its voice heard for past, present, and future generations. 

That evening in Centennial Park, anyone off the street could walk in–there were police around, but no layer of security other than presence. One week later, I returned to Atlanta to see a handball match and found a completely different city. There was a feeling of nervousness everywhere. Security was beefed up considerably. In fact, in order to visit the park again, I had to go through two separate bag checks. The innocence was gone, never to be reclaimed again. 

At one point on this planet, there was innocence and no need for protection. Adam and Eve were sinless at first, having their pick of whatever they wanted to do and to eat. Sure, God warned them not to eat from one specific tree, but there was no security guard around for enforcement. When they finally gave in and tasted of the forbidden fruit, things changed. The innocence was lost. God, after a stern lecture, kicked them out of Eden–and added security detail in the form of a flaming sword so they could never get in again. Sin is costly, but it doesn’t have to rule in us thanks to Jesus and his birth, life, death, and return to life once more. He’s ready to forgive all those who call on him to do so.

Make sure you put Richard Jewell on your must-see list this year. It’s thrilling, harrowing, and a sobering reminder of innocence lost–both individually and as a society.

Special features include both “The Real Story of Richard Jewell” and “The Making of Richard Jewell” with many of the principles (Eastwood, Hamm, Rockwell, Bates, etc.) included.

Captive: Is It Ever Too Late To Change?

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CaptiveAs humans, we get to deal with numerous situations each day we’re alive.  Some are pretty benign, such as what to eat for breakfast. Others are more challenging, like determining the fastest way to a destination without the help of GPS devices. Some are even life-altering, such as going to the hospital for abdominal pain and finding out your appendix needs to be removed immediately.

But what do you do when someone kidnaps you and holds you hostage in your own house?

That’s the question Ashley Smith had to answer on March 12, 2005, when Brian Nichols, who had already killed four individuals and broken out of police custody in Georgia, found her and held her prisoner for seven hours in her residence. She was able to answer it in a manner that worked, saving her life and helping Nichols get recaptured.  It’s a fascinating story, one that has been brought to the silver screen in the film Captive.

Of course, there’s more to the actual story than I shared above. Smith (played by Kate Mara [Fantastic Four]) is not the perfect individual—far from it. An opening flashback where she talks with her daughter Paige leads to the discovery that she’s a broken individual.  Her husband was killed in the past and she’s fallen into the trap that drugs (specifically, ice) only help to perpetuate. She’s trying to break the cycle, but isn’t doing a great job of it. Her daughter stays with her aunt, she drives a car that is chronically one step from breaking down for good, and she’s close to losing her job as a waitress. One of her fellow members in a self-help group gives her a copy of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, but she promptly tosses it in the trash when she thinks the lady isn’t looking. She is, however, and gets it back to Smith when she arrives at her job.

Meanwhile, Nichols (Academy Award Nominee David Oyelowo, Selma) is being moved while at the Fulton County Courthouse. One moment of lapsed attention by his detaining officer leads to a rather grisly scene: she’s knocked cold and two others are shot point blank before he makes his escape. He’s desperately trying to remain ‘free’ while the whole state, led by detective John Chestnut (Michael Kenneth Williams), is out to find him.

Captive

That evening, Nichols finds Smith outside her new apartment and proceeds to take her captive inside. She’s fearful for her life and has every right to be.  He’s armed to the teeth, has a police radio, and is desperate—she’s alone with only a CD player providing her companionship.  He takes precautions to make sure she doesn’t escape while she wonders what to do. There is palpable tension in these scenes as Smith puts herself in harm’s way by offering him some of her drugs, only to have him attempt to force her to take them at gunpoint. She pulls out The Purpose Driven Life and starts reading it to him in snippets.  Nichols admits at one point, “I’ve got a demon in me,” and talks about the newborn son he longs to see for the first time. He eventually asks Smith to read him more from the book, which acts as the impetus for her release and the peaceful resolution of the situation.

The film is one that may please both those of faith (Romans 5:20 is shown on the screen just as the movie begins) and those who enjoy real-life stories with a twist of brutal reality throw in by director Jerry Jameson.  Personally, I’m in favor of this grittier-edge type of faith story that isn’t too ham-handed with its presentation.  There isn’t an altar call to be found, but you can easily tell that Warren’s themes in his book (It’s not about you; God’s purpose is completely in play in your life) is brought front and center near the end.

It’s in this one moment that Captive ceases to be completely captivating.  The violence works, but there’s a noticeable absence of swearing (actually, none at all) that one would expect when a violent criminal is in a desperate fight to maintain their freedom.  It diminishes the performances of Oyelowo and Mara to some extent, although both are pretty convincing in their roles (Oyelowo moreso; I wouldn’t want to meet his version of Nichols in a dark alley). I also think that if there was more development of the backstory and the police scenes were treated like they were in the film Speed, then this film could be something special.  In the final analysis, Captive is an entertaining film that falls short by playing to too many facets of their intended audience.

Captive

This is not to say that lessons cannot be learned from the movie. We’re able to see how one thing in a person’s life can be used to break them—in this case, Nichols’ desire to see his son. The police—and eventually Smith—use it to bring him closer to peacefully ending the standoff. This is also true in Smith’s life with her drug addiction; the difference is that she manages to break free and overcome. This is a power that doesn’t come through self-will, since “no temptation [overtakes a person] except that which is common to mankind” (1 Cor. 10:13 NIV). God has to handle the situation—and he excels in giving people a way out so that they can eventually stand.  In the case of Smith, the drug sequence was the last straw and pushed into a completely clean lifestyle.

Smith has a line at the end when she tells the holed-up Nichols via megaphone, “It’s not too late . . .  There is purpose in your life . . . Do the right thing.”  Each person has meaning in life (yes, even the folks hanging out in prisons today); what they choose to do with it is a different story.

The greatest tragedy of life is not to figure out what that meaning is before dying. It starts with getting to know God and his plan to bring all people back to himself through Christ. With the difficult situations we deal with daily, it makes sense to give the one who created the earth and all who live in it a try.

It beats being captive to the rest of the world.