4/11/11 WORD TO THE WISE: BIUTIFUL SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Biutiful carries us into a grim world inhabited by undocumented workers struggling to survive in contemporary Barcelona. The cinematography renders the world with a convincing, gritty realism, and the desperate circumstances of the characters unfold with a brutal, directness. Bardem portrays Uxbal, a small time criminal, working in the pay of a Chinese underworld figure, marketing the exploitation of undocumented Senegalese and Chinese laborers. It goes without saying that this system has devastating effects on the lives of the all the workers and their families, and no one can be surprised when this leads to a catastrophic, lethal event; a horror for which Uxbal is at least partly responsible.
The film really asks us to condone Uxbal's complicity in the exploitation of the immigrant workers on several grounds. Inarritu's arguments might go something like this:
- Uxbal is, himself, exploited and lives in circumstances only a small degree better than some of the families of the laborers.
- Uxbal is living on borrowed time, we have to pity him.
- Uxbal does not have many real options and is desperate to do what he can to provide for his own children.
And, perhaps most importantly, Uxbal has far more empathy for the workers than do any of the others exploiting them. Uxbal does what he can to materially improve their lives. He is shown to be compassionate, and is seen to feel real guilt about being a part of the system which uses these people so ruthlessly. He's not such a bad guy.
And it is here that Javier Bardem's performance comes so close to saving the movie. Lacking any appeal to our emotions, the film's defense of Uxbal is, in any moral terms, completely, obviously unacceptable. The fact that we are almost persuaded is a testimony to Bardem's powers. (Of course, along with his talent as an actor, he has the face and expression that Carlo Crivelli would have chosen to depict Christ on the cross. That doesn't hurt a bit in trying to win our sympathies!)
In fact, the performance might have accomplished the miracle of salvation for the film, if not for one truly unforgivable miscalculation by Inarritu. Uxbal has an unusual second, part-time job: he can communicate with the recently deceased. That device could be seen simply a harmless, fantastic counterpoint for the film's otherwise unblinking realism. But I think providing the character with this superpower serves a much less noble purpose. In spite of all extenuating circumstances that the film and Bardem's portrayal might offer, no one who confronts the question honestly will condone Uxbal's actions. And so, instead, the film simply suggests that, through his power to commune with the dead, perhaps he has been forgiven by his own victims! And where I found the other attempts to exonerate the character to be unconvincing, I find this attempt to invoke a kind of supernatural absolution to be wholly reprehensible.
The film asks us to feel the real pain of these characters, and to enter the desolate world in which they live. Given a wondrously skilled crew, that world is made extremely real to us. This is an uremittingly bleak vision; no one could find this film easy to watch. That's okay. I think film audiences are largely prepared to deal with disturbing images and events. But you can't invoke mystical communion with the dead to provide a deus ex machina to resolve a flawed character. The film has to be honest with the audience. In spite of Javier Bardem's remarkable achievement, I don't believe that "Biutiful" rises to that standard.
-Steven Levin
-
Posted under
Word to the Wise
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: