The Patty Hearst case made terrific spreads for the media for
months, and justifiably so. This heir to what would today be a
fortune of a few billion dollars was kidnapped by the
Symbionese Liberation Army, a Marxist group with absolute
contempt for the "exploiting robber barons. Yet Ms. Hearst
bonded with her abductors to such an extent that she joined
them in making an armed robbery on a bank. How could this
happen? Sociologists call this Stockholm Syndrome–the
tendency of people who are in the hands of captors to find
common ground with them, perhaps from a sense of guilt for
their own good fortune.
"The Clearing" is not quite the same as the Patty Hearst story
but bears enough similarities to make one think back to that
event. A film whose title has a double meaning–the clearing
representing the woods to which a kidnapper takes his victim,
and also the way that events in the lives of the two are cleared
up–"The Clearing is an intriguing story that has only a few of the
fiery melodramatics that you'd expect if this were a big-budget
Hollywood film, and is all the stronger for its respect for the
audience. The film varies from family drama to pulse-raising
thriller, with debut director Pieter Jan Brugge illustrating Justin
Haythe first-time screenplay by placing parallel threads into two
separate time frames to show what's happening in the luxury
mansion when Eileen Hayes notes that her husband is missing
followed by a reenactment of the actual kidnapping of Wayne
Hayes (Robert Redford) by Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe).
While Eileen confers with her grown children, Tim (Alessandro
Nivola) and Jill (Melissa Sagemiller) and also with Agent Ray
Fuller (Matt Craven), we subsequently are privy to the actual
abduction wherein Arnold tricks Wayne into opening the door of
the wealthy man's Mercedes, getting in, and leading him into the
woods where, we're told, he will be picked up by some men in a
cabin.
Not much goes on in the Hayes mansion (actually filmed in an
Atlanta suburb whereas the title clearing is filmed in Asheville,
North Carolina), since Eileen seems almost nonchalant about
her missing husband. She carries on as though this were an
everyday event, swimming in her pool and holding a birthday
party for her one-year-old grandchild. Nor is there particular
tension in the FBI chase after the criminal. What separates this
film from others of the genre is the conversations between
victim and captor, the unemployed loser, Arnold, complains that
he has to send his wife to work as a waitress while Wayne
enjoys the privileges of his money.
We find out that things are seldom what they seem. Wayne
has lost something he can never get back. Because of his
attention to his work, particularly the car rental business that
raked in a fortune for him, he scarcely paid attention to his
children and presumably not much more to his wife. What's not
convincing is Wayne's attempt to show that he shares lots of
common ground with the unhappy Arnold, as if to say that
money does not buy happiness. (Maybe so, but give me a
couple of million and let me shop around a while for it.)
The standout feature is the powerful performances of the
three leads: the always reliable Helen Mirren, who does not
overplay her grief; Willem Dafoe, a natural for a villain since he
played a title role in "Gods and Monsters," and Robert Redford
who, though not mentioned in the press notes, is exquisitely
made up to look ten years older and almost ordinary.
Copyright © 2004 Harvey Karten
