4 sublime-trips-through-the-American-heartland out of 4
Hell or High Water is as much director David Mackenzie’s project as it is writer Taylor Sheridan’s, but there’s no denying that the latter—who, until Sicario, was best known for acting on television—has hit a creative goldmine of late.
In Sicario, Sheridan examined the complex geopolitical tension along the U.S.-Mexico border, channeling the tension that brews from a strained, one-sided relationship into an action thriller whose best moments were when the mood was quiet. In Hell or High Water, Sheridan shifts his focus to West Texas, writing a slow and methodical thriller that serves as riveting social commentary about the effects of the Great Recession on small, quintessentially American towns.
The film stars Chris Pine and Ben Foster as Toby and Tanner Howard—a pair of brothers struggling to make the mortgage payments on their family farm. They resort to robbing banks; more specifically, they resort to robbing the different branches of the one bank holding their property hostage.
“…if there’s any real villain in this film, it’s the American banking system. ”
Their plan is intricate and detailed. They stick to a simple strategy: take small bills and leave behind live bodies. As with all heist films, members of the group don’t stick to the plan.
Pine plays the brains behind the operation; Foster, the ex-con fighting for whatever remains of his rightful inheritance. The characters are unoriginal stereotypes, but thanks to Sheridan’s minimalistic script, and actors capable of injecting humanity, pain, and emotion into their characters, the roles feel real instead of hollow. It all works because we’re never asked to directly empathize with the Howard brothers—we’re simply told to reserve our judgment until after the show. After all, if there’s any real villain in this film, it’s the American banking system.
Hell or High Water is a film in that newly emerging genre of slow-burn southern American thrillers. Breaking Bad was one such story, True Detective’s first season was another. Hell or High Water follows suit, hinging on the uncertainty and fragility of the genre’s unique brand of encroaching darkness. The tone is tense, the mood is downtrodden, the people are struggling, yet characters hold on to brief remnants of pride and humanity.
“…the camera guides us through this atmosphere of uncertainty and bleak hopefulness.”
The film’s mood is aided by Giles Nuttgens’s cinematography. As scenes shift from day to night and back again, Nuttgens refuses to paint the yellows and browns of the dusty West Texas countryside in anything but the most somber and morose shades. The harsh yellow sun hangs in the sky like a heavy brick. The atmosphere is a thick shade of brown. And yet, in spite of Nuttgens’s colour palette, the film never feels oppressively hopeless.
What, then, of director Mackenzie’s work? This is a film that is methodical and intricate. Mackenzie’s steady hand behind the camera guides us through this atmosphere of uncertainty and bleak hopefulness.
The film begins with a stunningly immersive long-take sequence that tracks a car as it moves from the road, behind a bank, and into the parking lot. Like a lion stalking a gazelle before leaping out of the grassy savannah, Mackenzie’s camera cunningly follows the vehicle until a moment of greatest emotional impact occurs.
“Hell or High Water is a testament to the versatility and perseverance of the American people. ”
However, this is ultimately a film that doesn’t speed up until its final few moments. When the bullets start whizzing by, Mackenzie has already spent so much time with these characters and their environments that the violence surges through the audience, leaving a sensation of dry horror. The audience’s reaction to the violence is earned, and when people start to get hurt, we recoil simply because we weren’t expecting it.
I conclude by stating that Mackenzie’s film is a movie about a place as much as it is about people. The American south is still recovering from the economic disparity of the past decade. People are still losing their homes—they’re still struggling to find meaningful work. Thanks to a number of economic choices that focused on spreading the wealth among nations, and not just citizens, there is now great pain in the fact that a once prosperous portion of the American population is struggling to find hope.
Hell or High Water is a testament to the versatility and perseverance of the American people. It’s a testament to the fact that, when the so-called going gets tough, the tough get going. Of course, it’s also a testament to that simple truth that there’s no more cunning a beast than one pushed against a wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkAxFqcl2qE
Photo courtesy of CBS Films / Lionsgate.