1977, Indianapolis. As the clock starts ticking when the movie fades into view, so do viewers’ heartbeat commence to race as something wrong; something terribly evil is set to take place. A man named Tony Kristis/ is sweating, driving his car to his favourite music station, with the velvet voice of his host calming his nerves down. Yet when he arrives at Meridian Mortgage offices to look for the big fish, company owner M. L. Hall, he is surprised to find his son Richard instead. What Richard finds himself in is a bad time bad place scenario as the wire of a shotgun is slipped through his neck and police and journalists helplessly watch and film him, weapon bound, slipping down the streets of downtown. The rest of the plot follows the tense minutes, hours, days which follow, with police and journalists as well as the radio host all contributing to an escalation of events, which form the plot of the movie.
This thriller, almost a faux documentary, is based on real events and capture as the feeling of the era, with a sepia-flair, a script rife with references and voices rich that seem so distinct from the 1970s. Director Gus Van Sant is no rookie, having directed Good Will Hunting and Milk, and Dead Man’s Wire captures this theme of the blue collar man, the little guy striving to make it an oppressive system, and has the small but well-acted and filmed touch of a director honed in on his craft.
Bill Skarsgård, who plays Kristis, certainly has a knack for portraying more deranged characters without feeling like a caricature. Kristis was a living man battling his own demons, a man, a neighbour with friends who suddenly became a kidnapper, a man with a difficult childhood. His Midwest accent sounds convincing, especially from someone who grew up in Sweden. Dacre Montgomery, the talented Australian actor, puts a face to the big corporation through his portrayal of Richard Hall, reminding viewers of his humanity through his subtle expressions of grief.
The weapon of choice, the dead’s man wire, is a crude contraption, made of hunting wire attached to a rifle. It can be a symbol for human resilience and at the cruelty used to survive. After all, a trapped animal will bite its leg off in order to survive. This homemade weapon contrasts to Al Pacino’s bigger than life character M. L. Hall, who basks in his wealth made from his loaning company and whose weapon of choice, the legal and justice system, seem bigger and more powerful than Tony’s mere rifle.
My question is why make a movie about this particular event and why now? Certainly, this event has had an impact on the Indianapolis community, who watched on their local news channel their neighbour paraded with a rifle around his neck. Yet it feels especially pertinent now, what with the death of United Healthcare’s CEO, and the subsequent popularity of his alleged murder, Luigi Mangioni. Kristis and Mangioni both ascend to almost mythical figures, ridden in the collective imaginary of their crimes to become the fighters of the little people against the bad, rich men who profit from others’ demise.
This is a gritty film, relatively fast-paced but which will certainly make your heart race. The selective empathy we feel towards the characters will change and make you question your own morals at times. Do you feel for the representative of a loan company, a business which profits on the interests of their debtors, or do you feel for a traumatized man with a wife and a rifle around his neck? Is the man with the bombs and the weapons the evil, or is he just the little guy behind on his luck looking for reparative justice? People’s opinions will certainly differ. For those who like reflection mixed with action, this true-story semi-documentary, complete with music, cars and hair, or the era is certainly worth a watch.
