Written by Jennifer
February 23, 2009
Robert Redford wouldn't have shown up to make a crappy movie.
I might as well admit that I don't usually love the kind of movies that play at film festivals. Even though I have the utmost respect for independent films, I usually find them verbose and visually uninteresting. I'm not proud of this, but I mention it because it informed how I approached The Clearing, a movie that veritably smacked of Sundance. There was something about the marketing of this film that just screamed independent, even though it boasts a cast including Robert Redford, Willem Dafoe, and Helen Mirren. I looked forward to seeing it with a mixture of anticipation and dread. I know I'm not alone, because I recommended it to a woman who replied simply, "Ooh. I've been avoiding that."
It wasn't until I actually held the video in my hand that I realized Robert Redford wouldn't have shown up to make a crappy movie. I surrendered myself to the experience, and discovered a surprisingly good story. Far from being visually uninteresting, The Clearing is the most verdant movie I have ever seen. While O Brother Where Art Thou? takes the prize as the yellowest movie of our time, The Clearing is certainly the greenest.
The story begins with Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) heading to work as a high-powered rental car industry executive. He passes through his usual routine of playing with his dog and saying goodbye to his wife (Helen Mirren), but there is something poignantly captured in the moment where he looks back at his wife, a sense of distance and longing in his eyes that she is oblivious to. He then climbs into his car, and for all intents and purposes, is gone. Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe), a disgruntled, unemployed auto worker steps into the picture at this point, and kidnaps Hayes.
The bulk of the movie progresses slowly, but interestingly, as Mack marches Hayes through the woods and Hayes' family struggles with his disappearance and the demands for ransom money. The two storylines are equally intriguing, if a bit incongruous at times. Hayes and Mack are both unlikable in fundamental ways, yet demonstrate such quiet vulnerability that you can't help feeling for them. Hayes has clearly been driven by ambition (and perhaps greed) to the point where he has compromised his relationship with his family, and stepped on people in the corporate world. Mack finds himself out of work, being supported by his wife and her father, and kidnaps Hayes in a convoluted attempt to restore his pride and regain some financial stability. Neither man is actually a bad person, just a bit misguided and lost. Both actors offer wonderfully restrained performances, and have strong chemistry together. Even though "wonderfully restrained" sums up nearly every Robert Redford performance, he somehow captures a different character every single time.
Just at the point where it seems the movie can only go in one direction, it takes a sudden twist that is both shocking and moving. Somehow the story comes together in an emotionally evocative and satisfying conclusion that both defied and exceeded my expectations. At times I struggled a bit with the time lapsed in the film—the storyline with the family clearly took place over several days, while the Redford/Dafoe story seemed to take place in the course of one afternoon. This bothered me for awhile—Where are they sleeping? What about food? What day is it? Ultimately you realize that it doesn't matter. The important thing about The Clearing is not so much the events that take place, but the changes they cause within the characters.
