Summary:
A police lieutenant with serious gambling and drug addictions reevaluates the way he chooses to live his life during his investigation into the rape of a nun.
My Thoughts:
“Bad Lieutenant” is one of those movies where I almost feel as if I’m required to warn the viewer before suggesting it. This is a good film- I’d go so far as to call it a very good film- but the subject material is pretty rough, and the content is even rougher. Our protagonist, an unnamed police Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel, “Pulp Fiction”), is an undeniably horrible person; he has a massive drug problem, he abuses women, he gambles recklessly and compulsively, and he’s quick to lash out at anyone close to him without warning or reason. As I watched this movie, I found myself making comparisons to “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer”, another film that feels as dirty as the characters that populate it, and while this film doesn’t have as many horrible moments as “Henry”, it still has enough objectionable content that I’d feel wrong not mentioning it, so this is me doing that. If you have a hard time with grittier content, I can guarantee you will not like this movie. If, however, you can look past the content to watch the themes this movie champions, and if you can watch the arc our character goes on, then you might be able to see the beauty beneath all the ugliness. This film has some incredibly Christian themes, but it also buries them under some terrible moments of ugliness.
“Vampires are lucky, they can feed on others. We gotta eat away at ourselves.”
A police lieutenant (Keitel) with a gambling and drug addiction places a large bet on the outcome of the World Series. At the same time, the Lieutenant is put in charge of a case surrounding the violent rape of a Nun (Frankie Thorn, “Stigmata (1999)”). As the Lieutenant investigates the case, he finds himself wrestling with many of his beliefs and how he chooses to live his life.
I feel like sometimes movies that revolve around the lowlifes in society get a bad rap for being exploitative or salacious just for the point of being edgy. I’ve seen films where I feel as if that is certainly the case, where the filmmakers are portraying needlessly graphic things just to get attention (“The Human Centipede”), but I’ve also seen films where there are some horrendously atrocious things depicted, but every single one of those things had purpose in being there (“The Devils”). The graphic stuff that is shown throughout this movie is disturbing and at times disgusting, but all of it is necessary to the plot of the film. There are actually two versions of this film, an R rated cut and an NC17 cut. I watched the NC17 cut because I wanted to see the director’s intended vision. It is rough, but I also think that today, twenty-seven years after the film’s release, this probably be rated R.
The film’s premise is incredibly simple; we just follow the Lieutenant around his day-to-day life as he gambles and does drugs without a care to anyone around him. At the same time he’s investigating the horribly violent rape of a nun. While the law wants to persecute the rapists, the nun says that she knows the boys that raped her and she has forgiven them and does not want them prosecuted. The Lieutenant wrestles with this; how could she forgive the people that raped her? As the film goes on, the Lieutenant sinks deeper into depravity, deeper into gambling debt and drug addiction, and it becomes obvious that the real question that the lieutenant is wrestling with is how could God forgive those who have done terrible wrongs? How can God forgive the lieutenant for what he’s done?
Harvey Keitel gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen him give. He completely looses himself in this role, and at times it can be quite frightening, quite revolting. There was one scene where I felt as if he overacted a bit, and that scene was near the climax of the film, and probably the scene with the most emotional resonance overall. As a whole, his acting is astounding, but that one scene sort of irked me a bit.
SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW
Near the climax, the lieutenant talks with the nun again, and she again affirms that she has forgiven those that raped her. The Nun leaves the lieutenant in church, and he has a vision of Christ standing before him. In a scene that is equal parts powerful and overacted, Keitel breaks down and screams at Christ. At first he curses him, then he asks him where he was during the hard parts of his life, he says that he tries but he’s just too weak, and finally he asks for forgiveness. This scene is brilliantly executed as far as writing and directing goes, but at the same time, Keitel’s performance didn’t work for me completely.
Verdict:
As I’ve already mentioned a few times, this is a rougher movie, but I also think this is one film that warrants all of the rougher material. This is a morality play, and without showing the gruesome moments of depravity, the moments of redemption wouldn’t feel nearly as powerful. Our protagonist is a hopeless wretch of a man, but so are all we sinners; we might not all shoot heroine, cheat on our wives, or blackmail people into doing things, but we’ve all sinned, we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. This isn’t just the story of a bad police lieutenant finally embracing God’s forgiveness, it’s the story of every sinner turning away from his or her sinful ways and deciding to run towards the forgiving arms of Christ.
End Note: If you like this film, check out our review for Werner Herzog’s sister film: “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.” I, personally, didn’t find that film to be nearly as moving as this one, but it does have some very good moments.
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