*Warning: Spoiler Alert in this first paragraph for the movie Titanic*
To begin, let me request that no one sum up this movie (Foxcatcher) by giving away what happens. I could hardly believe that someone, in discussing movies, said in one line about Foxcatcher the equivalent of saying about Titanic, “Oh, that’s that movie about the ship that hits the iceberg and sinks and almost everyone including Leonardo DiCaprio’s character dies?” Because no, I don’t know the wrestling world. I had never heard of Mark Schultz, and other than chemical companies, the name du Pont meant very little to me. Foxcatcher would have been even better had I been able to live out the story without knowing where it was heading. But even with that, it was a great film.
So no matter your background knowledge, the film is well worth seeing. It’s not the best of the year, but it easily deserves its place in the top five. It does not try to sugar-coat the story, in my view, of any of the characters. All are flawed. All are troubled. And the demons du Pont and Schultz battle are fierce, occupying large places deep within each man.
Knowing a bit about another story before I saw Foxcatcher, I found myself cocking my head sideways, an eyebrow slightly raised, as some parallels seemed to surface. (These parallels strengthened when I finally saw the other film a couple of days later.) The common underlying themes, in Foxcatcher outright (and in the other film only if you are open to knowing more of the story than given on the screen (I’ll get to penning my thoughts on *that* film in a day or so. Those thoughts are tough and complex and need more braising time.)), ask some difficult questions about our society and what is really valued by too many. After all, what makes a person a patriot? At what point is that “patriotism” an obsession? How far will others go at ignoring such a blooming obsession if the patriot is doing something that distracts from that, such as sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into a national Olympic team? Is there a danger in the beat-my-chest-braggart self-proclaimed patriot?
Yes. Yes, there is.
Steve Carell does a stellar job at showing the depths of du Ponts obsessions and errant thoughts, cultivated by wealth and indulgences. One completely forgets this is the same actor who brought us a forty-year-old virgin. And one completely cringes as you watch his grasp on issues unravel while those around him not only allow him to continue on his path, but enable it. Who, after all, wants to challenge the hand that feeds you? He brings almost nothing to care for, other than a layer of pity at his situation being allowed to fester so by this absentee yet overbearing mother, a character I wish they had time to explore more, as I wanted to know where her cold nature began.
Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo likewise bring strong performances, embracing these roles and bringing these brothers’ story to the screen in an electrifying manner. The story does sometimes feel slow or drawn out, but in the end, I think it needed to be so to help show how these relationships grew into a foul, rotten mix of despair and anger and hopeless longing of du Pont and Schultz to be something they thought they were supposed to be.
If you don’t know the ending, read nothing more about the film and just go see it. Even if you do know, you should see this movie if you like deep, thoughtful films. This one delivers.