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As for the movie “Betrayed” I found myself at a crossroad, wavering between the deep feelings of compassion I had for the characters and the serious issues I had with the plot. Here were ‘people’ I trusted, participating in a scenario that no one could vouch for. And that sort of conflict begs very basic questions such as, yes, but how is it that the characters themselves, who seem so intelligent, would believe their own story? This happens to be the most difficult aspect of character construction for these movie roles they need to be portrayed as individuals that operate with a certain degree of cognitive intellect.
The movie starts during the harvest, with a storyline set in Iowa where Debra Winger plays a migrant farm worker who operates a combine on a large farm of a divorced man (Tom Berenger).She gets to operate the combine for a few days. From the onset, there is some affection between the two and once she wins over his two children, the four of them are in love. At the end of the harvest Winger’s character is asked to stay on the farm and she does.
But “Betrayed” isn’t a tale of love, rather, an undercover romance. She learns very quickly that Winger is an FBI agent, and Berenger is expected to have some connections to a right-wing terrorist group that assassinated a leftist Chicago talk show host. How is this possible? How can a polite and an honest face of a Sunday church attending, apple pie eating farmer, be a neo-Nazi murderer? Winger herself fails to comprehend this at first, she tells her FBI contacts that he is the wrong man. But after falling deeper in love with Berenger, she slowly begins accepting the truth when he decides to let Winger in on his secrets. His first wife could not tolerate the all-encompassing secret world fueled with paranoia, and consequently broke up. But Berenger realizes that he has to honest with Winger, changes direction and messes everything up. His wish to share his never-ending story drives Winger to the point of weirdness in the film. The tension coming from the ultra right-wing paramilitary organization is contrary to his pop psychology. The wish to come out with all important and sensitive issues fuels the language of a communist.
The sprawling tale has been painstakingly crafted by writer Joe Eszterhas and director Costa-Gavras. Joe is best known for ‘Jagged Edge’ while Costa-Gavras has dedicated most of his work to investigating right wing groups in ‘Z’ and ‘Missing’. Joe is well known for diabolical double reverses while Costa-Gavras is famed for his intricate and cunning style. From the beginning, Winger and Berenger relate to one another, and even towards the conclusion of the film, it is difficult to understand why a farmer from Iowa would need to put on such a facade. Mainly because, as the story progresses, Wingers character begins to shine, and Costa Gavras tightly encompasses her in the powerful grasp of love, making it impossible for her to escape.
This is mainly the same predicament that Eszterhas portrayed for Glenn Close in ‘Jagged Edge. The audience is left contemplating whether to love the man or consider him a two-faced killer. Those of us who were fortunate enough to watch ‘Jagged Edge’ were immersed in the story until the credits rolled. But with ‘Betrayed’ the title gives a little too much. Within the first few frames, the audience knows the answer. In this particular scenario, the story does not rely on the actions of Berenger but rather on how Winger is going to save her identity from being uncovered. As these layers of the tale were revealed, I began to encounter issues.
I understand that there are right-wing militia groups operating in the U.S. I understand that members affiliated with these groups have recently been sentenced for the murder of Alan Berg, the liberal talk show host from Denver, the murder of which gets this story going. I did not probe into that level of the story. And even when “Betrayed” made a point to exploit the complexities of the Berenger character, I took that as just another aspect of the filmmaking business.
Two other aspects in particular did not sit well with me. One was the over exaggerated manner in which the plot prepares Winger for trouble. A FBI man played by John Heard, masters the uncanny skill of being at the completely wrong place at a very wrong time and cares far too much. And To make his Blaxploitation character all the more incredible, I mean, his character was so one-dimensional that he would have driven me insane in a television that did not reveal an entire romance between Winger and Heard. Time and time again, I found myself asking the exact opposite, where I used to inspiration fearing her own betrayal, the clever Winger lady made such foolish moves so often in the film.
What shocked me even more was the unsettling, vile images I witnessed in that scene where Berenger and his fascist friends captured a black man and went on a hunt for him at night, finally ending with his murder. Whether the intended goal of the characters or the plot justifies it or not, that scene is utterly condemnable and should not exist in an entertainment film. I haven’t witnessed anything as disturbing and cynical as this in a long time – it is so much of a disturbance to the film’s standards that it puts the move on pause and barely manages to resume. I assume that Costa-Gavras, who is always correct but in this case is left wing, thought this part was important to his crusade towards the racist underworld he was exposing. But ‘Betrayed’ is not just a small, courageous speech on politics as ‘Z’ is. It is a film produced on the basis of Hollywood star power, and disgusting, vile racist hunts have no seat in it.
More than anything else, “Betrayed” is finally just very deeply confused. Winger and Berenger interpret it as the complicated human stories of their characters. Costa-Gavras must have considered it a political film and Eszterhas undoubtedly saw it as a thriller. This is also the reason why the film creates its turmoil, hsppy ryns //inll|8rerus A deep sense of confusion, sloppy plot developments, conflict between the filmmakers’ motivation and two powerful performances that, irrespective of everything, make the characters real and sympathetic.
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