Movie review: Fracture
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
This film was great. Not in the traditional sense though. You’re probably wondering what I mean. To be honest I’m not entirely sure what I mean.
The storyline is seemingly common. Fracture is a murder mystery. The film stars the great Anthony Hopkins as a jailed man who choses to represent himself in court. He is accused of murdering his wife. To the ire of everyone involved it seems as though he’s secured himself somehow against any possible chance of conviction.
The movie keeps you guessing. Through much of it you can’t be sure if Hopkins’s character is guilty or not, is he demented or not etc. Its really a pleasure to watch in that respect. The movie holds its secrets well.
While some viewers may find the ending disappointing I’ve no comment, I found the film’s strength lay elsewhere. The film undertakes that rarely attempted task of value judgment and moral and ethical assessment. It does so in two ways. The first and obvious one is the in action of the film. The result is passable. The second way is more subtle and what sets this film apart. The director/creator of the film explored a moral imperative through the characters themselves but not in what happens to them or what doesn’t happen to them but in the actual characters. Each character has a “type” and those types play almost independently of the other characters. So each character grows and develops individually. It is as if the movie creator turned to the viewer and said “Here is a type of person, here is what I believe happens to them psychologically as they move along in time.” A judgment of value and I respect that.
Perhaps I read too deeply into this movie but I read deeply into every movie. The problem is that most films don’t contain much to hold my attention.