“You’re the only one down here doing a God Damned thing for us.”
Written/Directed by: Austin Stark
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Sarah Paulson, Connie Nielsen
Swift shot: Remember Deep Horizon? Odds are if you are in the Gulf States, you’ll never forget the impact that event and the devastating storms wrought on Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. But with Louisiana in particular, Mother Nature, or God, or whatever you choose to believe in, seemingly had her sights set on total annihilation. And with a televised weeping heard across the world, one Democratic Congressman gains enough notoriety to launch a potential Senate run. But, is he just another Democrat politician capitalizing on a tragedy, or does he truly hurt with his constituents?
Nicolas Cage is Colin Price, a Congressman with flaws, who is trying to do right by his horrendously put upon district. Price has the unique quality of being a white representative in a predominantly black district. He’s managed that by riding his daddy’s coat-tails, the one time mayor and strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Now, his daddy is just a mean old crosspatch, slowly dying alcoholic played well enough by the legendary Peter Fonda.
As Price discovers what it truly means to serve his people, he faces a scandal and a dilemma. He’s given a choice to serve his people or to serve himself, all while navigating a sex scandal that is made very public. Colin is married to Deborah (Nielsen) who can forgive Colin his dalliances, as long as she gets to keep her power. I was reminded of her role in The Devil’s Advocate, if only to mirror her ruthless designs on maintaining her significance. But, it seems Colin can’t keep his dip stick out a local fisherman’s wife. And, his spin doctor, Kate (Paulson) is facing trouble at home as she considers how Colin plays into her life.
What you end up with is a meandering political drama about a less than significant Congressman who capitalizes on the misery of his constituents to further catapult his career. It’s a shame too, because this is really the first feature film I have seen that has dared to tackle the BP Oil Spill. The spill does serve as the catalyst for the story, but it gets sponged up by all the needless melodrama. The message shifts, focusing at first on the question, can a person be a good public servant while being a lecherous cheat? It wraps up with the cliched message that all politicians become corrupted by big business, or something.
Colin is supposedly a sellout at the end, but I think he’s actually a realist. He earnestly believes he can compromise on environmental aspects to help people out where it counts. In short, if people aren’t working, they aren’t going to make it. But Austin Stark would have us believe he’s a villain?
If you want to see a film about how the Gulf Coast coped with all these terrible natural attacks, The Runner will touch on that. You might not be too thrilled with the ego driven message that all politicians are out for themselves, or are all corruptable, or are all flawed. We already know that. What I wanted to see was a film about how the community really managed. I was much less interested in some runner who attended Tulane and his Senate aspirations.
