Review of Out of the Furnace by Cooper

I really wanted to see this film when it came out. Unfortunately the woman I was seeing at the time did not want to see it. Instead I had to sit through the Book Thief which was not entirely bad but it wasn't what I wanted to see. Anyway she doesn't want to go out with me anymore and I got the film from the library.

I'm from near the area that the movies is set in, the rust belt. So somen of the surroundings and character situations are familiar to me. This film follows a linear path with no flashbacks. It is a very solidly realist film which I like. The performances are all good. Christian Bale plays the lead and Woody Harrelson plays the villain. Bale's brother, play by Casey Affleck gets into to trouble and is murdered by Harrellson. Bale goes vigilante and takes down Harrellson in the final scene.

I thought the film was well written. Bale is the responsible one in what appears to be a setting which encourages irresponsibility. He works at the Steel Mill while his brother goes off chasing his dreams of glory in Iraq or getting rich quick. His brother refuses to work for a living. He doesn't want to be his brother or his father. He refuses to be responsible. In one scene where Bale and Affleck are talking then Affleck pulls up his shirt and shows off his war scars and talks about his war stories. He thinks that should win him something. He thinks he is special and doesn't have to work for a living. Bale tries to talk sense into him, but it does no good.

Instead he follows Willem Dafoe into a world of underground fighting. Afflack wins his first bout, but the second one which involves Harrelson he intentional goes down. He follows orders. After the fight Harrelson and his goons double cross Dafoe and Afflack. Harrelson shoots both of them. Afterwards Bale sets up a trap that ensnares Harrelson. The cop from Bales town arrives on the scene begging Bale to not shoot Harrelson, but he shoots him anyway.

This film shows how life for many people is in the rust belt. They go to work. They eat. They die. They play a little. Their lives are unglamrous. They give everything they to work and get only a little in return. I've met a few people like Afflack, I even empathized with him. Many young men near where I live want to go somewhere else. They complain that there are no jobs. They don't like school. It's too depressing. They hate what their fathers did or what their brothers do. They don't want to be what people tell they them should be. They don't want to work at the factory.

The shots of the scenery and the mill were great. They reminded me of where I grew up. The smoke billowing out the pipes, the run down houses, the rows of houses on an indistinct street, the rows and rows of trees surround the highway, great shots.

This film reminds me a lot of what people talk about as post-industrial America. There is some that talk in this film. Yet I guess some areas have missed the growth into a new form of economic organization. I really like this film.