THE CLEARING

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: language, thematic elements

Rated:

Both an ingenious film for its use of parallel events and a shocking one due to its ultimate conclusions, The Clearing is a character-driven study of human nature and the darker side of life. With a brilliant leading cast and an emotional ending, it's not a feel-good thriller so much as one that explores tragic events from the perspective of those caught up in them.

The Hayes family live a quiet life. Wayne (Robert Redford) has managed to make it through difficult times, both in his marriage and the workplace, without losing much face and maintaining a decent relationship with his wife Eileen (Helen Mirren), who is content to play with their golden retriever and take morning swims. This particular day, she sends him off with a warning to be home by six, in expectation for the company they are entertaining that evening. Wayne promises to be home in time for dinner, drives out of her life... and never comes back. Concerned but maintaining a strong face for her guests, Eileen calls the police when her husband doesn't return by midnight. Little do they know that Wayne has been abducted by Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe), who insists he is being paid to deliver Wayne to his true abductors in a cabin in the mountains.

While Eileen is consoled by her grown children (Alessandro Nivola, Melissa Sagemiller), Wayne makes his way through mountain paths, attempting to forge a trust relationship with his kidnapper. Having not heard any news from the abductors in over forty-eight hours, the FBI encourages Eileen to make stronger demands -- to talk with her husband. But with time passing, it becomes increasingly less likely that they will ever find her husband alive. What really holds the film together are the actors. I have never seen a more mature, settled performance from Redford before. It's clear that with age, he has strengthened as an actor. Dafoe normally goes over the top but here is chilling for his inability to emotionally connect to his victim. Mirren is the most heartbreaking aspect, for it is she who is grieving.

More than once, the film had me in tears for the sheer value of its subtle meaning, that lives can be so completely destroyed by the actions of a single warped mind. It's difficult to talk about the psychology involved without revealing too much of the plot, but each character is tormented in some way or another. Arnold faces a life of sheer forgettable ness, discontent with his uneventful daily routine. Wayne cannot understand why, if he loves his wife so much, he keeps pulling farther away from her; and Eileen is tormented by knowledge of his past adulterous affairs. There is not much content and the film moves at a measured pace. One other difficulty that audiences might have is figuring out the sequence of events, since the timelines are slightly off. Once the end is reached, we understand the full strand of time and it almost requires a second viewing in order to see the film as it is intended to be seen.

There is no sexual content and only moderate violence. A fight involves one party nearly being strangled; a man is shot (without bloody effects). A wine bottle full of blood is delivered to the Hayes' home. There are some frightening sequences in which we fear for Eileen's life in a darkened wood. Language consists of two f-words (one used sexually) and four abuses of GD. There is conversation about Wayne's past affair with his secretary. The production is both enthralling and haunting, even more so because when the ending credits roll, it requires further thought. This does not have the token happy ending that most of us are looking for in kidnapping cases, and for that reason more sensitive viewers should stay away.