Review of the movie "Cape fear"

“Counseller!! Counseller!! Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are!!” .

The picture of Max Cady challenging a petrified and hidden Sam Bowden in the most sarcastic and sweetest of tones is still crystal clear in my mind. This portrayal by Robert DeNiro set the tone of a psychopath protagnist.

The Movie "Cape Fear" has a very conventional plot. It is a story of a normal family, which is troubled by a villain. The differences arise in the extremes that the concerned villain is ready to go to make life hell for that family. This performance by DeNiro is one of the outstanding performances and one for which he won an Oscar nomination for best actor, finally losing the award narrowly to an equally brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins, in “The Silence of the Lambs”.

Plot:
Robert DeNiro plays the role of Max Cady, who was sent to jail for fifteen years on account of raping and thrashing a girl, rather brutally. His defence lawyer (played by Nick Nolte ) gets a clue, which could have saved Max. However, he knew that Max was guilty, and after seeing the condition of the battered girl, he purged the clue. As a result Cady got fifteen years sentence. Somehow, Cady gets to know about this fact. The psychopath in him is deeply offended and enraged by the sheer injustice of this act. But he does not shout or rant or scream. He collects that rage within himself, waiting patiently for his turn. And when he comes out, he sets about taking revenge with his lawyer. He stalks his family, makes life hell for him, and slowly but surely goes about mentally torturing him.
Does he succeed? Well see the movie to find out….

Character of Max Cady & Acting of Robert DeNiro
Max Cady stands out among the crowd of villains as one of the most determined, ruthless and evil character ever created. Unlike, the suave Dr. Hannibal Lecter (of Silence of the Lambs), Max Cady looks every inch a villain, and a psycho at that. His choice of gaudy clothes, pony tail hairstyle, extremely well toned body with tattoos throughout, make him an extremely repulsive figure. In one of the scenes the lawyer when confronted by Cady, senses that he is in trouble. He tries to ward off Cady by offering him a bribe. This is what Cady says in the sweetest of tones: “Counsellor what will be my compensation for being held down by four white guys (in prison) or by four black guys???” The sheer rage that is within Cady slowly dwells on the viewer, as the movie progresses.

DeNiro had worked extremely hard on his body to create that effect of a psychopath. A perfectionist that he is, he had his teeth damaged professionally, so as to give a disfigured look of a psycho. The numerous tattoos that he actually had carved on his skin for preparing for his role were not meaningless. Tattoos like that of the weighing scale, statements like “Vengeance is mine”, “My time has not yet come” etc. convey the feeling of vengeance stored within Max Cady create the proper environment. The viewers are able to correlate the abnormal psyche of Cady by seeing his he repulsive abnormal exterior.

Acting of other actors

Although DeNiro outshines others by his intense performance, nonetheless, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis give quite a good performance. Particularly Nolte has given an outstanding performance in certain scenes. His guilty demeanour, his unsuccessful attempts to defend himself and his depiction of unease is really remarkable.

Juliette Lewis has given a brilliant portrayal of an adolescent’s vulnerability towards sex. In one of the scenes, Cady tries to make friendship with the lawyer’s adolescent daughter and then slowly seduces her with his lewd talks. The lawyer’s daughter is in an impressionable age. The scene between the two is perhaps the most difficult one in terms of the complexities of the emotions it is portraying.

The way DeNiro rolls his eyes, smiles lasciviously and tries to punish the father through his daughter; and the way the young girl seemingly enjoys this talk, really generates a indefinable feeling of fear, repulsion and insecurity.

Direction and Screenplay
Martin Scorcese and DeNiro have done a lot of brilliant movies together (Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Casino). Scorcese underscores the point that fear primarily is associated with helplessness. How the psychological pressures of a lunatic totally ruin the sanity and reason of an established lawyer and force him to retreat form the core issue of the movie.

The taut screenplay is able to sustain the thrill created by the unconventional activities of a psychopath. An undercurrent of fear, repulsion and helplessness grips the audience throughout the movie. The movie also touches several other issues like adultery, vulnerability of children and family as a target for revenge and the ineffectiveness of law in cases of psychological harassment. The dialogues are in some places are quite crude and some scenes are downright disturbing