2 of 2

The film's only real cleverness comes through a style that confounds our sense of chronology until the conclusion. While days are passing at the tormented family's home, the villain and his victim seem to be running to a different wristwatch. Thus, as the FBI relate the clues they've discovered and the messages they've received, we're kept uncertain of Wayne's fate, even though we find him in the very next scene trudging forward through the trees, healthy but haggard. This mildly interesting device is, in the end, just a gimmick, not part of any meaningful aesthetic. In fact, the film has little to suggest at all, beyond "Love your wife" and "Wealthy people can be hard-hearted and ignorant."

The enigmatic smile that closes the film might have been a cynical twist, a last-minute revelation, or something deeply meaningful. Instead, it's just one last moment of "Huh?" in a film that, while unconventional, remains lost in dark and dreary woods.

Talk About It

1. What was wrong with the Hayes' marriage? When did it go wrong? Who was at fault? Do you think they made good parents for their children?
   
   
2. What do you think of the way Eileen handles the period of her husband's disappearance? Does she handle the revelations and discoveries with integrity and maturity?
   
   
3. How do you interpret the film's closing scene? Do you find the conclusion comforting? Disturbing? Confusing?
   
   
4. Is Wayne's letter to Eileen enough to resolve the matter of his wrongdoing against her?
   
   
5. Can you relate to the frustrations of the kidnapper? Do you think he had good cause for a complaint against Arnold?
   
   
6. Look at each of the major characters. What do they lack in their lives, and what consequences do they suffer for it?
   
   

The Family Corner

The Clearing contains a few scenes of violence and the story deals with issues of marital infidelity. There is some profanity, used in a believable context, as the wife learns about her husband's indiscretions.

Photos © Copyright Fox Searchlight Pictures

When wealthy car-rental-business pioneer Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) is kidnapped from the driveway of his suburban Pittsburgh home by an amateur criminal named Arnold (Willem Dafoe), his resourceful homemaker wife Eileen (Helen Mirren) is left to fret over the crisis. Their grown children (Alessandro Nivolo and Melissa Sagemiller) come home to furrow their brows over the scarcity of clues, and an FBI agent (Mike Pniewski) moves in to enjoy Eileen's hospitality and muse over the identity of the kidnapper. Meanwhile, Wayne is forced to trudge hand-cuffed through rugged, rainy, forested terrain with his captor's gun aimed at his spine. Arnold tells him there's a cabin ahead, and that he'll be handed over to a band of crooks who have hired him for the delivery.

Sounds exciting … but it isn't.

The Clearing starts out like a thriller, but it is far from thrilling. Pieter Jan Brugge's directorial debut is watchable only for its talented cast, a trio of formidable actors who make you wonder what drew them to this particular script. It's a kidnapping yarn that raises a lot of interesting questions and suggests myriad possibilities for conspiracy and surprise, only to cast off those concerns entirely. It ends by slumping into the territory of simple morality plays—you know the kind, where the captive rich man suddenly learns that a few of his priorities are out of whack.

My full review is at Christianity Today Movies.

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) calls it "a cinematic soufflé that, though soundly crafted, fails to engage viewers on a sustained emotional level."

"Brugge seems more intent on making people think and reflect upon their lives and relationships than in providing the thrills and chills normally associated with the genre," says Michael Elliott (Movie Parables). "The single act which drives this film is a kidnapping. But instead of a pulse-throbbing action picture about the crime and rescue, we are given relatively quiet scenes as the three main characters get introspective about life and their respective places in the world."

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

first page |  2 of 2