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Jimmy and Megan (Lake Bell) enjoy a holiday dinner with their family

The real stars of the show may be director Gavin O'Connor and cinematographer Declan Quinn. They paint in cold, muted colors, conjuring a Manhattan that is both eerily realistic even as it is perceptibly stylized. O'Connor and Quinn's camera follows the actors for long periods of time, not beside or in front of them, but behind them, almost like a silent partner watching their backs. It stalks the characters, gazes through windows, spies on intimate conversations and crashes through doors during raids. Like a personal POV, it stands in for the audience, virtual reality without the total immersion.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive!" Sir Walter Scott's words ring prophetically true in Pride and Glory. Those things done in secret are dragged, kicking and screaming, into the light. And the more wickedness contorts this way and that to get away from the truth, the more it binds itself in impenetrable knots.

Jennifer Ehle (center) as Abby Tierney, with the two Francises

What happens when those sworn to uphold the law are as vile as those who work to erode it? Unlike in the appalling Righteous Kill, in which a police officer goes outside the law and murders criminals in a misguided attempt to cleanse society of evil, the corrupt Jimmy has no other ambition but greed. When cornered, Jimmy counters with speeches about the end justifying the means, but the only end he is interested in is the one that pads his own wallet. The only difference between Jimmy and those he tosses in jail is his badge, a sort of magic talisman he uses to grease the wheels of his criminal ambitions.

But ultimately Pride and Glory is not interested in Jimmy or the choices he's made. Despite beautiful, richly humanizing scenes in which Jimmy dotes lovingly on his wife and children, we recognize him for what he is—a lost cause, someone buried so deep he can no longer see the light at the top. Pride and Glory is instead interested in the choices Ray must make. Therein lies the far more compelling examination.

How will Ray maintain his honor in the face of overwhelming pressure to ignore what he's found? How can he be loyal to his beloved family when his family, like his ailing sister-in-law, is infected with a cancer? Ray is confronted not with a good and a bad option, but a range of only ever more agonizing choices. His decision will surely tear his family apart, but it may be the only personally redemptive act left to him.

>Talk About It

1. Near the end of the film, Jimmy tries to defend his actions by claiming, "We're all dirty." While Jimmy is speaking about members of the police force, can you think of a way that the line takes on a more comprehensive, spiritual relevance?
2. How does Numbers 32:23 apply to this film?
3. At several moments throughout the film, the camera falls on crosses—hanging on walls, tattooed on characters' arm, etc. Since it is never implied that the Tierney household is religious, how do we account for these insertions? Is there religious iconography in your life that is more cultural than personal?
4. Have you ever been faced with a scenario in which doing right meant hurting those you love the most? What did you do?

The Family Corner

Pride and Glory is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content. It is bloated with pervasive, hard language; multiple instances of unflinching, gory violence (including a scene where a man threatens to apply a hot iron to an infant); brief non-sexual nudity; a short, unrevealing sexual situation; and an instance of drug use.

Photos © Copyright New Line Cinema

© Brandon Fibbs subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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