J. EdgarJ. Edgar Hoover was a founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its first and longest running Director. He was born and died in Washington, D.C. He and his office contributed to changing the face of American criminal investigations and utilization of forensic evidence in law enforcement procedure. These are facts. The man that was J. Edgar Hoover was such a prominent figure in the 20th century political spectrum--ironically by virtue of operating in the shadows--that more than the man which history recalls is the myth which, again ironically, at times overshadows him. The man and the myth are the basis of the biopic, J. Edgar.
|
|
Like most biopics, J. Edgar is not strictly a factual accounting of the life and times of the real J. Edgar Hoover, but of the image and perception of the man, of the complexities and the facets of this controversial figure of the 20th century. The nature of a biopic is to present a figure in history, one with both unique appeal and breadth of life experience, and present that person with complexity and humanity, which J. Edgar does. The portrait of J. Edgar Hoover is one drawn from a variety of sources; some may be factual and some may be fiction, but all blend together to create a layered image of a man who is not so easily defined on a simple scale. Leonardo DiCaprio performs the role of J. Edgar Hoover, both in his relative youth during his humble beginnings with the Justice Department and later in the twilight of his life, a career stretching over half of a century. It seems intriguing that the make up which DiCaprio wears to represent the aged Director of the FBI strongly resembles that worn by Orson Welles in his masterpiece, Citizen Kane. The similarity cannot be unintentional, since both J. Edgar Hoover of J. Edgar and the ficticious Charles Foster Kane both share many personality traits and paths to their respective glory. Both men raise up an empire that threatens powerful people by the threat of exposure to public and/or legal scrutiny. Both men are powerful speakers that demand attention, even pointing the media in their direction for some self-aggrandizement. And as both men grow old, both retreat into their individual forms of isolation and withdrawal; in the case of J. Edgar Hoover, it is a tightly spun web of fear and paranoia, shared only with those closest to him. And as in Citizen Kane, the friends Edgar makes on his long life journey in the capital of the United States includes a man who captivates Edgar so much that he makes him his second-in-command: Clyde Tolson, played by Armie Hammer. The work relationship between Edgar and Clyde is reminiscent of that of Charlie Kane and Jedediah Leland; both pairs work best when they work together, although the egos of the dominant part of each pair occasionally leads to conflict. And although Charlie Kane was married often, Edgar never quite found his "Mrs. Hoover", although his efforts to do so leads to an awkward proposal to a young secretary named Helen Gandy, played by Naomi Watts, whose career-focused interests lead Edgar to instead appoint her as his personal secretary, where their rare mutual trust shares many of the earmarks of a marriage far better than some. Conversely, while Charles Foster Kane was taken from his mother at an early age, Edgar lives with his mother, Anna Marie Hoover--played by Judi Dench--and occupies her home after her passing. She was always a dominant force over her son, guiding him and directing him with her own pointed worldview, instilling it into him. The relationship between Edgar and his mother instead mirrors another cinematic gem, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, complete with a nod to the purported rumor of J. Edgar Hoover being a cross-dresser.
J. Edgar is a political biopic, showing the world in which J. Edgar Hoover's FBI was formed as it struggled to gain acceptance as a functional branch of law enforcement to one many years later which views the institution as an intrusive force, determined to dig up dirt to blackmail people. J. Edgar cuts back and forth between the past dictated to a variety of agents assigned to take down Hoover's memoirs, to a future where events that came before are often mirrored or even inverted to represent what has changed and what hasn't. J. Edgar begins with Hoover warning about the presence of communism as a threat to democracy, a statement which sounds paranoid out of context, although the recollections of J. Edgar Hoover ostensibly provide context. Edgar recalls the bomb which convinced the heretofore moderate Attorney General in 1919--a bomb which nearly killed him and his family--to crack down on the incursion of presumed Bolshevik communists from destroying America, and how Edgar's assistance to curb this threat brought him fame and power. But as every threat seemed to dissipate, another rounded the corner to greet him, instilling an adamantine determination to be resolute, vigilant, and never weary in the face of enemies, invisible or otherwise. But with this call to duty cultivated within him, there is also the desperation to achieve the goal, even when integrity becomes a luxury one cannot afford.
So what kind of man was "J. Edgar Hoover"? The film shows a man who is both genius and stubborn, friendly with his precious few allies, but scathing with so many others. Was J. Edgar Hoover an arbiter and scion of justice, or a petty bully afraid of being exposed for his perceived shortcomings? In a clever stylistic flourish by director Clint Eastwood, by having scenes frequently jump back and forth between his past and his present, we see the juxtaposition of proclamations made in youth, sometimes giving way years later, creating a paradox of character. Even Hoover's method of employing varied agents to dictate his memoirs suggests a paranoid fixation on compartmentalization and control of information, which should raise a few eyebrows when considering the veracity of his own rendition of the past. Even today, J. Edgar Hoover is a contentious figure, lauded by some as a pioneer of modern justice, condemned by others as a persecutor of progressive thinking. It is funny how public perception shifts and sways like the branches of a tree in the wind, just like it is when the audience in the movie theater at first decries his public announcement preceding a James Cagney gangster flick, only later praising the commercial fruits of his labor, when seeing a James Cagney G-Man flick. Hoover observes this when he speaks of how people forget about the times not so long ago when people were afraid to go out for fear of their lives, for fear of radical elements bombing them, shooting them from a perch, and more. In this at least, J. Edgar is a chilling film, because one has but to turn on the news to witness the parallels between the kind of world Hoover describes and the political landscape presented today, to see the writing on the wall.
Recommended for: Fans of a character study and a montage of fact and myth about one the most famous (and infamous) figures in law enforcement. Although set in the past, J. Edgar is also a film which is made with an awareness of modern politics.
J. Edgar is a political biopic, showing the world in which J. Edgar Hoover's FBI was formed as it struggled to gain acceptance as a functional branch of law enforcement to one many years later which views the institution as an intrusive force, determined to dig up dirt to blackmail people. J. Edgar cuts back and forth between the past dictated to a variety of agents assigned to take down Hoover's memoirs, to a future where events that came before are often mirrored or even inverted to represent what has changed and what hasn't. J. Edgar begins with Hoover warning about the presence of communism as a threat to democracy, a statement which sounds paranoid out of context, although the recollections of J. Edgar Hoover ostensibly provide context. Edgar recalls the bomb which convinced the heretofore moderate Attorney General in 1919--a bomb which nearly killed him and his family--to crack down on the incursion of presumed Bolshevik communists from destroying America, and how Edgar's assistance to curb this threat brought him fame and power. But as every threat seemed to dissipate, another rounded the corner to greet him, instilling an adamantine determination to be resolute, vigilant, and never weary in the face of enemies, invisible or otherwise. But with this call to duty cultivated within him, there is also the desperation to achieve the goal, even when integrity becomes a luxury one cannot afford.
So what kind of man was "J. Edgar Hoover"? The film shows a man who is both genius and stubborn, friendly with his precious few allies, but scathing with so many others. Was J. Edgar Hoover an arbiter and scion of justice, or a petty bully afraid of being exposed for his perceived shortcomings? In a clever stylistic flourish by director Clint Eastwood, by having scenes frequently jump back and forth between his past and his present, we see the juxtaposition of proclamations made in youth, sometimes giving way years later, creating a paradox of character. Even Hoover's method of employing varied agents to dictate his memoirs suggests a paranoid fixation on compartmentalization and control of information, which should raise a few eyebrows when considering the veracity of his own rendition of the past. Even today, J. Edgar Hoover is a contentious figure, lauded by some as a pioneer of modern justice, condemned by others as a persecutor of progressive thinking. It is funny how public perception shifts and sways like the branches of a tree in the wind, just like it is when the audience in the movie theater at first decries his public announcement preceding a James Cagney gangster flick, only later praising the commercial fruits of his labor, when seeing a James Cagney G-Man flick. Hoover observes this when he speaks of how people forget about the times not so long ago when people were afraid to go out for fear of their lives, for fear of radical elements bombing them, shooting them from a perch, and more. In this at least, J. Edgar is a chilling film, because one has but to turn on the news to witness the parallels between the kind of world Hoover describes and the political landscape presented today, to see the writing on the wall.
Recommended for: Fans of a character study and a montage of fact and myth about one the most famous (and infamous) figures in law enforcement. Although set in the past, J. Edgar is also a film which is made with an awareness of modern politics.