THE INDIAN RUNNER
(1991) Director Sean Penn
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, David Morse, Patricia Arquette, Valeria Golina, Charles Bronson and Sandy Dennis.
This film was the directorial debut of actor Sean Penn. It is the story of a small town American cop and his wayward brother, David Morse (Joe) and Viggo Mortensen (Frank) respectively. Everyone accepts that Frank is "trouble", and just "came out that way". He is also incorrigible and charming - those around him forgive him time and again throughout the story. Big brother Joe tries to reach Frank and connect with him to keep him enfolded in the family - what's left of it, as both of their parents die quickly one after the other.
We first see Frank as a returned soldier from Vietnam, the uniform partially masking his wildness (but we get an inkling of his playful dangerousness). Joe is kindly and emanates warmth towards his returning brother - there is only unconditional love - even special treatment for Frank. Frank is an enigma, and sporadically careless and destructive.
The film is peopled (i.e. extras and small roles) with the most unusual "ordinary folk" with overtly character faces. Benicio Del Toro appears briefly and effectively in one scene.
Valeria Golina is perfect as Joe's charming and loving foreign wife, as is Patricia Arquette. Frank's romance with Dorothy (Patricia Arquette) is entirely convincing and she plays the unsophisticated, naive girl that loves him no matter what beautifully. She's not dumb - (she's probably uneducated), she is just simple in her approach to their relationship. The dynamics of their relationship struck me as being very real, and it is partly a love story - he seems to really love her.
This film could win the prize for most bizarre marriage proposal (you've just got to see it to find out), the most genuinely romantic wedding including the most sensual wedding kiss, and in another scene the best and most unexpected movie scream ever (by Patricia Arquette!)
Frank (Viggo) is a paradox, capable of loving and being loved, free-spirited, funny, inventive, sharp-witted, and emotionally intelligent - yet there are times when he uses his wits to humiliate others, like when he dissects the innocent words of pregnant girlfriend Dorothy (Patricia Arquette), literally spitting them back in her face in a most disturbing and deliberate fashion.
Perhaps Frank is uncomfortable in his own skin, he certainly cares little for fitting in, but he does, for a while - whenever he straightens up after a bender or
thieving spree. But the real heartbreak is that we catch a glimpse of what life could be like for them all (towards the end of the film). But Frank can't conform for
long, his few emotionally lucid moments in regard to his family are difficult for him to bear (because he actually feels the weight of guilt after all?).
The final unravelling of Frank takes places just as he is about to be become a father - Dorothy is not far away giving birth as he is throwing every potential away in a paranoid rage that is the final flashpoint of this film. The viewer thinks, if he could have just laid eyes on his own child, it might have changed his life.
Just like his brother Joe, after all the things Frank does, we, the audience, somehow still see him as at least partly an innocent at the outcome, though resigned to the abhorrent trashing of his own and others lives. It seems he always had to give in to his own innate wildness. This is where the Indian Runner comes in - it appears to be an obscure metaphor/reference that represents the restlessness of his nature - his desire and right to be free and unfettered from ordinariness.
At one point
Frank asks "is
that all there is" to his brothers' expression of happiness at being a father, and husband to a woman he loves - i.e. leading an ordinary life. Is it the ordinariness that is repugnant to Frank? or he is just
compulsively pushing the limits? Is he perhaps manic-depressive/alcoholic? He certainly usually regrets his actions.
A great soundtrack compliments the movie including John Fogarty and Janis Joplin ( her eerie version of Summertime).
But this is Viggo's film, it utterly stands or falls on him, and his performance is brave, startling, inventive and riveting - Frank is so complicated and paradoxical (where was the Academy that year?).
The film doesn't tie up neatly at the end, you just feel a sense of loss at the final frames, which may affect the overall impression later on, a feeling of dissatisfaction, but aside from the presumption that a film must achieve that to be good - it is an excellent film.
(Review by this site's webbie Pauline)
Alternative Review: "The Indian Runner"
Sean Penn's writing and directorial debut, "the Indian Runner" is a dark gem, the best film I've seen in years. The story of two brothers and a meditation on
the concept of "beat" for the working class, "the Indian Runner" succeeds in telling a more complete story where plays and films also dealing with
similar material fall short. On the stage, Sam Shepard's True West and A Lie of the Mind and the films "Ordinary People" and "A River Runs Through
It" were brought to mind as I watched this film. While all are stories of brothers with a bond despite barriers, "the Indian Runner" goes deeper and
tells a more passionate, balanced story. Two scenes between Joe, the elder, solid citizen, more adaptable brother and Frank, the younger, wilder and less willing
to compromise brother involve a rhyming dialogue which beautifully captures their bond and seem to be the axis on which this story spins. These recall the beat poets,
Kerouac, Ginsberg and others who made sense out of an increasingly incomprehensible world through the magic of a rhyme. Kerouac once described the concept of
"beat" as a state of ecstatic exhaustion, when he'd been up with his friends all night and they broke through to a higher plane of consciousness. The darker
side of "beat" is what is examined in this film, what Ginsberg described as the beast Malach that eats the working and middle classes alive after smashing
them down in the process of living their responsible, mainstream lives. David Morse's Joe is the heart of the Roberts family: strong, kind and devoted to his
family in love and service. His warmth and conflict radiate as he survives and adapts to the loss of his farm and a job in law enforcement that he does well, but for
which he has much more concern than passion. He could easily wind up "beat" or eaten alive were he not so renewed and sustained by the love of family,
brilliantly rendered by Charles Bronson and Sandy Dennis as Joe and Frank's practical parents. Valeria Golina brings fabulous range to Maria, Joe's amazing wife, and
surprising viewers in nearly every scene with her ability to move from fierceness to tenderness without a pause. Frank Roberts is the character in this film that
recalls Dean Moriarty in "On the Road" or his late inspiration, Neal Cassady: a man with looks, wit, charm, grace and a terrifying, violent streak. He's like
a pool of gasoline that reflects the moon sublimely, one just hopes no sparks are thrown or lit matches dropped as the lake of fire is most likely more a part of Frank
than the sweet reflection. We've all known someone like Frank: the hyper kid who was a discipline problem at school, the black sheep of the family, perhaps a guy who
went to war in Viet Nam to avoid going to jail, an ex lover or spouse with fatal charm and dangerous criminal tendencies. In the hands of a less talented or devoted
actor, it would be easy to dismiss Frank as a thug or detach from him as just another 'beautiful, fucked up man' to borrow a phrase from Sarah McLaughlan. It was easy
for me to do that with Brad Pitt's doomed younger brother with the genius for fly fishing in "A River Runs Through It." Viggo Mortensen doesn't allow
dismissal or detachment in his portrayal of the younger Roberts brother however, immersing into all of Frank's bad ass, brittle bravado and savage vengeance, but
balancing this with fearless vulnerability and a clear eyed, unsentimental wisdom. Frank's like a thin wire carrying too much current and it's hard to take your eyes
off him, as he seems to bewilder even himself with his violent outbursts. He nails a portrait of so many men who were thrown to be battle fodder in various wars because
the U.S. of the latter 20th century didn't know what else to do with them, who surprised us all by going in hard and coming back alive. When Frank hits town with all
his original complexities as well as most likely addiction and post-traumatic complications, the film kicks into high gear for the next two hours. He first appears as
the picture of a world weary hero and it shortly becomes clear that this man is in far too much pain to sit still for long. Mortensen's use of cigarettes could almost
be a subplot as they say more about Frank than hours of talk. Patricia Arquette is both a screamer and a scream as Frank's wide-eyed baby doll sweetheart, Dorothy,
loving, but every bit as feral as Frank. She's both tender and hilarious in the role, informing all her scenes with the uncomfortable reminder that even finding one's
soul mate does not guarantee living happily ever after. Benicio del Toro steals a sweet scene in a fun cameo and there are dozens of remarkable characters in the story
who may only have a few lines, but it's clear the cast was directed by a skillful actor with great respect for acting. Beautifully shot, expertly acted and brilliantly
written, "the Indian Runner" is a film I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch how this story's particular dominoes would fall, but I couldn't take my eyes off it.
While not a "feel good" film, it is such an authentic story and such a gorgeous film to watch, it would be a crime not to see it. Rent it, buy it, steal it
from the video store if you must (but please return it after viewing so others may see it for art's sake, it's out of print!) but see this film: the story it tells is a
vital part of United States history and culture.
Colleen Wallace
Click here to read another review with more pictures from the film (external link) and here to see a Spanish alternative film poster
Here's a link to some more pictures from this film