Sony Pictures
Freedomland/I>Rating: * * * *Type: Drama/MysteryLength: 112 minutesMPAA Rating: RCast: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron EldardDirector: Joe RothPlaying: North Hills, Carmike 15, Mission Valley, Six Forks, Grande, Crossroads
Freedomland, in many ways, is about contrast — black and white, husband and wife, dead and alive. As society begins to tear at the seams, the movie delivers no solid answers because, in all honesty, we still struggle with these issues in our lives today.
Instead of trying to just explain society’s actions, the movie opts to follow the lives of a self-abusive mother, Brenda Moore (Julianne Moore), and a detective, Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson), just trying to get by.
Where many movies will ask you to take a hard look at what everyone does, this film, in contrast, asks you to look at the person sitting next to you, and to the one delivering your mail, and to the one at the cash register. What else is society or a mob but large groups of these people?
By breaking a film down into its component parts, characters, we come to understand a riot is not simply a mass of hatred and confusion — it’s people.
Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson’s seemingly atypical roles, caught amidst the growing tensions, soon become the film’s defining factor. Moore’s portrayal is chilling, every scream and tear contributing to the image of a woman lost on life’s edge. Jackson’s long-tested style of being a film’s resident “badass” gives way to one of the richest characters he has ever played, continuing to prove to me that the man’s range, both emotionally and practically, is almost limitless.
By throwing perceived notions out the proverbial window, Freedomland‘s characters remind us that we all deal with loss and sorrow the same way, and any divide we may feel between each other is only as great as our perceptions allow it to be.
There are not enough words to be said in regards to the lead performances or that of several minor roles, each of which manage to tell a story in a movie that says more in context and message than it can with narrative.
When all is said and done, when the accusations have been thrown and the hammer-blow revelations have come to pass, this is a prime example of quality human drama in film. And while the movie does have its failings, such as a sometimes-uninteresting orchestral score and a myriad of other interesting characters that were only partially explored by the film’s end, its message and artistic qualities are almost undeniable.
Perhaps not a film for everyone, Freedomland is, at its foundation, drama, and a drama without guns, sex or explosions doesn’t come much better than this.