Film Review
Not a good 'Night'
By Scott FoundasFilm Editor
Near the end of
director Keith Gordon's "Mother Night," as Howard Campbell (Nick Nolte)
sits in a solitary prison cell and completes his autobiography while
awaiting trial for the crimes he may or may not have committed during World
War II, you get the impression that those memoirs might make a great
book--full of profound speculation on the fine line between good and evil
and the amorphous nature of identity. Indeed, the Kurt Vonnegut
novel "Mother Night" upon which the film is based may be just that; I
haven't read it. Vonnegut, though, is notoriously tough to adapt, and at
the very least I suspect the novel version of "Mother Night" offers a
somewhat more even-handed treatment of the same interesting material.The problem is twofold in
even discussing "Mother Night" critically; one doesn't want to give away
the twists and turns of the very convoluted plot (as they are largely
effective), but it is almost impossible to point out the film's flaws
without rupturing this densely woven storytelling net. Credit goes to
screenwriter Robert B. Weide for confounding the tactful critic. However,
without delving into any specifics just yet, it should be added that by the
end of "Mother Night," you get the feeling that Weide (a friend of
Vonnegut's) has probably adhered a bit too steadfastly to the source
material, as some of the final complications seem a bit unnecessary for a
film running less than two hours--more for show than for any real bearing
on theme or meaning.Delving carefully into this
tricky intrigue, it is safe to reveal this much: Howard Campbell, an
American citizen living in Berlin, is a successful playwright in the German
language and a social friend, along with his actress wife Helga (Sheryl
Lee), to many of Germany's highest-ranking political officials. He is
approached by an American intelligence officer (John Goodman, appropriately
mysterious) and asked to function as a spy for the United States
government, using his prominent position to pose as a Nazi sympathizer and
relay coded messages out of the country in the days leading up to the war.
Though he initially resists, it is, as Campbell puts it, the dream role no
romantic playwright could refuse, and in due course Campbell becomes as
faithful an ally to the Nazis as any, spouting out provocative propaganda
across the nation on a weekly radio broadcast, holding thousands of
listeners in his powerful grasp.The film follows Campbell's
odyssey through the end of the war, when he has lost nearly everything
but his now infamous identity, and finally to that cold, empty cell
in an Israeli prison in the early 1960s. The story is told in flashback
and, while that is a liability to many films, the structure works well in
"Mother Night"--primarily due to Nolte's tremendous performance. Though he
is not very convincing as the Nazi, he is remarkably affecting as the
pathetic, remorseful Campbell who desperately wanders the streets of a very
lonely New York City just prior to the sudden turn of events responsible
for his resurfacing and subsequent extradition. Campbell represents
something of a transitional role for Nolte, and it is such a joy to watch
him play it that we eagerly anticipate each successive point at which
Gordon cuts away from the war and back to his story's present.This is the first time
Nolte has been asked to look his age or beyond, and he is authentically
wizened in his portrayal. He brings a certain lethargy and despair to
everything from Campbell's body language to his vocal inflection, making
this one of his best performances. It is also the first time Nolte has
worked in American independent cinema (and for a fraction of his usually
hefty salary), and it seems a step in the right direction for the actor,
who just earlier this year turned in some of the shoddiest, most
passionless work of his distinguished career in the big-budget, big-studio,
high-profile Hollywood mega-bomb "Mulholland Falls." As Helga, Sheryl Lee
is every bit his equal--convincingly German and possessive of a rapturous
emotional honesty. Lee has always seemed talented, but here she is a
revelation."Mother Night" is Keith
Gordon's third film as director, as well as his third adaptation of
literary pedigree. It comes following "The Chocolate War," his auspicious
debut in which he adapted Robert Cormier's novel, and "A Midnight Clear," a
masterful translation of William Wharton's chronicle of a battalion of
young men struggling to survive a harsh winter at the end of World War II.
So "Mother Night" is not the advance one might have hoped for. Despite
several virtuoso sequences, there is much that feels awkward and forced.
Vonnegut is known for his deft combination of intense drama and hilarious
satire, but here the mix between the serious and the humorous is too
obvious. Much of the intended dark comedy (such as a league of white
supremacists called "The Iron Guard of the White Sons of the American
Constitution," of which one of the leaders is black) comes across as silly
and overplayed. Judging from the fact that Gordon has already, on at least
one occasion, explained to audiences about to see "Mother Night" that the
film will attempt to approach certain serious matters in a ridiculous way,
it's as if he was too afraid to push the envelope of good taste as far as
he should have. As a result, Vonnegut's macabre world never fully emerges,
and the alternately comic and tragic struggle at the heart of "Mother
Night" remains at arm's length. C-"Mother Night" is now playing in limited release at Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the AMC Santa Monica 7.