|
FARGO
That was Mrs. Lundergaard on the floor in there
and I guess your accomplice in the wood chipper..
And three people dead in Brainerd.
And for what?
For a little bit of money.
There's more to life than a little money,
you know.
Don't you know that?
And here you are and it's a beautiful day.
Well, I just don't understand it.
--Sheriff Marge Gunderson
One day, the medieval "noble" poet Dante,
guided by Virgil, the muse of human reason, set off on an allegorical
journey to recognize sin, to renounce it and to reach the light
of God by visiting hell, purgatory and heaven. When they finally
arrived at the pit of hell, Dante described it as a huge frozen
lake, a bitterly cold, ice-covered place, guarded by giants.
So, too, do the Coen Brothers in their 1996 ironic
icy road study of greed, lies and murder. The evil deeds of FARGO
parallel the sins of Dante's Inferno with visceral accuracy.
The hellish Northern hemisphere of Dante's spiritual
world matches the snowscape between the Twin Cities and Fargo. In
between lies Brainerd, home to Paul Bunyon, the mythic giant who
stands guard over the grotesque spiral of blood sins perpetrated
by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and his team of hired thugs,
Carl and Gaear (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare.) Babe the Blue
Ox, the beast, watches as back and again we drive across the dark,
frozen tundra of highways, parking garages, car lots, fallow fields,
bedrooms, dining rooms and hearts, trying to make sense out of a
very, very bad situation.
"And for what? For a little bit of money."
If we travel with Dante or Sheriff Marge Gunderson
(Frances MacDormand) along the frozen brink of hell as the snowball
of evil grows and gains the momentum of its consequences, we discover
the reality of what goes on beneath the cover of snow and ice. Jerry's
attempt to commit a crime under the guise of normalcy and virtue
is fraudulent and malicious. Worse yet, it is so utterly stupid.
According to Dante and the Coen Brothers, there
are matching circles and ditches in hell for all likes of evildoers,
especially dumb ones.
It's too bad nobody told Jerry.
Rose Pacatte, FSP
Director
Pauline Center for Media Studies
Boston
[Essay written for the 8th annual City
of Angels Film Festival Program Guide.]
|
