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Neil Jordan’s The
Brave One, which sports a dog-eared storyline,
could have gone wrong in so many ways. That this revenge thriller
doesn’t is a credit to Jodie Foster’s compelling and tragic
performance, solid support from Terrence Howard, and Jordan’s ability
to accentuate the devastating effect of violence while appealing to our
basest desires. Foster is Erica, a New Yorker through and through who
celebrates the diversity of the city on her radio program. Engaged,
comfortable, and optimistic, her world is shattered one night when she and
her fiancО, David (Naveen Andrews), are attacked. She spends three
weeks in a coma, and David is killed. Dealing with her grief and rage, she
buys a gun to protect herself, but when she slays a robber at a
neighborhood store a confusing flood of emotions overtakes her, and soon
Erica starts dispensing her own brand of vigilante justice on those she
deems dangerous. Comparisons to Death
Wish, the recent Kevin Bacon entry Death Sentence, Taxi Driver, and the cult
classic Ms. .45 are
inevitable, and an air of exploitation hovers over the entire affair.
Although Jordan is able to stage a gut-wrenching, intimate violent episode
with the best of them, the time he spends examining what short-circuits
Erica and makes her tick once more is what separates this film from its
predecessors. Foster lays herself bare here, and it could be argued
that she single-handedly elevates this material from its pulpy roots.
Everything that Erica has built her life on, emotionally and
professionally, has been torn away from her, and the actress’ display
of grief in the face of such an upheaval is volatile, genuine, and
ultimately poignant. Although we sympathize with Erica’s predicament,
Jordan successfully walks the fine line between presenting Erica’s
actions as justifiable or criminal. There’s little question as to
what he thinks about Erica’s journey by the film’s end, but
enough ambiguity is left for viewers to apply their own sense of morality
to the film.
In a sense, Howard is our surrogate as Mercer, the
only New York cop who seems to care about Erica’s ordeal. As he digs
deeper into her past and begins to put the pieces together with regard to
her reaction to it and the string of vigilante killings, he does not rush
to judgment. Having gotten to know her, Mercer comes to realize that
although Erica’s actions are illegal and perhaps immoral, ultimately
she is just as much of a victim as those she targets. There are no clear distinctions between what we know
to be morally wrong and what our basest instincts implore us to do.
Senseless actions sometimes produce senseless behavior, and though
Erica’s actions may not necessarily be considered heroic, the fact
that she musters the effort to get up and greet each day is.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2007.
