One of the lamentations about conservatives' contributions to the cultural "conversation" is that while we contribute a lot in the way of philosophy, economics and other thought to the society, we don't do high art. There are conservative artists — musicians, actors and the like — but precious little art that advances conservative views of the world.
Confession, the "Daily Wire" Stalin-era movie starring Rob Lowe and James Franco, should change all that — although our society's cultural gatekeepers will be the last to let on.
Let's recognize the elephant in the room first: "Daily Wire" films are a mixed bag — from dumb fun like Run Hide Fight (which was basically "Die Hard" set in a high school) or message-y pranks (Matt Walsh's What Is A Woman?) or Babylon Bee articles dubiously stretched out to feature length (Ladyballers — out of which I tapped after twenty minutes).
Confession is none of the above. It's an absolutely wrenching look at how the Soviet internal terror system worked. Parts of it were so intense I almost needed to step out, and that's saying something. It also features a redemption story — grimly horrific and yet incandescently Christian — that made me glad I'd gone to the theater.
Confession is brilliant.
For a movie that's set entirely indoors, mostly in prison cells or dingy Soviet-era apartments — or maybe because of it — the cinematography is outstanding, with a film noir-style use of light and shadow as story elements in their own right.
Of course, part of our society doesn't know what "film noir" is. We'll come back to that.
Ben Shapiro's script and screenwriting debut requires an adult attention span. And hallelujah for that — I'm sick to death of scripts that insult my intelligence, and you should be too. It's chock full of Russian literary references and themes to match (Do good or evil exist? Can one be good without God? Is it all relative?) and Soviet-era names and history, and it doesn't hurt to be a little familiar with both — but it's not needed.
And if you DO know the history it's still jarring. There was one scene near the beginning where, between the acting, the staging and the cinematography, the intensity triggered my claustrophobia. I didn't step out — but it was close. Some of the scenes play like a stage production — which may be hard for the TikTok Generation to absorb (put a pin in that thought, too) and the movie trusts the audience to keep track of the big questions rather than beating you over the head with pat, facile answers.
Rob Lowe and James Franco are outstanding, and I'd say Oscar-worthy, as the Lyubyanka inmate and his interrogator — roles far outside the types Hollywood typecast them both in. Even press outlets that hate the Daily Wire on basic political principle are having to admit to their chagrin that the film is exceptional.
In a just world, this movie would be a shoo-in at least for Oscar nominations for Lowe and Franco's acting, for the cinematography, for the sound editing, and for the screenplay.
But it's not a just world. Hollywood's been captured by the Left — which is bad enough. And the film criticism business just isn't what it used to be.
Case in point — the the review at Slate (which I'm even more surprised to find still exists than I was to hear Salon hadn't gone under ten years ago) by one Rebecca Onion is not only so clogged with political stereotypes that I thought it had to have been written weeks before the film came out, in this case, writing about the cast:
if you’re James Franco, you have had some trouble getting mainstream Hollywood work in recent years, after a string of sexual misconduct allegations? Because, if you’re Rob Lowe, you’re kinda sorta a libertarian, on the record defending Ayn Rand, and maybe don’t have that much of a problem with the rest of what the Daily Wire does? Or is it simply because actors like and/or need to work, and don’t care what we think of their politics?
Never mind the reviewer's facile observations about film-making, so vapid you can practically hear the Valley Girl vocal fry between the lines. Remember the note about "film noir" from earlier in my review? Onion writes:
Whatever the reasons may be, it’s a real tribute to the craft of the professional actor that such a darkly lit, visually boring movie could be at all watchable. Nearly the entire film takes place inside the prison, sunk inside blue-gray walls the color of a rat’s coat, lit by bare bulbs. There aren’t even flashbacks, or scenes of a prison cafeteria or exercise yard, to relieve the monotony, as other prison movies tend to offer. In one interrogation scene, the camera catches a lens flare from the single bulb, and seeing it is such a relief: something different! I cheered internally when Franco’s interrogator character started getting violent with Alexei—motion, instead of constant speech! Perhaps the film wanted to evoke the trapped feeling of being inside a prison in Moscow in 1938? That’s a lot to ask of the viewer, and the script just can’t carry this much weight.
Huh. A movie about...being kidnapped by the police and held in a dungeon without charge or reason...doesn't include a Bollywood dance sequence to keep your TikTok sized attention span engaged?
Ms Onion appears utterly unaware of the entire "Film Noir" genre — where light and shadow were unspoken parts of the story, and what was left out was as important as what was left in. Ms. Onion appears to be more adapted to the "TikTok dance video" genre.
Rod Dreher had a much better, more literate review:
Though Fyodor Dostoyevsky died in 1881, we are in the world the great novelist foresaw with nightmare clarity, the one Solzhenitsyn faced down in the 20th century with so much courage, and that Confession conjures for the 21st, which needs the reminder.
...the rest of which I urge you to read. Dreher calls the movie a masterpiece. I'm not inclined to argue.
But it, and a serious history lesson, should be required viewing for anyone who takes America, and its justice system even with all its warts and problems and imperfections, for granted.
And for those who ask "why don't conservatives do great art?" Here you go. Submitted for your approval.
I don't care what your politics are. Watch it if you can.
Absolutely brilliant.
