The Manchurian Candidate (2004) [2004]
Director: Jonathan Demme
Actor: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, Jon Voight
First off, I’d like to tell you the story of the original Manchurian Candidate from 1962, starring Frank Sinatra, directed by John Frankenheimer; The film, because of it’s rather sensitive subject matter was not going to be produced because the president of United Artists, Arthur Krim, was also Finance Chairman of the Democratic party and very politically inclined. As a personal favour to his friend Sinatra, President Kennedy convinced Krim that it was alright to make the film. The film was supposed to be a satire, but got a grim overtone when after the release of the film Kennedy was shot dead by Lee Harvey Oswald, whom many conspiracy theorist claim was a Manchurian Candidate. The film stayed in circulation until the late seventies, when the rights to the film reverted to Sinatra, who halted distribution, giving rise to all kinds of speculation. After his death, the rights fell into the hands of Tina Sinatra, Frank’s daughter, who was one of the producers of the 2004 remake.
The film is about Major Ben Marco [Denzel Washington], who, together with his squadron, was ambushed in Kuwait in 1991 while on a reconnaisance mission. He was knocked unconscious and only through the brave efforts of Sgt. Shaw [Liev Schreiber] – a son of a US senator who, in a fit of rebellion against his dominant mother ran away from home and enlisted in the army, refusing an officer’s position – did the squadron survive with only two casualties and made it through the desert on a three day trek to safety. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award a soldier can hope to achieve.
When Ben is confronted, years later, by one of the soldiers from his squadron, the confused Pvt. Al Melvin, who seems confused, paranoid and claims to have lucid dreams of brainwashing, he, too, starts to have dreams that seem more real than the events surrounding the ambush he remembers experiencing.
Meanwhile Sgt. Shaw is now Congressman Shaw, having been shoehorned into politics by his influential mother Senator Pretiss Shaw [Sterile Creep] and will be on the presidential election ticket as running mate.
Unable to get back in contact with Pvt. Melvin, Ben tries to get in contact with Shaw, since it seems he is the only other surviving member of the squadron besides Melvin and himself. At first Shaw gives him the cold shoulder, but later, out of respect for his former commanding officer, decides to talk about the dreams Ben’s having over take-away food. Having found an implanted chip in his shoulder earlier that day, Ben comes across as paranoid and confused, and while Shaw is campaigning he can’t have any distractions, nor can he afford to induldge in Ben’s delusions. Ben claims Shaw, too, has an implant in his shoulder and when Shaw refuses to let Ben check, he attacks him.
Slowly Ben is losing his mind, and he’s trying to part fact from fiction as his drive for the truth becomes more and more obsessed. Slowly he starts finding out the truth about the ambush in the Kuwaiti desert, and he tries with all his might to convince people that his discoveries could prove to be a danger to the sovereignty of the country.
Training Day, John Q, Man on Fire, Manchurian Candidate. Denzel Washington is proving by and large that he is a fine actor, and I have no doubt that, if he keeps this up, in the years ahead he’ll earn many more oscars that he can put with the two he already has.
Liev Schreiber, whom I had only before seen in the Scream series, proves to be a hell of a good actor, and Sterile Creep isn’t as jarring as she normally is in films, and actually preformed really well.
