The Spanish Prisoner (written and directed by David Mamet, 1998)
If David Mamet's THE SPANISH PRISONER is not the best film of the year when it's time to party like it's 1999, 1998 will have been a phenomenal year for the cinema. This film is a carefully woven tale, a tapestry of deceit sown in the wonderful dialogue of David Mamet, who has taken a break from the writer-for-hire chores of THE EDGE and WAG THE DOG to both pen and direct a new masterpiece about con artists.
And con artists is the perfect term. The confidence game to which Joe Ross (Campbell Scott, son of George C.) falls victim is nothing less than an artistic and aesthetic masterpiece; you applaud each of the game's twists even as you feel for Ross, an Everyman trapped nearly every step of the way. The beauty of THE SPANISH PRISONER is that even if you are one step ahead of the con, you still are not sure exactly how it will play out, what the ramifications are, or how Ross will react. There is always an extra step, and always an extra element to each step. THE SPANISH PRISONER certainly keeps one on one's toes.
Any plot information is too much; it is best to enter the film without expectations about any character. It is evident quickly who the victim will be; what is not evident is who exactly is playing who and how. Suffice to say that there is a lot of money at stake; suffice to say that the MacGuffin of the day is a mathematical uberformula dubbed The Process; suffice to say that if The Process falls into the wrong hands there will be hell to pay for Joe Ross; suffice to say that The Company will watch Ross and The Process very carefully.
But no one is careful enough in The Spanish Prisoner. No one is careful enough because almost no one is who they claim to be. Everyone acts to one degree or another, everyone deep in facades and masquerades. There is a sinister menace in a world where an innocuous summer conversation alters one's life. Everyone's acting, everyone wants something, everyone's out to con everyone. Mamet does not spare us one moment of the menace, and we are all a lot richer for the experience.
Copyright John Strelow 1998
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