------------ Daniel ------------ (USA 1983)
Directed by Sidney Lumet; Written by E.L. Doctorow, based on his own novel "The Book of Daniel"; With Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, Lindsay Crouse, Amanda Plummer, Edward Asner, Ilan M. Mitchell-Smith, Ellen Barkin, John Rubinstein, Maria Tucci, Jena Greco, Joseph Leon, Tovah Feldshuh, Lee Richardson, David Margulies, Carmen Mathews, Julie Bovasso, Norman Parker, Colin Stinton
**** out of **** (A MASTERPIECE)
"Some day I shall understand"
Sidney Lumet's film "DANIEL" and E.L. Doctorow's novel "The Book of Daniel", which it is based upon, are inspired by the controversial Rosenberg case.
At first some words about the complex story. Paul and Rochelle Isaacson (Mandy Patinkin, Lindsay Crouse) were executed in the early 1950s for alleged espionage. Their children Daniel and Susan can't get over this. In the late 1960s, after an attempted suicide of his politically more active sister Susan (Amanda Plummer), the rather unpolitical Daniel (Timothy Hutton) tries to find out what exactly happened in the past, tries to understand his parents' lives, tries to help his sister and to get along with his own life ...
"DANIEL" shows how children can be affected by the lives of their parents. And it is about the search of one's place in life. Lumet treated these themes again later in his masterful "RUNNING ON EMPTY", starring River Phoenix, Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch. Another theme of "DANIEL" is the wish of human beings to understand their parents. Lumet described the film in a Village Voice interview in the following way: "To me, 'DANIEL' is the story of a boy who buries himself with his parents, and spends the rest of his life trying to climb out of the grave." The movie uses a complex flashback structure to tell its story. "DANIEL" illuminates from Daniel's view the history of the American left from the 1930s to the late 1960s, including the different left movements. In its criticism of death penalty and McCarthyism, the film is also a political statement.
Sidney Lumet is one of the masters of the American cinema. He has given us the masterpieces "12 ANGRY MEN", "LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT", "THE PAWNBROKER", "THE HILL", "SERPICO", "DOG DAY AFTERNOON", "NETWORK", "PRINCE OF THE CITY", "THE VERDICT" and "RUNNING ON EMPTY". He also directed other very good movies like "FAIL-SAFE", "THE DEADLY AFFAIR", "THE OFFENCE", "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" and "Q & A". Lumet himself is politically left-leaning, and "DANIEL" is probably one of his most personal works. It was about seven years before he got the chance to realize this project. Many people worked on "DANIEL" for the minimum salary set by the union. Timothy Hutton turned down a million-dollar offer on a film and worked on "DANIEL" instead for about 25000 dollars.
And Lumet is right when he writes in his very informative book "Making Movies": "Despite its critical and financial failure, I think it's one of the best pictures I've ever done." The film proves again Lumet's ability to tell complex, emotionally absorbing, unsentimental stories. Everything works in this uncompromising picture. A few of Lumet's films were marred by their scripts ("THE APPOINTMENT", "POWER", "FAMILY BUSINESS", "A STRANGER AMONG US"). But Doctorow's screenplay for "DANIEL" is excellent and extraordinarily multi-layered. And Lumet's direction is sensitive and fascinating. Timothy Hutton (who later starred with Nick Nolte and Armand Assante in Lumet's cop thriller "Q & A"), Edward Asner (who plays the Isaacson's attorney), Lindsay Crouse (who also appeared in "PRINCE OF THE CITY" and "THE VERDICT"), Mandy Patinkin, Amanda Plummer and Ilan M. Mitchell-Smith (who plays the young Daniel in the early 1950s) stand out in a fine cast. Andrzej Bartkowiak's impressive cinematography supports the flashback structure by a careful use of color filters. The rich soundtrack, mainly consisting of songs interpreted by Paul Robeson, perfectly fits and illustrates the film's themes. The editing is excellent as well (a good example is the brilliantly filmed end sequence).
There are many great moments in this movie. For instance, there is a powerful rally scene in which you can feel that the Isaacson's children are afraid of the world around them. Another moving scene is a sequence in which young Daniel and young Susan (played by Ilan M. Mitchell-Smith and Jena Greco) walk through New York in search of their home. This scene, also showing Lumet's typically great use of the city of New York, reminded me of Antonioni's "LA NOTTE".
I'm an admirer of Sidney Lumet's cinema. "DANIEL" is one of his most underestimated motion pictures, really a must-see. Of course, don't expect standard Hollywood entertainment, but a serious work.
(C) Karl Rackwitz (Klein Köris, Germany, 1999)
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