THE WINSLOW BOY (1999) (Sony Classics) Starring: Nigel Hawthorne, Jeremy Northam, Rebecca Pidgeon, Gemma Jones, Guy Edwards, Colin Stinton, Aden Gillett, Matthew Pidgeon. Screenplay: David Mamet, based on the play by Terence Rattigan. Producer: Sarah Green. Director: David Mamet. MPAA Rating: G Running Time: 100 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Depending upon one's point of view, THE WINSLOW BOY is either as unlikely a piece of material as one could expect from David Mamet or a perfect fit in the Mamet oeuvre. Certainly it's surprising to find Mamet directing a script by another writer, even more surprising to find the ultra-contemporary Mamet directing a period piece, and more surprising yet to find the profanity-happy Mamet directing a G-rated script. There's also something perfectly Mamet-like in the film's themes of people seeking the truth of things behind the formalized dance of conversation. Mamet isn't straying far from comfortable ground, but he strays far enough to find an intriguing new perspective on film-making. THE WINSLOW BOY may be his finest work as a film director, perhaps because he's working from a less tightly-controlled script.
The story, set in the early 1910's, concerns an upper-middle class English family called the Winslows. Father Arthur (Nigel Hawthorne), a banker, is comfortable with the life he has made, and even with the lives of his underachieving son Dicky (Matthew Pidgeon) and Suffragette daughter Catherine (Rebecca Pidgeon). He is not at all comfortable, however, with youngest son Ronny's (Guy Edwards) dismissal from military school when he is accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order. Determined to clear his son's name, Arthur throws all his resources into Ronny's defense, including retaining famed lawyer Sir Robert Morton (Jeremy Northam). But the Winslows face an uphill battle trying to obtain a civil trial before either their money or Sir Robert's political connections run out.
A contemporary movie-goer might expect THE WINSLOW BOY to turn into a courtroom drama, chock full of witness stand backpedaling and banging gavels. In fact, there's not a second of courtroom footage in THE WINSLOW BOY; the closest it gets is Morton's tense interview with Ronnie before deciding to take the case. Rattigan's text is more concerned with subtler matters than the melodrama of legal confrontations, including issues still resonant fifty years after the play's debut. As the Winslows' resources dwindle, Arthur begins to wonder whether he can afford to pursue the case indefinitely, inspiring questions on the modern connection between wealth and justice. The story also attacks the casual dismissal of pursuits of justice, not on the basis of right or wrong, but on the basis of how annoying it is to have normalcy disrupted.
As thought-provoking as THE WINSLOW BOY may be, however, it's often far too sedate in its interpersonal relationships. Rattigan's narrative generally focuses not on the people involved in the Winslow case, but on all the business surrounding the case: the intense press scrutiny (including a "women's issues" reporter more interested in curtains than Ronnie's guilt or innocence); the vagaries of public opinion; the machinations required even to bring a case against the Admiralty. The characters in THE WINSLOW BOY face consequences for their choices, but the choices are more interesting to Rattigan than those consequences. There's a Merchant Ivory vibe to the repressed emotions without the Merchant Ivory readiness to show the intensity behind them.
Mamet has never been known for his emotionalism, but the fault here appears to lie far more with Rattigan. Indeed, Mamet takes some of the simplest scenes and charges them with more feeling than they might deserve (notably Arthur's demand of honesty from Ronnie). He has always been a remarkably efficient film director, and THE WINSLOW BOY certainly doesn't stray in that regard. He does, however, find a facility with actors not always evident when he's working from his own words. Hawthorne is brilliant, Northam is appropriately enigmatic, and even Rebecca Pidgeon seems vaguely human. There's little Mamet can do with the huge chunks of dialogue involving exposition of off-stage events, or to fill in the spaces between the people, but he does a lot with a story that's more conceptual than actual. THE WINSLOW BOY is an interesting challenge to which Mamet rises, applying his intricate construction as well to a stately manor as he does to a skyscraper.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 trials of honor: 7.
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