MOTHER NIGHT
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Some authors are easily transferable to the medium of film. From William Shakespeare (ROMEO AND JULIET) to John Grisham (THE FIRM) and Tom Clancy (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER), screenwriters and directors have been able to capture the essence of most writer's work and move it to the big screen. But for some novelists, the adaptations have all resulted in varying degrees of failure. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE) is one such author. The latest attempt is director Keith Gordon's MOTHER NIGHT. Although it has some appeal and charm, it also ends up on the debit side of his ledger.
First time screenwriter Robert Weide tries hard to make a film out of Vonnegut's book, but I suspect the book's style make such efforts almost hopeless. Vonnegut's books have a cult following, especially on campuses, but their appeal lies in their strange syntax and structure as much as in their characters.
The film opens in 1961 in Israel where Howard W. Campbell Jr. (Nick Nolte) is about to be tried for war crimes. In the cell above his is Adolf Eichmann. Campbell is given three weeks to write his memoirs, and then his trial will commence. This part of the film is shot by Tom Richmond in a grainy black and white. Most of the show is told in flashback where the images are full of lush colors that are, for reasons I'll discuss later, too pretty.
Howard is an American whose father has worked most of his life in Berlin. Howard has become a playwright and is married to a German woman, Helga Noth (Sheryl Lee who played Astrid in BACKBEAT). Just before the war starts a "Blue Fairy Godmother" named Frank Wirtanen (John Goodman) comes to Howard with a proposition. Frank works for the American War Department and wants Howard to broadcast Nazi propaganda during the war which will include coded messages past to him by another spy whom he will never meet.
After Frank tells him that the US will disown him after the war, Howard asks why Frank thinks he will take the job. Howard says, "You love good, you hate evil, and you'd do anything for the sake of romance." Yes, suspending disbelief is mandatory in MOTHER NIGHT.
"I guess the moral here is: you must be careful what you pretend to be because in the end you are who you're pretending to be," reasons Howard about his moral dilemma.
Nolte is an actor with a proclivity for overacting. MULHOLLAND FALLS is one such film, but hopefully you missed it. In others, like THE PRINCE OF TIDES, he stays in control. Here he gives the first performance where he manages to underact. His acting is disengaged and borders on being boring. Even when Nolte's acting is awful, it has rarely been boring. In Nolte's defense, the whole show exists on a plane disjoint from that of the audience. Gordon's direction is never involving, and the viewers become little more than voyeurs.
At the end of the first act, the war ends and as promised, his fairy godmother shows up to disown him with, "Your role will remain classified, and Uncle Sam's official position is you're the scum of the earth."
"Yes, I've changed. People should be changed by World Wars or what are World Wars for," reasons Howard in the second act. This part is set in New York City where Howard forms a friendship with George Kraft (Alan Arkin). Howard is officially dead, but George encourages him to tell the world his story and besides, "all the best writers are dead." During this act, one bizarre character after another shows up with most being white supremacists including one who is actually black and is known as the Black Fuhrer. This act is even less effective than the first.
In the end, there are only two reasons to see MOTHER NIGHT. One makes sense, and the other doesn't. First, the script includes some excellent dialog, bitingly funny and insightful. Second, the show has a lovely serenity to it.
Since this is a tragedy about Nazis and about innocent people being trapped, why we should have this tranquillity makes little sense. Outwardly the situations are tragic, but the lush cinematography, the overly dreamy music by Michael Convertino and the peaceful composure of most of the participants give the film an inappropriate peacefulness.
As just a few examples of this, when the war is about to end, two of the Nazi decide to let the Russian take them and probably kill them, but they are completely at peace with this. The scenes of wartime Germany are picture postcard perfect. Rich people in Tuxedos live in a Norman Rockwell setting. Finally, the audience is lulled with the constant sounds of Bing Crosby's melodious voice singing "White Christmas."
I hope that movie producers will not again waste our time with Vonnegut. Savor him in print if you will, but don't try to force his work where it doesn't fit.
MOTHER NIGHT runs 1:50. It is rated R. There is brief nudity, a little violence, and some bad language. The show is all pretty mild and would be fine for any teenager. I enjoyed parts of it, especially the script, but there is not enough there to recommend it. I give the picture **.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: November 13, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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