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The Manchurian Candidate
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The Manchurian Candidate, Directed by Jonathan Demme; Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight and Jada Pinkett-Smith
On this update of Richard Condon's highly controversial novel, Denzel Washington fills Frank Sinatra's shoes as Major Ben Marco, the disturbed war veteran who begins to investigate strange nightmares he and others from his former Kuwait patrol have been having since returning from a traumatic experience during the first conflict at the Persian Gulf. As the movie opens, we see Marco's patrol ambushed by a group of Iraqi combatants. Once the commanding officer is disabled, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Shreiber in one of his best performances yet) takes control and single-handedly fights the enemy while taking his unit back into safety - an act that wins him the Congressional Medal of Honor, recommended by Marco himself. Thirteen years later, Major Marco is giving a speech to a group of Boy Scouts when one of the veterans of that same patrol approaches him to talk about some strange nightmares he's been having - something that has nothing to do with the supposed heroism of Sergeant Shaw - now a Congressman with an eye on the Vice-Presidency. As we later find out, Marco's entire unit was brainwashed - not by communists as in the original, but by a group of greedy businessmen from a Halliburton-like corporation (veteran actor Dean Stockwell, in mostly a cameo, is one of the executives whose simple gaze sends messages that need not be spoken) named Manchurian Global (an extremist Muslim sect would have spiced up the plot, but I guess the PC Police would not have it that way). Once prompted by a former service companion, he begins to investigate the source of his longtime distress once diagnosed as post-traumatic stress only to find that everything he's believed in for years. In the meantime, Raymond Shaw is nominated as candidate for vice-presidency despite the misgivings of his own party members. His nomination is effected through the efforts of his hard-as-nails dominant mother, Meryl Streep, giving a performance that will forever be compared to Angela Lansbury's previous portrayal of the same character. In the original film, Shaw's mother was mostly a domineering persona behind her husband, a wimpy portrayal of a McCarthy-like senator who was so clueless that he had to name the number of communists in the government from the number on the top of a Heinz ketchup bottle. This time around, she openly runs the show - and those who oppose to her seem doomed to oblivion or political destruction - if they are lucky.
The surprise player in this version is Jada Pinkett-Smith, who reprises Janet Leigh's character in a stronger, clearer role. In the 1962 version, viewers had to guess that Rosie was Marco's controller. On the updated version, we learn that from Marco himself - or do we? Ms. Smith (wife of actor Will Smith) is possibly the most underrated character in this thriller, and her initially subtle performance grows to a completely unexpected level, especially at the conclusion of the story. Denzel Washington plays Major Marco as a confused, psychologically wounded soldier (unlike Frank Sinatra's original macho portrayal) who finds the truth in subtle ways and is not believed by anyone around him, while Shreiber's Shaw sways from an assured to a weak fellow who only breaks down when he finally realizes - like Laurence Harvey's Shaw did - when it is too late. Now, you will ask me, does the original stand up to the classic? I would say that it does. While I wasn't as spooked at the ending as I was when I saw the 1962 version, I should say that this remake will be one of the few to be regarded as a classic in its own right. |
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Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber in The Manchurian Candidate 
Director Jonathan Demme and Meryl Streep