They Can't Take That Away From Me
There are certain films that pass into legend, and some legends that are based purely on the stories surrounding a film's release. Such is the case with The Manchurian Candidate from 1962. Directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra as a soldier who suspects his men have been brain-washed during the Korean war in a big political conspiracy designed to win political power, the film was rumoured to have been taken out of theatres due to the assassination of JFK. After gathering a cult following, Sinatra managed to buy up the rights from the studio and it was re-released in 1987. The re-release was a huge box-office success and it is here we take up our current story, as Tina Sinatra, (daughter of Ol' Blue Eyes) sees the potential for a remake. It may have taken her seventeen years, but it was certainly worth the wait.
Acclaimed director Jonathan Demme took up the challenge of a new adaptation of Richard Condon's infamous Cold War novel, based on the strength of the script by Daniel Pyne. "I felt like it needed a complete rethink," says Pyne. "It's a timeless story and one I wanted to update and not just rehash." Indeed, the original movie is held in such high regard by the film community that the idea of a remake was severely frowned upon. It's a barrier Demme was more than aware of going into the project and predictably the tabloids had a field day. Angela Lansbury (who appeared in the original) apparently balked at the prospect. "She slated the idea and it was a big thing in America," Demme nods, "but we later found out this was untrue and Paramount even invited her to a screening (of our film)." People seemed to be judging Demme's version unseen and he was appalled by a particular review in the Washington Post by uber-critic Gary Arnold, who gave the film half a star out of five and simply went on to write about how great the original was.
If getting a new audience to appreciate The Manchurian Candidate 2004 sounds like a tough call, just think how hard it must have been to get made. In 1991 Tina Sinatra first tried to get Demme involved but it wasn't until Denzel Washington had signed on as the lead character Major Bennet Marco that things finally began to go her way. "It all fell into place within two days," she marvels. "I couldn't believe it." And well she shouldn't, because as well as Washington, the script drew just about every big name in Hollywood and Demme had the pick of the litter; namely one Meryl Streep. Then came the surprise casting of Liev Schreiber who gets to stretch his acting muscles as Senator Raymond Prentiss Shaw, a man unknowingly at the centre of the mind-control experiment that his old friend Major Marco is trying to expose. Was he concerned about the theme of assassination during a real election event between Bush and Kerry? "There's a danger of being afraid of political films," he comments in that trademark rumble of a voice, "Of avoiding films with substance, which are volitile and dangerous. There'll probably be another version (of the film) in the future because it's just such a great story."
One of the choices made was to update the way in which Marco and his men are brain-washed, namely by using the latest technology that would be available to a modern conglomerate with a bottomless piggy-bank. At first Pyne sat down and wrote by the seat of his pants but Demme later insisted he research the reality of modern medical experiments, such as electro-stimulation for epilepsy sufferers. Taking this into account, Pyne tried to mix the present procedures with a projection of what might be to come...
Washington plays Major Bennet Marco, a gulf-war veteran who has insomnia and spends his days giving speeches about the attack on his men in Kuwait that went bad and how they were all rescued by Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who earned the Medal of Honor. Except Shaw never seemed like a take-charge kind of guy and now twelve years later he's a high-powered senator running for office. Marco's interest in Shaw begins with a visit from Corporal Melvin, a jittery man who claims to have nightmares about his crew being brainwashed in the desert. The more Marco thinks about his own eerily similar nightmares and the haziness of that time in Kuwait, the more he starts to question what really went on.
Meanwhile Raymond is having his own problems; a stressful political campaign for the vice-presidency led by his over-bearing mother Eleanor Prentiss Shaw, also a senator, and the same bad dreams about Kuwait are taking their toll. Marco visits Shaw and gradually convinces him to take a moment to hear his story. Shaw has a lot of respect for Marco, but finds it hard to believe that he's really just a puppet in a grand play. But Shaw seems like just that; a puppet, and the more the conspirators push him, the more suspicious he gets until drastic action has to be taken to shut him and Marco up for good.
The big twist is essentially spelled out in the first five minutes, but it's the skill of director Demme that he holds our attention throughout with strong characters and a classic detective arc (it's not about where you're going but how you get there). Washington and Streep may be the big names on the movie poster, and their performances are as impressive as usual, but the real kudos must go to Liev Shreiber, who is nothing short of a revelation as Raymond Shaw. Usually typecast as the brooding bad guy in films such as Scream , here he gives a restrained performance as a man torn between what he thinks and what he feels may actually have happened. Let's hope the academy takes note come Februrary.
The music (and sound design) must also get a special mention, from the laid-back cool of the opening titles right through to the bold use of music at the climax, and Demme's trademark use of actors looking directly into camera is almost hypnotic. There are flaws in the film (the typical British bad guy for one. The absurdity of the conspiracy for another) but make no mistake: this is one of the best films of 2004. Taught, engaging and that rare thing: a film for grown ups that doesn't dumb down its delivery, or have merchandising and box office as its primary agenda. For a film about brain-washing, The Manchurian Candidate won't easily be forgotten.
Tom Ramsbottom
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