James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
Despite being labelled ‘public enemies’ by the F.B.I., they were heroes of the people who cared about their public image, as Americans from coast to coast followed their exploits and bank robberies in the papers and on the newsreels with fascination.
Public Enemies, while including appearances by Floyd and Nelson, focuses mainly on John Dillinger and his bank robbing spree after escaping from jail in 1933. He doesn’t bother to try and navigate his way back to the straight and narrow; bank robbing is his profession, as he announces to his lover, Billie Frechette (a glowing Marion Cotillard), the first time they meet.
This was a different class of criminal – not only did they wear suits to the banks that they rob, but in the first robbery we are shown Dillinger and his crew give the money back to the customers, à la Robin Hood. Dillinger cared about what the public thought, dismissing a suggestion by one of his crew that they should kidnap some victims because the public doesn’t approve of kidnapping.
That is not to say that Dillinger was a saint. Indeed, in some of the robberies he takes several hostages and leaves them tied together around a tree in the middle of a deserted wood. But, crucially, he doesn’t kill any of them; the only people his bullets are meant for are the policemen and F.B.I. G-men who are firing back at them.
These ‘G-men’, a special taskforce that was part of the fledgling F.B.I. under director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), are recruited to fight these particular ‘public enemies’. For their commander, Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), Dillinger becomes Moby Dick to Purvis’ Captain Ahab. Purvis leads the manhunt against the Public Enemy No. 1, using new technologies to track Dillinger down.
Dillinger and his crew lived each day as it came; they didn’t think about the future and didn’t care about the past, in contrast to Hoover’s concern with creating history. As Dillinger, Depp radiates this exuberance and flair in the face of Bale’s staid resolve; in one scene Dillinger’s bravado becomes dangerous as he decides to wander round the squad room of the ‘Dillinger Squad’, the taskforce specifically assigned to capturing him. However, just as director Michael Mann teased us in Heat, allowing Robert De Niro and Al Pacino to share only once scene together, so it is with Depp and Bale in Public Enemies. While Bale’s character is well-crafted, it is Depp that commands the scene through his character’s charm and style. Bank robbers are just more exciting than F.B.I. agents.
Cotillard holds her own amid all this testosterone, proving that last year’s Oscar® was richly deserved. She shines as Frechette, a half-French, half-native-American beauty who becomes Dillinger’s girl from the moment he sets eyes on her.
And given that Mann is directing, the film looks beautiful. Mann does for the Depression what he did for Los Angeles in Collateral. But he does not shy away from the brutality of this era, with prolonged gunfights and dubious interrogation techniques exposed for what they are. For each of the characters the gun seems like an extension of their arm, and the audience’s ears are assaulted with the explosion of gunfire.
Public Enemies is a study in these Depression era criminals that has been lovingly crafted and boasts a superb cast. However amid all the talent it is Depp and Cotillard that provide the real star value, with pitch-perfect performances that allow you to fall in love with the life of crime.
You must log in to submit a comment.
