Movie Review: Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher (2014)

Four Stars out of Five

R

Mark Schultz: Channing Tatum

David Schultz: Mark Ruffalo

John E. DuPont: Steve Carrell

Jean DuPont: Vanessa Redgrave

Director: Bennett Miller

Writer: E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

As a former high school wrestler, I took particular interest in “Foxcatcher” for its story of two American Olympic wrestlers. This 2014 movie directed by Bennett Miller and written by the team of E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman recreates events describing the lives of two American Gold Medal wrestling Olympians, brothers Mark and David Schultz; their lives from 1986 to 1996. In this movie, knowing the ending is not quite the spoiler it might be with most movies since the events are a matter of historical record. But more to the point, “Foxcatcher” is not really movie about wrestling, but is instead one dedicated to comparing the lives of the wealthy 1% to those working for the wealthy; and along the way doing a very decent job of showing the sport of wrestling.

The movie begins in a nearly perfect fashion as director Miller and his writers very deftly show the nature of Mark Schultz’ (Channing Tatum) physical life with strong hints as to his internal life. Like his older brother Dave, Mark won a gold medal in wrestling at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. But this highlight in his life has not made his life easy. He is not shown working at any job but rather only preparing for the 1987 World Wrestling Championships in Paris; that is with the exception of a brief lecture he gives for $20 to a group of elementary school children. When you watch this movie, and I strongly recommend that you do so, watch his face as he tries to give his talk. His intensity might be that of an impassioned athlete, or it might be the symptoms of a young man coming psychologically unraveled. While Tatum captures Mark’s misery beautifully throughout the film, one of the flaws in the film is that we are not really privy to the nature of Mark’s mental unease. There is a hint that it comes from living in the shadow of his older, far better adjusted brother; a brother that has essentially raised Mark from his early youth to adulthood, and who has proven to be an excellent coach for Mark’s wrestling training. But what is truly eating Mark remains largely unclear.

David on the other hand is married with two children, and seemingly everyone in David’s family is happy and mentally sound. He is an expert wrestler and coach. He works for the fictional Wexler University and has been approached by an American wrestling organization to move to greater things as a coach. David is happy and growing, Mark is sick and sinking. Into this mix, marches the even more mentally-troubled John E. DuPont, scion to the DuPont family’s wealth. John wants to start a wrestling training camp at his home near Valley Forge, PA. Mark rushes literally and figuratively into John’s arms, while David demurs. The second third of the movie shows Mark’s subjugation by John. At first Mark prospers, but in time the corrosive nature of John’s influence causes Mark to seriously lose his athletic grip. This is made clear at the tryouts in Pensacola FL for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Fortunately for Mark, Dave is there to step in and bring him to his senses (or as close as Mark can get to them). Dave played by Mark Ruffalo is in many ways someone who knows himself. He has his loving family, his career, and a sense of where he is going in life. Ruffalo’s performance was certainly good enough to earn him his 2015 Oscar nomination for supporting actor as his performance is nuanced and compassionate. His David is someone that everyone in the movie (with one exception) admires and wants to associate with. He is able to save his little brother from John DuPont, but he does not yet know the price he will pay for such an act.

John DuPont is played by Steve Carrell, and like Ruffalo, played so well that Carrell also earned an Oscar nomination, this one for best actor. John is in a lifelong fight with his mother, Jean (Vanessa Redgrave). It is pretty clear that it is a losing fight for John, and almost as clear that Jean does not even consider it a fight. She has a passion for horses, while John has been searching for a similar passion. He has decided that being a coach and mentor to a wrestling team is his goal. He works to create a training site on his mother’s property and begins to hire various American wrestlers that have the potential to become Olympians. That John has no athletic ability (he can hardly stand straight up), knows less than nothing about wrestling moves beyond the most basic, and in fact appears to be mentally unbalanced, does not stop him from working towards his goal. That he can do so, is of course the result of his family’s great wealth. The writers Frye and Futterman really seem intent on making the distinction between the “haves” and the “have nots” the central sub-text of the story. Because of his wealth, John can buy a wrestling team, an armored vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun, and shoot on the rifle range with the local police force; but he cannot please his mother.

The attitudes of the wealthy are alluded to in clear fashion as the movie opens with multiple scenes of the rich with their horses, fox chases, their hounds. The attitudes of the wealthy towards their animals, their possessions do not differ markedly from John’s attitude towards his employees. They aren’t people like he and his mother, they are not even employees, they are things to be owned and to be used. To be used, that is his primary thought. He hired Mark to own him. He expects the slavish attention and implied homoerotic affection that their close physical interactions while on the wrestling mat demand. Whether John was a homosexual or not is not explored, that he believes he can demand Mark to do anything he requires is very evident. John can order and get anything he wants from all around but for two people: his mother and David. One of the best scenes in the movie is Redgrave’s tired conversation with john as she makes it abundantly clear that she does not care for wrestling (thus demeaning the very thing John is making his raison d’etre) but at the same time she will tolerate it. One gets the feeling she not only demeans him with her acceptance of his fancies, but at the same time, she seems to back away from the mental illness she too perceives lurking in the background of John’s troubled and unfulfilled mind.

As superb as the open scenes were with “Foxcatcher”, the segue from the play time of the wealthy to the grubby little life of Mark Schultz, the closing scenes of the now unhinged John are rushed into. And not just rushed into, but done so with little explication. We see John watching his paid for infomercial extolling his abilities as a wrestling coach and mentor, and then with little dramatic buildup or meaning, we watch him casually drive out into the snow and commit an act of violence that will lead to prison. The movie then switches to Mark living as a cage fighter, something he had previously derided. It is not made in any way clear what Mark is feeling. We now better understand him, but he seems disconnected from his losses.  The movie opens brilliantly, moves through the second reel with almost the same level of intensity and meaning, but closes far too quickly. It is troubling that Mark is not well explained at the beginning, and less so at the end; it is troubling that John’s demons are poorly defined – is he insane or just unloved? We are told that John dies in prison for his actions, so apparently not insane. But as brilliant as many aspects of this movie are, there are some vexing problems.

This movie is really worth seeing by adults. The acting, directing, editing and writing in the first third are as good as it gets, in my opinion. Despite the poor closing and some holes in character definition (not development), this is an excellent drama that displays fantastic moments of cinematic story telling.