FilmBlather.com

Novelist Russell Banks most likely had a painful experience with ice. We may never know whether he had or not, but that's a reasonable assumption when examining his past two novels-turned-movies. Last year's brilliant The Sweet Hereafter and now Affliction are both tragic films in a icy, snowy setting. I'm not quite sure what's so beguiling about that neverending white, and what makes it such a good setting for murder mysteries and the like. But with Fargo, Smilla's Sense of Snow and Russell Banks' critically acclaimed films, the snowbound drama has become a genre.

Affliction's story revolves around Wade (Nick Nolte) a small-time cop living in a small town in the small state of New Hampshire. He is nearly isolated from the rest of the world; his wife hates him, his daughter is afraid of him, his neighbors find him peculiar. He is a hot-tempered man, ready and willing to plow over anyone who gets in his way.

But something happens in his uneventful little town that shakes Wade up good. There is an apparent murder of a union worker. Wade's acquaintance Jack is accused of the dastardly deed, and Wade decides to find out whether Jack did it or not. All signs point to the fact that he did indeed, and Wade becomes more and more convinced of the validity of that statement.

This little murder mystery goes nowhere because that's not what Affliction is interested in. What director Paul Schrader's movie wants to address is just what has been hampering Wade's life and what his true affliction is. It wouldn't be far-off to point out that the root of the problem is Wade's troubled childhood. Obviously, living with his abusive father (James Coburn) has taken an adverse affect on the man, and there are times in the movie when the adult Wade lashes back at his dad, screaming things like "I wish you would just die!" And indeed his father is a mean-spirited, even nasty man, who verbally and physically beats on his son to relieve himself of his own problems -- his alcoholism and general dissatisfaction with the world around him.

Both Nolte and Coburn have received much deserved Oscar nominations for their very different turns in Affliction. Nolte, the leading man, turns in a brutally realistic performance, impeccably portraying a man who literally smothers people with affection. Coburn as the father is a little more over the top, and a wee less believable, but watching his character is nevertheless blood-curdling.

Other performances are mostly solid across the board. William Defoe, who was insane enough a few years back to take the role of the villain in Speed 2: Cruise Control, here plays Wade's brother Rolfe. And while he is palatable in the role, he plays a zero-dimensional character, scarcely defined by Schrader's script. Sissy Spacek has the daunting task of playing Wade's girlfriend, and she rises to the challenge. Her character is also slightly better defined than that of Dafoe's.

Affliction is complex and powerful, well-written and directed. It is not a tale of redemption, but rather that of affliction, and anyone expecting an uplifting ending will be sorely dissapointed. This is not a crowd-pleaser, and it's not what can be referred to as an entertaining film, but it's effective and quite compelling in its own right.

A fundamental mistake is made in this film however, and that is the voiceover. Supposedly, Wade's story is told by his brother, but his narrative is clumsy and disjointed, one of the worst I have seen in a while. It is mercifully brief though, and it only shows up at the beginning and the end, but it is enough to drain Affliction of almost any truly heartfelt impact that it could have had.

While it cannot compare with The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction is still a good film, with tour-de-force performances and a multi-layered script. It's not exactly a barrel of laughs, but if you are prepared for a somber moviegoing experience, then my friends, this one's for you.