Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke
A Jake Gyllenhaal one man show. That’s “The Guilty.”
Some awards nominations are buzzing.
A Simple movie with low budget production and top quality acting.
The movie can easily be transformed into a live theatre production on the stage. Even a radio dramatization will work- everything is just verbal here. The visual part is totally irrelevant. All of the important conversations in the movie are done over the phone- so this is basically just an audio product.
“The Guilty” is trying to deal with some very serious topics in today’s North American reality- that’s mental health and the repercussions to modern western society due to the dramatically increasing number of mental health issue related cases. Lots of them with traumatic or even fatal outcomes.
LAPD police officer Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is fighting a few private and professional challenges. These challenges leave a significant scar on his mental state which becomes more and more fragile day after day. He was involved in a police shooting. Baylor shot and killed a 19 year old boy. The trail is ongoing. In the meantime, he is transferred from real police work on the streets of Los Angeles to the 911 incoming calls desk in LAPD emergency. That’s also killing him mentally- he wants to be out there on the streets.
In his private life, he is separated from his wife and does not have access to his daughter. This is another huge source of mental stress for him. And on top of everything on the 911 desk shift the night before a crucial day of his court trial, he is faced with a life or death situation, which he operates solely from his 911 desk. A mentally ill woman is abducted by her ex husband who is an unstable drug addict and her baby is critically hurt. He will be able to resolve the dramatic case with a relatively happy ending but those few moments of relaxation after the case is closed will be the last steps towards his complete mental meltdown.
Yes, we are talking about some extra heavy weight drama, so if you watch the movie be ready for this.
The movie is a Netflix production so expect some between the lines messages. Netflix, as you know, wants to be involved with day to day hot button political and societal topics. Here are the fires around Los Angeles (environmental) which are totally not tied in any way with the movie. Police shooting and killing of a 19 year old (police brutality and overuse of power). Drug addict cannot afford to pay for his medication (overturning of Obama care and the non-existing medicare for all in America).
So the only honest message from the movie is the one about the suffering of the population who have mental issues and the rising problem of mental health which is hit hard by the stress of modern life and alienation of all kinds.
