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Civic
Duty
(2006)
Almost six years after the fall of the Towers,
we have lived in the Age of Terror for long enough for the
social and psychological effects of this period in time to
be evident to all. While this means we get some great
explorations of the complex ramifications of our current political
landscape, we also get works like Civic Duty. 9/11
is far enough in our past that artists can incorporate the
day and its ongoing aftermath into their works, but sadly,
so can the hacks.
Civic Duty is a study of suburban, white, middle-class
accountant Terry Allen (Peter Krause), who loses his job and
fills his empty days with a state of growing paranoia over his
Arabic neighbor's supposedly suspicious behavior. When
FBI Agent Hillary (Richard Schiff) doesn't take Allen's tips
seriously enough, Allen takes the investigation into his own
hands, much to the dismay of his wife Marla (Kari Matchett),
for the sake of his and everyone's safety.
This story is nothing new. Antonioni explored a man's obsession
with an incriminating image in Blow-Up, and both Copolla
and DePalma did the same with audio in their respective The
Conversation and Blow Out. Unlike these films,
however, Civic Duty isn't so much a study in the nature
of obsession itself, but rather its own muddled obsession on the influence of media in the modern fear-fueled world. Even the idea of a terrorist neighbor has been explored on celluloid before in the pre-9/11 Arlington Road, and with much better results.
While the film does contain some interesting social and political commenmtary, it's just another clichéd, cookie-cutter thriller masquerading as a film with a real message. The closest we get to meaning are a few glimpses into the xenophobia-inducing rhetoric spoted by the ever-present news media, and the clear microcosm of the current political situation that Terry serves as. This was the element of the film I appreciated the most. Seeing Terry push the boundaries of the very liberties he wanted to protect spoke volumes to me.
As much potential as Civic Duty displays with these hints of insight, the combined laughability of many of the more extreme situations and the unjustified irrationality of the characters overwhelms any semblance of meaning in the movie. Just when suspense thrillers like this normally kick into high gear, Civic Duty escalates into a heated political debate between Terry and his Arab neighbor and the movie climaxes in a twist ending that will surely make you audibly groan and roll your eyes.
Add to the mix the fact that the visual style of the was intentionally offputting, and you'll find that Civic Duty is a difficult film to sit through. I could count the number of medium or wider shots in the movie on both hands (perhaps even after losing a few fingers), and while the constant extreme close-ups add an inescapable element of intimacy and presence, it shows a clear lack of ability on the part of both director and cinematographer when it comes to mise-en-scene. Contributing even more to this awkward aesthetic, the focus goes in and out throughout the film, apparently as a means of showing Terry's progressively unhinged mind, but the technique primarily just gave me a headache.
As the ongoing "War on Terror" has an ever-stronger effect on our world and our collective psychology, we will certainly continue to see films commenting on and investigating it. And while not all of them will be direct translations of actual events, like World Trade Center or United 93, perhaps it would be better if they were. Not only would it limit the amount of saturation the newly emerging genre would create in an already oversaturated media, it might also prevent ambiguous and poorly executed films like Civic Duty from ever being made.
-Mark
Moreland
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Jeff
Renfroe
Writer: Andrew
Joiner
Starring: Peter
Krause, Khaled Abol Naga, Richard Schiff, Kari Matchett, Ian Tracey
Distributor: Freestyle
Releasing
Runtime: 98
min
Rating: R
Release Date: May
4, 2007
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