21 Grams
Alejandro González Iñárritu directs 21 Grams, a beautiful and heart-rending 2003 drama. Like Amores perros from 2000, this Iñárritu film features a disjointed narrative and was written by Guillermo Arriaga. Arriaga and Iñárritu are also the team behind the magnificent 2007 film Babel. It is said that Amores perros, 21 Grams, and Babel form a sort of unofficial trilogy from Iñárritu in that they are all somewhat related thematically. Iñárritu is one of the best directors working today, in my view, and has a real vision for the screen and for storytelling. His films are spectacular pieces about seemingly interconnected events and consequences of human action. 21 Grams is no different.
21 Grams stars Sean Penn as Paul Rivers, a mathematics professor with a deteriorating heart condition. His relationship life is in shambles because of his view of life and his bleakness. As we find Paul, he is less than a month away from death and certainly will die if he cannot find a new heart donor. Paul is badgered by his wife, Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) to donate his sperm so that she can have a baby. The relationship between Paul and Mary is civil, but progressively more distant as Paul becomes acquainted with his understated reality.
Naomi Watts stars as Cristina Peck, a woman who is recovering from drug addiction and lives a customary suburban life with her family, a husband and two young girls. One fateful day, her husband and girls are taken away from her and Cristina finds herself in a throbbing world of lament and anguish. Cristina has become a loving mother and has recovered from her past life of booze and drugs, only to have her new life snatched away from her in an ostensibly fateful moment. She suffers with her new reality and attempts to cope with how to live her life with her husband and her daughters instantaneously taken from her life as a result of her death. Her loss is excruciating.
Benicio del Toro is the final piece of the puzzle here, starring as Jack Jordan. Jack is a former convict who is attempting recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. He finds himself in frequent spirals of fate and attempts to use his newfound Christianity as a way to escape what seems to be the inexorable slide of his life. Jack continues to experience cruel twists of fate and cannot seem to keep out of trouble, while at the same time he attempts to uneasily love and exist with his family. Jack is a man wracked with guilt and the agony of his existence and he attempts to end his life many times.
These three characters are brought together through a series of interlocking events, each one more driven by providence than the last. Iñárritu’s use of disjointed narrative lends itself to the story in a number of ways, but seems to have disenchanted a large portion of the viewing public from what I can tell. This disjointed narrative, while fashionable in films like Pulp Fiction, appears to be besmirched here to the point of perplexity by many people. Instead, I posit that the disjointed narrative of 21 Grams enables the audience to see events unfold in their natural states rather than in their linear states. Iñárritu’s story is about outwardly distinct events and about twists of fate. The impact of these situations unravels best when it actually does unravel effectively, so his direction allows this by providing the audience a chance to get involved with the story and piece these fateful occurrences together mentally before and sometimes after they actually occur in the story.
With that in mind, 21 Grams is an effective film about the events that drive us and that create who we are inside. A rarity in films, Iñárritu ably trusts his audience to unravel his puzzle. While many Hollywood oriented films construct essential linear stories and require simple viewing to provide the experience, films like 21 Grams ask for more and pray that the audience attempts engagement with the material. Iñárritu has crafted a film that requires attention to detail and gives us an immense reward if we do so. The film reveals little pieces of its story at a time, purposefully engaging us to attempt to discern the effects of reality on these characters. With lesser characters, 21 Grams would not have worked so well.
The performances here are astounding. It is Naomi Watts that digs in deep, as her role requires the absolute destruction and reconstruction of her character. She breaks down several times, emotionally drains herself, and constructs herself again to recover some semblance of strength and resolve. Watts’ Cristina is a character that needs hope to exist, yet has so little of it around her that it’s like watching her move through a desert. Penn and del Toro are restrained somewhat here, poignantly playing out their roles with a quiet dignity and allowing Watts’ power reign them both in to the middle of the narrative. It’s one of the best pieces of performance between a trio of actors that I’ve seen, as it guides the film so effortlessly and yet belies its complexity without sacrificing integrity. It’s stunning.
Make no mistake about it, 21 Grams is a complicated and needy film. It will likely alienate the viewer or draw the viewer right in to the core of Iñárritu’s vision. Luckily for me it was the latter and I was enthralled from start to finish at the engagement of this mystery and at the wonder of life, as it can be created anew from loss. The film is powerful, subtle, and explosive all at once. 21 Grams is the best film I have seen from 2003 thus far.
Trailer:
