Affliction

March 8, 1999

Last Friday night I saw "Affliction" which has Nick Nolte and James Coburn nominated for Academy Awards. It is based on a novel written by Russell Banks who also wrote "The Sweet Hereafter" which was also made into a film by Atom Egoyan. This one was adapted to the screen by Paul Schrader who did the screenplay to one of the greatest films of all time, "Taxi Driver." This book was made for him to direct into a movie.

It has a lot of "Taxi Driver" in it as it has Nick Nolte plays a cop in a very small and snowy town in New England who is slowly losing his mind. His wife has long since divorced him, his daughter is terrified to be around him, and we soon learn that that he was a victim (along with his brother, who is played by Willem Dafoe) of his alcoholic father's abusive behavior.

As the movie goes on, we see that Nick Nolte's character named Wade is slowly becomming like his father as he starts to drink more and (in one cringe-inducing sequence) ends up pulling out a tooth that is causing a severe ache in his gums with a pair of plyers and some Jack Daniels to wash his mouth out with. By the end of the movie, everyone close to him will be alienated from him, have gotten away from him, and he ends up all alone. I guess that when that happens in a small town, it's even worse because the world feels so small anyway.

Nick Nolte is terrific because his character has become so sick mentally, and he has a particlularly repellent attitude, but you do feel for him because we the audience see in flashblacks what his father has done to him. He has become afflicted by his father's abuses and now he is pretthy much become like his father.

James Coburn is also terrific as he fearlessly portrays an abusive husband. You hate this character more than anything else, and Coburn never backs away from what a mean bully this character is. I enjoyed Sissy Spacek also as Wade's girlfriemd, and the daughter was quite good.

It is a bleak bleak bleak movie to be sure, but definetly worth watching for some great acting.