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Paul Schrader's
Affliction, adapted from the
novel by Russell Banks (
The Sweet Hereafter), charts the slow descent of small-town sheriff Wade Whitehouse (a raspy, gruffly restrained Nick Nolte) into violence, the legacy of the corrupt love of an abusive, alcoholic father. The story ostensibly centers on a hunting death on the outskirts of town, but as Wade digs into what may or not be a conspiracy, his personal life spirals out of control. James Coburn, who deservedly won an Oscar for his mocking, sneering performance, is Wade's father, who jumps back into the cycle of abuse when Wade moves in to care for the aging man. Chronicling the story in distant, dispassionate tones is Willem Dafoe as Wade's younger brother Rolfe, who "escaped" his father's legacy in a world of books. Schrader has made his reputation revealing the scarred psyches of American men trying to reconcile the contradictions of masculine fantasy and social reality, as in his screenplays for
Taxi Driver and
Raging Bull, and in
Affliction he creates his most poignant and powerful work. The quiet beauty of the snow-blanketed New Hampshire setting (using Canadian locations) and Schrader's restrained yet intimate cinematic style builds the underlying emotional tensions until they explode in startling close-ups, revealing the repressed fear, rage, and helplessness cracking through Wade's carefully maintained façade. As Rolfe's narration coolly analyzes his brother's affliction, he reveals his own: an emotional remove so complete that he's edited himself out of his family history. The legacy of abuse leaves no one untouched.
--Sean Axmaker
From The New Yorker
Nick Nolte, committing himself to a difficult part with a manly readiness that inspires affection, even awe, is Wade Whitehouse, a divorced policeman and hired hand floundering badly in a snowbound New Hampshire town. Both kindly and belligerent, Wade misses the meaning and rhythm of events, and reacts too much or too little, erupting in anger over what he should laugh off, ridiculing what he should take seriously. The movie is a kind of psychological thriller: Why is Wade so screwed up? (We find out.) Writer-director Paul Schrader flinches at nothing and takes us deep into the texture and causes of this man's failure; the movie, though relentless, is severely beautiful and finally exhilarating, like a sharp, cold wind taken in the face. With James Coburn as Wade's horrifying father, whose violent temper Wade has inherited; Willem Dafoe as his brother, who has sensibly (though rather contemptibly) withdrawn from the scene; Sissy Spacek as his girlfriend; and Mary Beth Hurt as his ex-wife. Schrader adapted Russell Banks's 1989 novel himself. Shot in rural Canada, near Montreal.-D.D. (1/11/99) -David Denby
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker
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