Betrayed

“Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby

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Being a Jew is more like a sin, followed by miseries untold throughout the entire life— this is how Charles Braude felt in the movie Betrayed, directed by Eirik Svensson and released in 2020. What could be a romantic drama filled with love and relationship between families and dear ones, the German aggression on the Norwegian Jews turned the upside down— replacing the growing love of a newly married couple with a disturbing story of separation.

If it was the end of the drama, then the viewers may find a reason not to shed tears— separation may happen anytime for any reason. But the breaking of a happy family and then being forced to assume this is what being a jew means is heartbreaking and I believe even the cruelest man wouldn’t stand the mental suffocation the victims went through every day in the concentration camp— be it men, women, or elderly people, the gas chambers didn’t discriminate even the newborn.

For the last few days, I am into movies like I used to 4-5 years back. Sudden sickness has given me more time to lay on my head with my TV straight in front of my face. Opportunities like these do not come very often and I did not want to be cooped up in my room and taking only my medications timely. So, a little Google research and there are plenty of movies out there worth watching. I picked a few, mostly crime thrillers, and put them on the screen to make the moment worthwhile. Betrayed was the last movie on my list and I must warn you, if you are currently in any sort of mental breakdown, do not watch this.

The grim story of a family being drifted away for no reason is disturbing to watch. Also, the helplessness of the Jews in the death camp and in the prison may upset you even if you are in the most chilling mood.

However, this drama is a bit different from other movies featuring Nazi torture during WW1 & WW2. While most other movies of the same theme focus more on concentration camps and the sufferings of the Jews and with numerous graphical moments, this doesn’t include much of those. Rather it focuses more on telling the story of a happy family being chased away by Nazi aggression, from one place to another— highlighting the attempt to survive against odds and not surrender before the devil.

The movie is based on a true story and the historical figures are shown accordingly. As the story is based on a single family, the other characters in the movie seem flat and lifeless. Also, the dramatisation is a bit off with a failed attempt to keep the story flowing, especially at the end of the movie and it feels like it was hurried rather than focusing more on perfection. Well, the Director might have his cause, but I am satisfied with it and do not hold grudge against the director for not paying attention to tiny details.

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(source: tmdb.org)

French director Costa-Gavras enjoys reputation of world’s best known author of political films. His best known works were known to reflect left-wing political orientation. Unsurprisingly, 1988 thriller Betrayed, his first film to have plot set in USA, features right-wingers as villains.

The plot is loosely inspired by real events that occurred few years earlier, related to militant white supremacist organisation Order and assassination of radio DJ Alan Berg. The opening of the film shows how Chicago-based left-wing shock jock Sam Kraus (played by Richard Libertini) gets machine gunned by masked assassins with clear political motivation. Some time later widowed Iowa farmer Gary Simmons (played by Tom Berenger) hires young Texas woman Katie Philips (played by Debra Winger) to work on his combines. Katie is quite impressed by charming Vietnam War veteran, which is considered a pillar of local community and lives seemingly exemplary life with his mother (played by Betsy Blair) and two children (played by Maria Valdez and Brian Bosak). Gary is also attracted to Katie and two of them start romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to Gary, Katie is actually Catherine Weaver, FBI agent who has been sent to undercover mission by her boss and former boyfriend Michael Carnes (played by John Heard) to investigate Gary, whose father had espoused extremist views. Catherine at first sees nothing wrong or suspicious of Gary, but then Gary, convinced that two of them would share future together, decides to reveal all of his secrets. Catherine discovers truth that is more shocking and uglier than she anticipated and realises that continuing undercover mission would endanger not only her life, but also her sanity.

Although inspired by true events, the plot of Betrayed reflects Hollywood hostility towards rural America which is portrayed as the land of violent troglodytes, bigots and closet Nazis that would start genocidal war against urban, modern multi-racial America whenever get their chance. Despite that and exploiting fears that American leftists and liberals had during Reagan era ascent of American right-wing, the film was rejected by critics. The reason wasn’t in Gavras’ direction; French film maker does a good job, maintains quick pace and even handles action scenes well. The cast is also very good. Tom Berenger, despite all the criticism film has received, claims that the role of Gary is among the best of his career; such view seems valid because in this film he perfectly balances repulsive views and actions of his character with charm of person who would under different circumstances represented perfect romantic hero. Debra Winger also gives a very strong performance in a complex role where her characters pretends to be something she is not only to succumb to romantic inclinations and desire for perfect family. She is aided by dependable cast of character actors whose characters, on the other hand, like in case of John Heard, are underwritten or, like in case of Ted Levine in the role of Gary’s psychopathic sidekick Wes, burdened with cliches. John Mahoney, on the other hand, is good in the role of old farmer who tries to explain to protagonist why ordinary people like him would reluctantly adopt Gary’s extremist ideology.

The main reason why Betrayed failed to live to its potential is in its script. Joe Eszterhas, who was at the time on the way to become one of Hollywood’s highest paid screenwriters, probably had good idea to spice up thriller plot with bizarre and ultimately tragic romance. A good idea was also to have female protagonist who would be betrayed both by man she loved and the law enforcement agency that served as its surrogate family. Unfortunately, Eszterhas ruined it by sensationalist depiction of the rural extremism, especially in the infamous man-hunting scene which entirely depends, just like much of the second part of the film, on participants of illegal and subversive deeds acting with utter stupidity. This continues all the way to the predictably violent and melodramatic ending, as well as prolonged epilogue. Although Berenger and Winger make Betrayed watchable and mildly entertaining, there is a limit for the audience to have their intelligence insulted, and this film comes very close to it.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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