Let Him Go (2020)

I had been seeing the trailer for this film for some time and wrote it off as not for me, but then someone who always has interesting opinions suggested that perhaps the film was not what I was assuming. So I decided to check it out. Diane Lane and Kevin Costner play a long-married couple grieving the accidental death of their adult son. They become concerned when their daughter-in-law remarries a man who abuses her and her young son. Lane’s Margaret decides to bring daughter-in-law and grandson home to safety.

My friend suggested that the heart of the film was the relationship between Lane and Costner. And I must admit, they do give us a couple who love and respect one another and are still in love after all these years. (To quote a lyric they seemed patterned from.)

Costner can play this character in his sleep. It is designed to fit him and his natural gift at being world-weary and put-upon, but decent. The ease with which he does it also hints at depths and sensitivity the script does not bother with.

Lane is a fine actress but does not fit as easily in her role, or suggest the same still waters. The acting shows. Frances McDormand might have been able to match Costner’s natural subtlety, but then I suspect that this is not a movie Frances McDormand would ever have agreed to be in. (In an aside, Booboo Stewart on the other hand, turns in a striking and vulnerable performance in a small role as Peter Dragswolf.)

So while I can understand my friend’s interest in the love story, it ultimately didn’t counteract my doubts. The entire film, every plot point, every line, every character motivation and performance is designed to shore up a single moment at the film’s climax. And that is the moment that Diane Lane picks up a shot gun and blows away Lesley Manville, leaving bloody viscera on the wall behind. And we the audience are supposed to cheer her on and be glad she did it. I can almost hear someone on the team going, “You remember that scene in ALIENS where Ripley says ‘Get away from her you bitch!’ Remember that? Yeah, that’s what I want.”

Even in ALIENS you can argue that moment is violent xenophobia. But we give it a pass because it’s a fantasy action film and the aliens really do appear to be insensate monsters who just want to eat us or lay eggs in our chests. As unpleasant as Manville’s Blanche Weboy is, she is not an alien queen. Manville has remained in my memory from small role in Mike Leigh’s SECRETS AND LIES, as a harried but kindly social worker. Again, clearly a talented, veteran actress. Unfortunately here the role doesn’t rise to the level of the talent, and the result is a more crudely drawn and less interesting version of Jacki Weaver in ANIMAL KINGDOM. After all, the female of the species is always more deadly, right? In the world of this film the worst thing a woman can be is “not maternal.” I would like to say that is just a failure in imagination, but I actually think it is something more sinister.

The Weboy’s, men and woman, are designed to be targets.

Like cardboard cutouts at a shooting range.

There is no ambiguity in them. They have no backstory, no history, no redeeming qualities and they are all alike, no different from each other. They are one thing and one thing only: targets for your hatred. So that when Diane Lane gives both barrels to Leslie Manville, you are not to have any conflict at all. Just pure joy of revenge. And that’s a problem.

Every element of this film is over simplified so that theoretically, there can be no doubt about the righteousness of Diane Lane’s character. Hell, the film is even set in the “good old days” when “times were simpler.” And Margaret displays no remorse, no regrets, no doubt, no guilt or responsibility. Oh, she’s sad at the end. She’s lost the man she loved and who loved her. But that is simple as well. The evil mother of the evil child abuser took him. And you as an audience member aren’t allowed to question Margaret’s decisions either because we are dealing with child abusers here, remember that.

There is plenty of real violence and abuse in world and that is a legitimate topic for a fiction film. But..

…when you deliberately simplify a complex and painful human reality just so the audience can justify seeing a woman’s bloody brains on a door frame, then you aren’t exploring the human condition, you aren’t educating or enlightening people on a difficult subject. You are exploiting the worst impulses in human beings.

This story could have been told in a different way, a more responsible way. It could have been told in a modern setting. Margaret could have been the retired Sheriff instead of Costner. That would at least give us something different. Hell, Tarantino directing could have given us Grindhouse Grandma. We could have seen Donny’s conflict over being bullied by his mother and the perpetuation of that abuse with his new son. We could have seen something real and maternal in Blanche. A moment of “maybe she’s not bad, just traditional, or strict.” Margaret could have had at least a wavering moment of regret after her husband loses his fingers. But no. Instead she suggests that she and her husband move in and take over the Native American guy’s land. I guess no one learned anything from DANCES WITH WOLVES.

I suspect that I might not share Kevin Costner’s personal politics, but I have actually found elements of value in many of his films. But this one is irresponsible to the point of being offensive. I would call this pornographic, but I hate to insult conscientiously made, socially redeeming porn. Instead, this sinks to the level of election propaganda.

Let Him Go (2020) Crime, Drama, Thriller | 113min | 6 November 2020 (USA) 6.7
Director: Thomas BezuchaWriter: Thomas Bezucha, Larry WatsonStars: Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Kayli CarterSummary: A retired sheriff and his wife, grieving over the death of their son, set out to find their only grandson.

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