#23: You Betcha!

(Fargo, 1996, Joel Coen)

Warning: There are spoilers ahead, doncha know? Yah, you betcha!

Going into this post I know that there is absolutely no way that I'll be able to write anything that will adequately describe how much I love this movie, or the Coen brothers in general. I adore them. That's all. I'll admit that I haven't seen all of their movies, and there's at least one that I won't see because I don't want to tarnish my opinion of them, but I am entirely convinced of their brilliance, which Fargo is an excellent example of. It's genius, and that's all there is to it.

The Coens are clever guys. Fargo begins with text that reads "THIS IS A TRUE STORY. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred." Well, that's a lie. Kind of. In reality, the Coen brothers drew inspiration from a few different cases and sort of combined them and relocated them in order to get Fargo. Two of the cases that form the basis for the story (the kidnapping of Virginia Piper and the murder of Carol Thompson) actually took place in Minnesota. Essentially, those two incidents were combined to become Jerry Lundegard's plot to have his wife kidnapped and then have his father-in-law pay the ransom, which he exaggerated so that he could pocket most of the money to pay off his debts. The third crime that inspired the Coen brothers actually took place in Connecticut, was far more gruesome, and ended being one of the most memorable parts of the film. That event was the murder of Helle Crafts, whose husband killed her and attempted to dispose of her remains with the help of a woodchipper.

So... why the "based on a true story" introduction? The Coens have said that they added the disclaimer to encourage viewers to suspend disbelief, which actually makes some sense. As Joel Coen himself puts it, "if an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept." And, in a way, Fargo is presenting the truth, it's just the truth through the Coen brothers' filter. It's a few truths mixed with some fiction and then all mashed together to make one really good movie about a pregnant police chief and some really inept criminals. Someone gets put through a wood chipper, but it's not Lundegard's wife. Lundegard does hire two guys to get rid of his wife, though he hires them to kidnap her rather than murder her (I guess she ends up dead anyway though, so that's kind of a moot point). But the point is that the truth is mixed in there. Sure, the disclaimer asserts that the entirety of the film is truthful, and that's a lie, but the film isn't entirely untruthful either, which is kind of what makes it fun. It's fun to pick the little tidbits of truth out of the fiction.

I feel like this post is really short considering how much I like this movie, so I'm going to spend a little bit of time on the cast, because it really is a remarkable cast. William H. Macy plays Jerry Lundegard so well that "perfectly" doesn't seem to be a strong enough word. He stutters, sweats, and all together fails to hide his guilt, all while his incredibly expressive face shows every note of panic and fear that crosses it. Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare play Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud, the two criminals hired to kidnap Lundegard's wife. Showalter just can't stop talking, with Buscemi making him simultaneously insufferable and somewhat sympathetic. Stormare plays silent, chain-smoking Grimsrud with calm and patience, until his patience with Showalter finally cracks and he murders him and shoves his body into a woodchipper. Finally there's Frances McDormand, whose portrayal of Marge Gunderson won her an Academy Award. Marge Gunderson is arguably the only character in the film who has any idea what she's doing, and while she doesn't succeed in stopping any of the crimes from being committed, she does succeed in catching the criminals. Her bubbly "Minnesota nice" accent makes her seem air-headed and silly, but she's tougher than she looks and she knows what she's doing. As the only one of the main characters who's unequivocally good, Marge Gunderson gets exactly what she deserves; to go home to her husband knowing that she's a good person who's done a good job. And Frances McDormand got exactly what she deserved; a nice, shiny Oscar.

So that's it. I love Fargo, and I love the Coen brothers. I'm excited that some of their films that I haven't seen are on The List because it will give me a chance to evaluate some of my thoughts about their entire collection of work. For now I just hold Fargo close to my heart as one of those films that is just good because it's good. It's well-written, well-acted, and well-directed, and there's not much more you can ask for.