The Statement

Review by Pam & George O. Singleton

HHH

Cast

Michael Caine Pierre Brossard

Tilda Swinton Anne Marie Livi

Directed by Norman Jewison. Drama. Rated R for violence. Sony Pictures Classics. Running time 120 minutes

It's 1992, and Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine) is on the run from Nazi hunter Anne Marie Livi (Tilda Swinton) for murders he committed during WWII. Brossard is also being hunted by an underground group of assassins, whose signature is to leave a "statement of execution" on the body of former Nazis they find. After he outsmarts two would-be executioners, facts come to light that indicate a third force may be in play to stop Brossard from breathing.

Director Norman Jewison ("The Hurricane") has a strong story on which to base this film. The Brossard character is based upon Paul Touvier, who ordered the execution of seven Jewish hostages in June 1944, which became known as the Dombey Massacre. Jewison's challenge is to make you care about, not like, a main character that is most unsympathetic. You may be able to forgive, but for his crimes he committed, and for him to continue to be free after almost 50 years, you feel at this point only a street style execution rather than a trial and prison is merited. Regardless of how you feel about the US move into Iraq, does Saddam Hussein deserve the attention/platform a trial and possible life imprisonment brings versus having been shot in that hole that he was calling home? It's certainly a debatable issue.

Some will see this film as anti-Catholic, while others will view it as a starting point for more open discussion on bringing new facts to light so we better understand our past as well as how government and church decisions are being made today. "The Magdalene Sisters" also addresses the morality and politics of the Catholic Church. It speaks to young women being enslaved (in a Catholic run facility) for being "raped," or simply "too pretty," or various other perceived sexual sins. Like the film "Amen," "The Statement" addresses the support given the Nazis by the Catholic Church, both during and after WWII.

Written by Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") and based upon the best selling novel by Brian Moore, this entertaining thriller should have been more informative. The question of "why" the church provided sanctuary is not addressed clearly in the film, other than that those with power have their own men's club and reasons to protect one another. Stephen Holden of the New York Times writes, "…the Roman Catholic Church viewed Communism as a much greater threat than Hitler." That would explain why some conservative priests provided support to Nazis during the war and were motivated to maintain the secretiveness of it afterwards.

Touvier (Caine's character, Brossard) was provided with money, false ID's and shelter in several monasteries prior to his pardon in 1971 by French President Georges Pompidou. Because the executions were deemed crimes against humanity, he remained on the run until 1989 when he was captured.

Touvier's fate in reality is somewhat different than Brossard's in the film. More than how, where and when he died, the movie focuses on Brossard's desire for absolution for his sins. That might be how we wanted him to feel. Personally, we think such a person would more likely do anything to avoid capture and pay the price for prior sins rather than ask for forgiveness. The ending of the film is satisfying but it somehow does not ring as true as history might dictate or that we would like.