L.A Confidential (English, 1997)

L.A. Confidential, directed by Curtis Hanson, is a crime drama set in 1950s Los Angeles. The film was nominated for the best picture Oscar but lost to Titanic.

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The plot

The film has three plot points that eventually intersect into a striking dénouement.

The first relates to the killing of police officer Dick Stensland (played by Graham Beckel) in a shootout at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Dick had been fired by the police department the day before by the Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D) for his role in beating up Mexican American men at a police station on Christmas. While the film itself is fictional, the incident at the police station is a true event, known as the Bloody Christmas of 1951, which led to public furor and criminal convictions.The investigation of the homicides at the Nite Owl leads to the unravelling of a conspiracy which connects it to the other two sub-plots described below.

The second plot point revolves around a high class prostitution service called Fleur-de-Lis run by Pierce Pratchett (played by David Strathairn). The girls in this prostitution racket are dolled up to look like Hollywood stars and plastic surgery is done when necessary for verisimilitude. Lynn Bracken (played by Kim Basinger, who won a supporting actress oscar for this role), is meant to be the actress Veronica Lake. This otherwise tense film has a hilarious moment when cops encounter the real Lana Turner and think she is a lookalike prostitute.

The third plot element is the arrest of Micky Cohen, a real life mob boss, on tax evasion charges (similar to Al Capone). We assume mafia dons in the US to be Italian American. But Micky Cohen and his mentor, Bugsy Siegel, were Jewish American gangsters! After Micky Cohen's arrest, there is a bloody succession battle to take over his business, in which many of his associates are killed.

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Observations

First Impressions

The three male leads are cops Wendell Bud White (played by Russell Crowe), Edmund Exley (played by Guy Pearce) and Jack Vincennes (played by Kevin Spacey). A compelling aspect of the film is the slow-burn evolution of their characters. By the end, our perception of these men shifts significantly from our initial impressions.

Our initial impression of Wendell White is quite positive as he is revealed to be a protector of abused women. We learn that his father used to beat up his mother and eventually killed her. He had been helpless to save his mother and hence, as a cop, by protecting women from violent men, he is symbolically saving his mother. He also refuses to snitch on his colleagues, thus demonstrating loyalty. We also get the impression that he is all muscle and not much brain. But as he investigates the Nite Owl homicide, we see the analytical side of him. Later in the film, in a fit of emotional anguish, he physically hits Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) with whom he is having a relationship. This is heartbreaking as Wendell is repeating the very behavior he despises.

Unlike Wendell White, the first impression of Edmund Exley is not positive at all. He comes across as a political animal who says politically correct things (at least by the standards of the 1950s) and is willing to snitch on fellow police officers for career advancement. But we reluctantly start acknowledging his courage as he leads from the front in highly dangerous situations. Eventually, we start seeing the struggle between the good and bad angels of his being. When the Nite Owl murders are pinned on three black men, Ed Exley remains silent even after learning that a key witness had lied. Since he had been rewarded for his work on the investigation, revealing that innocent people were convicted would be damaging to his career. But a moral quality within him compels him to continue investigating the murders to find the real culprit. We learn that his father, who was also a cop, had been murdered and the identity of the killer was never found. Hence, just as Wendell White is avenging the death of his mother, Ed Exley is avenging the death of his father by not letting anyone get away with it.

While Wendell White and Edmund Exley are characters with gravitas, Jack Vincennes appears to be plain sleazy. He gets tips from the Sid Hudgens (played by Danny DeVito), editor of the lurid tabloid Hush Hush about criminal activity by celebrities so that he can make high profile arrests. He takes money from Sid Hudgens in return for the tabloid taking exclusive photographs of these arrests. It is a symbiotic relationship in which Jack gets publicity and Hush Hush sells copies.

But like Edmund Exley, Jack Vincennes also redeems himself by demonstrating the capacity for remorse and selfless action. Sid Hudgens wants to publish an expose' on the homosexual orientation of the District Attorney (D.A.) Ellis Loew (played by Ron Rifkin). To this end, he engages a handsome struggling actor to honey trap the D.A. in a motel, with the intent of Jack Vincennes arresting them flagrante delicto and Sid Hudgens clicking pictures for his rag. But when Jack arrives at the motel, he finds the actor lying dead in a pool of blood. Jack feels guilty that he participated in a scheme that led to the death of a harmless young man and is determined to find the murderer. Eventually it turns out that the murder of the actor is also linked to the Nite Owl murders -the actor had unwittingly witnessed something incriminating while in the motel room.

The investigations of Wendell White, Edmund Exley and Jack Vincennes eventually leads to the revelation of the truth.

The second mountain

The columnist David Brooks talks about the two mountains. The first mountain is that of pursuing personal advancement through money, power, social capital. The second mountain is that of a moral life focused on service and helping others. David Brooks calls the qualities required for the first mountain resume virtues while those for the second mountain, the obituary virtues. Human beings are torn between their desire to climb these two mountains. The film depicts this struggle through Edmund Exley's character. Even as he shows great selflessness and courage in finding the true perpetrators of the Nite Owl homicide, he negotiates a promotion for himself once he succeeds. In return for the promotion, Exley allows the L.A.P.D cover up the true story! In a memorable line, Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) tells him "some men get the whole world, others get an ex hooker and a trip to Arizona". Exley is getting the world while Wendell White is going to Arizona.

Rollo Tomassi

Rollo Tomassi is the name Edmund Exley gives to the unknown killer of his father. By giving the mystery killer a name, Ed Exley can channelize his anger towards anyone who gets away with it. But in a superb plot twist, this imagined name leads to the discovery of the real mastermind of the Nite Owl killings. Hence, the criminal Rollo Tomassi, who himself remains undetected, is instrumental in preventing the emergence of another Rollo Tomassi.

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L.A. Confidential is an immensely entertaining film that keeps you intrigued without edge of the seat stress. In Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster distinguishes between the story and the plot. The story is a simple chronological sequence of events while the plot refers to the causal connections between those events. For instance, the king died and then the queen died is story whereas, the king died and then the queen died of grief, is plot. The story of L.A. Confidential has a relentless pace and as viewers, we always want to know what happens next. But what makes the film rewarding is the plot-the ways these events are connected and the satisfaction we feel when we have figured it all out.