Walker, The Review

"The Walker" reviews

Movie

The Walker

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-08-03 14:40:22

Provider

MRIB

Review

The brilliant writer-director Paul Schrader makes a long overdue return to the big screen with this oblique and mysterious political thriller.

It stars Woody Harrelson as Carter Page III, an ageing 'walker' who accompanies society dames to Washington DC social functions their hubbies are too busy to attend. Page, who's from an established Virginia family, becomes embroiled in murder when his old friend Lynn (Kristin Scott Thomas) is accused of murdering her lover. Lynn is married to a prominent Democrat senator, and Page agrees to participate in a cover up on her behalf, forgetting the first rule of political scandals - it's always the cover up, never the crime.

Torn between dishonesty before the law and disloyalty to his friend, Page is subject to a whispering campaign by former friends. His boyfriend, radical artist Emek (Moritz Bleibtreu), is badly beaten up and the sense that Page himself is part of an endangered species is laid on thick by Schrader's allegorical take on America's own rightward shift.

Harrelson is, put simply, brilliant, shining amidst a stellar cast that also includes Lauren Bacall and Lily Tomlin. His own physical decay is laid bare, and his acceptance of his own spinelessness is almost endearing in itself. "I'm not naive, I'm superficial," he says, but the deeper his troubles go the firmer his convictions become.

Schrader, whose past credits include Taxi Driver and Raging Bull (as writer) and Blue Collar and American Gigolo (to which The Walker is almost a companion piece), returns to his favourite theme of lonely men being tested when events spin beyond his control. "You're on the wrong side of history. People don't want your lifestyle," snarls a Republican senator at Page. Schrader's film is a magnificent thriller about an America under threat.

Copyright © MRIB 2007.