Movie Review: The Guilty Plays On The Problems With Policing
Human beings are emotional, and cops can be divided on how their humanity is effected by their badge. Is that golden brooch supposed to make them emotionless, empathetic, or a balance beam between both? Director Antoine Fuqua’s enthralling The Guilty, out on Netflix October 1, analyzes how a cop with his own troubling record of poor policing can get swept in his judgement over who needs help and how to help them.
Based on the beloved, 2018 Danish original, The Guilty proves if you are going to do a remake, make sure to A) have a good cast B) add to the story. Remakes should never be the “same thing” because then I’d stick with the original. Thus, writer Nic Pizzolatto adds layers to the original’s commentary on the intersection between being a human being and being a police officer. Yes, one would say that is the same thing, but a human is a cop but does a cop feel human. Enter Jake Gyllenhaal to reveal the downward spiral of a man seeing how his inhumanity developed from his humanity or how his fixation on policing was born from his lack of control at living.
A rejected father, abandoned husband, corrupt cop, asthma sufferer, and an overall loner are the terms that define Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) when we meet him. Gyllenhaal oozes combustive self-loathing; dripping off the screen like a man that believes the world hates him and has no qualms hating it right back. He listens to emergency calls with scorn, judgement, and overall cruelty. Fighting and hanging up on people in need because he feels they put themselves in the predicaments that made them needy. It is an ironically mean assessment from a man that feels no one has sympathy or understands him, but that is the perk of being a jerk; you truly can convince yourself that you are more bullied than bullying.
No one is a saint in the same way everyone is a sinner, but, perhaps, the only difference between a better man and a worse one, is the former carries enough compassion to rise up against his own sins. When Joe gets a phone call from a desperate, endangered mother, (some epic voice acting from Riley Keough), you see his inner father/ husband grieving and trying to make amends. He wants to be the human he has failed to be, but growth is far from instant even though change can be quick. His demeanor alters to show the battle between tenderness and ego that can make a man believe foolishness and fear are the best protection methods.
In some ways, I felt bad for Joe. I think we all have had those moments when we wanted to book it to the “better version” of ourselves without any knowledge as to how to get there or humility to see destinations always have journeys to them. Gyllenhaal gives a perfect performance as he carries Joe’s fragility with the non-judgement and empathy every actor should have for their characters: even if deemed villainous. In some ways, actors are taught a lesson that Joe proves every cop should learn; never judge a character because it blocks you from doing your job. Thus, the difference between a good cop and a bad cop, a good actor and a bad actor, or a good person and a bad guy all derides from the ones that choose to judge over doing their duty with compassion.
