On July 2009, Michael Mann released his movie Public Enemies starring great actors such as Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard. The movie takes places in the early 1930’s and depicts the last year of John Dellinger’s life. Although the movie is meant to portray John Dellinger’s last actions, the movie focuses more on the confrontation between Dellinger and FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Like his great movie Heat, Michael Mann likes the theme of confrontation between the “good” and the “bad,” especially when there is little difference between the two. To be able to depict his type of story, the director had to change some of the characters and leave out some important facts. For instance, Melvin Purvis is depicted in the movie as the man responsible for the fall of Dellinger. He is shown as an intelligent, strong, and an effective FBI agent. Unfortunately in reality, Purvis had a difficult time closing the Dellinger’s case and J. Edgar Hoover was obligated to give him help to end the investigation. As for Dellinger’s character, Johnny Depp does a fantastic job in his depiction of the bank robber. Unfortunately, Michael Mann provides little explanation of Dellinger’s motivations. Little is also said about the public fascination with the man. It also would have interesting to have a better understanding of the people’s lives during the Depression. The only interesting point was to witness the early tactics used by the FBI which was just created. Furthermore, the camera work seems amateurish and the action scenes are very disappointing to what Michael Mann had us used to.
Public Enemies Review-Daryoush D.
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July 9, 2009 at 8:57 pm |
This sounds very interesting. Will your paper focus on the real aspects of the story that the director leaves out? or the fine line between the good and bad in the conflict? i like your ideas about how mann likes to focus on confrontations that don’t have clear good/bad guys. i think that you could make an interesting argument about how his on-screen depiction of the criminal and the FBI agent is actually closer to reality than a clear cut good and bad guy, based on the public’s fascination and infatuation with Dillinger. sounds like an interesting take on the movie!
July 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm |
Based on your research do you plan to talk about Dillinger’s actual motivations? And what exactly was the public’s fascination?
Can you clarify what you mean when you say, “The only interesting point was to witness the early tactics used by the FBI which was just created.” Does that fit into your paper?