This is the crucial question at the centre of The Company You Keep, and a very appropriate one, given the immense personal risk undertaken to bring you this post.
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The Company You Keep Susan Sarandon © 2012 TCYK, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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The central themes of the thriller are, secrets, loyalty, principle, and how far you’d go for what you believe in, or to protect the people you love.
The story begins when a former member of the 1989 radical protest organisation, The Weather Underground (Sarandon), comes out of hiding after 30 years to give herself up to the FBI. The implications are far reaching, particularly for the few members of the group who’d managed to avoid jail, and successfully hide in clear view as lawyers, teachers etc.
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| The Company You Keep LaBeouf © 2012 TCYK, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
While the FBI starts gathers intelligence about the other members, so too does Ben Shepard (LaBeouf), a young local journalist trying to make a name for himself. Ben’s journalistic ways soon have him uncovering Jim Grant (Redford), a single father and civil rights lawyer, much to the embarrassment of the FBI.
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| The Company You Keep Julie Christie Robert Redford © 2012 TCYK, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
Grant, it turns out, is wanted for the murder of a bank security guard, that took place during one of the Weather Undergrounds protests. Consequently he’s forced to leave his daughter and go on the run to find the one person who can help clear his name. With both the FBI and Shepard after him, who will he turn to for help?
‘Secrets are very dangerous things Ben, we all think we want to know them, but if you’ve ever kept one yourself then you understand to do so is not just knowing something about someone else, it’s discovering something about yourself’ – Jim Grant (Robert Redford)
When asked why he decided to direct the film Redford said …
‘I thought it was a good story and it gave a chance to look inside an event that is a piece of American history …it not only gave you the chance to look at it, but to truly get inside of it, and see how people were living their lives thirty years later … underground with a false identity.’
The Company You Keep boasts an amazing cast that includes four Academy Award winners, five nominees and two Golden Globe nominees, but that doesn’t always guarantee success. Thankfully in this case the incredible role call of …Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Shia LaBeouf, Stanley Tucci, Nick Nolte, Brit Marling, Chris Cooper, Sam Elliot, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Julie Christie and Brendan Gleeson … ends up with something far greater than just a collection of cameos.
The role call wasn’t lost on the actors either, as LaBeouf explained …
‘To be on the same poster as Robert Redford is really wild for me …Throw in that cast that we had, those really amazing actors who bought so much cool stuff to the table and really flesh out the script – it was just an amazing ride.’
As familiar face, after familiar face popped up on screen I pondered:
- How wonderful it was to see all these actors again.
- Even more wonderful, was being able to recognise them. The decided lack of botox was not only refreshing, it also allowed tricky emotions to be conveyed with the slightest raise of an eyebrow.
- I couldn’t help pondering the extent to which some aspects of the storyline rang home for some of these actors, and that was why they signed on.
- Is it inevitable that everyone who starts out as an idealistic university student intent on making an impact on the world, winds up as a lawyer, teacher etc? Perhaps the movie should be mandatory viewing at university orientation days just incase.
- The movie was well worth the immense personal risk taken to attend it … now about that …
What personal risk I hear you ask?
Well for starters the review night was held at Hotys Carousel, less than one week after the ‘rats in cinema’ saga broke. Having an immense fear of most things small and hairy, except maybe (insert small hairy actor joke here), I was asking a lot from my nervous system.
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© The Ponder Room
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Entering the complex I first had to make it through a pack of zombies. I must admit to pondering whether they were really promotional models, or simply patrons who’d been trapped in the theatre for the past seven days, succumbing to one too many rat gnawings.
Thankfully I made it through the zombies and once inside the slight smell of cleaning products allayed most of my fears. Still I did zip up the opening to my handbag just to make sure I didn’t leave with an unwelcome companion.
I guess the movie is best summed up by saying that … about a third of the way through I was so engrossed that a relative of that Ratatouille mouse could have been perched on my lap enjoying the show too, for all I knew.
Director: Robert Redford.
Madman
Rated M
In cinemas April 18th
Ace Subiaco; Cinema Paradiso; Hoyts Carousel; Luna on SX; Event Innaloo
