Fargo, woah daddy

Fargo was a big success for the Coen brothers back during its release in 1996, and remains a very well known and respected film today. The movie's message or themes mainly deal with the eccentricity of human nature. The film presents a bleak portrait of the upper Midwest, Minnesota (where the Coens grew up) and North Dakota to be exact. In the film, these places are full of people who are obsequiously nice on the outside, while we feel are really being repressed on the inside. The Coen’s are known for their unique vision of America as being a place that is, under the surface, warped and unpredictable. The film has a more homespun feel than some the Coen’s other works which gives an honest, intimate vibe to it. The story deals with car salesman Jerry Lundegaard who has hired two bumbling criminals to kidnap his wife so he can collect part of her ransom money. Eventually pregnant police officer Marge Gunderson comes into the picture to investigate a triple homicide that results from this plan which goes horribly wrong. She is the film’s moral center and we can see that the Coen’s are partial to this character. None of the characters in the film ever give up, which is certainly a theme of the story. Whether they are tenaciously hanging on trying to salvage the mess they are in, as in the case of Lundegaard, or are pursuing the criminals with unexpectedly sharp instincts, as does Gunderson, we see how people persist under pressure.

The original intended audience for this film was probably more independent film-goers, seeing as it was a small budget film and was more quirky than the average blockbuster. As it turned out, the film became very popular and won two Oscars, which undoubtedly exposed it to a larger, mainstream crowd.

The performances by William H. Macy and Frances McDormand are superb, and it is hard to ever mentally distance them too far from these roles when seeing them in other films. The movie overall is relatively short (abot 98 mins) and this makes for a tightly-crafted story that never seems indulgent. Fargo provides a very unique view into a world that we feel somewhat familiar with, but not totally, and its bleak yet comical atmosphere is what distances it from most films. Fargo toes the line very well between drama and twisted comedy, and at times it is almost impossible to tell what the tone of the film is. This duality makes it an interesting watch, because in the end, we still really care about the characters and their fates. We simultaneously root for the villains and the heroes, and although realizing the insanity of the film’s situations, can recognize their themes of determination, tenacity, justice, and what it means to succeed in a small town.

What could be better about the film is that there is no real mystery in it and we instead know who the crooks are at all times. Also, the film tends to get bogged down in a few spots with Jerry’s discussion of his plan to finance a parking garage. Despite this, Fargo is a thrilling, funny film that is nearly perfect.