Bad Lieutenant (1992)

Review:

I won’t lie. I didn’t know about this movie until I heard about Werner Herzgog’s remake “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans.”. I saw the trailer for Herzgog’s film and thought it looked hilarious and twisted - a movie about the most corrupt cop imaginable, starring Nicholas Cage. Then I found out the film was a remake and the original “Bad Lieutenant” starred Harvey Keitel and was praised by Martin Scorsese and Roger Ebert as one of the best films of the year. I had never heard of it, so it naturally became a curiosity. I decided to check it out.

What I found was one of the most distressing and profound movies about drug addiction I have ever seen. I’ll brag about my chops for a second – I’ve seen “Traffic” (2001) and “Requiem For a Dream,” (2000) I’ve seen “Trainspotting” (1996) and “Pineapple Express” (2008) but none of these drug films had the gut wrenching impact of “Bad Lieutenant.”

At the heart of “Bad Lieutenant” are two questions: Can we be redeemed? And if yes, should we be redeemed? Like with most good films, there is no definitive answer in the movie, just ideas.

The plot is deceptively simple. Keitel plays the nameless Lieutenant. He is addicted to crack, compulsively gambles, and is a sexual deviant. His wife and children all but ignore him and he meanders haplessly through the seedy underbelly of New York City, a lost and dangerous sinking ship.

When a nun is brutally raped the Lieutenant begins a muddled investigation into the case. He is soon confronted with a personal crisis of faith when he learns that the Nun has forgiven her assailants; that she will not testify against them even though she knows who they are. The Lieutenant has never seen such an act of grace and it launches him into actions that might suggest salvation is possible for anyone, even for him.

Rating:

On a scale of One to Casablanca, this film is a “The Third Man.”

Rationalization:

“Bad Lieutenant” explores the sewers of the world and the people who walk in them. It is a case study in how low our species can sink into depravity. The film looks on in awe at humanity’s most despicable and noble qualities, suggesting that perhaps our vices and virtues are two sides of the same coin – that coin being the human soul, of course. All the while, “Bad Lieutenant” shocks you, it repulses you, and most importantly it makes you think.