Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans (2009)

Review:

In Werner Herzgog’s “Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans” Nicholas Cage represents a brutal incarnation of New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina. He is a mess, brutally confused and thrown into a downward spiral, in part because of the hand he’s been dealt in life.

I admit, I have not seen many Herzgog films – only “Grizzly Man” – and he’s a director that’s been on my ‘to do’ list. I always find it interesting though, when a foreign director does a film about America and its culture. Holding the outsiders perspective, they are able to see and convey things we might not understand about ourselves. “Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans” strikes me as a film made by a foreigner, foremost because it depicts a progressive stance on a demonized illness called drug addiction.

Most films about drug addiction follow the same trend. They track the downward spiral of their subjects and it invariably ends in redemption or failure, sobriety or death. There seems to be no middle ground – and indeed, there may not be– but what I like about “Bad Lieutenant” is that it stops short of a final resolution for Cage’s character. One of my favorite lines in this movie is one of the last lines: “I have good days and I have bad days,” a sentiment all addicts can understand.

The plot of “Bad Lieutenant” isn’t as essential to the film as its overall feel. The film takes place in a brooding New Orleans. Nicholas Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a police officer who, in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, injures his back while rescuing a prisoner trapped in a flooded jail cell. His doctor prescribes him Vicodin for the pain and six months later McDonagh is addicted to cocaine (and whatever else he can get ahold of). The central story in the film is McDonagh’s investigation into the drug-related homicide of a family. But this isn’t really important. The central story is really the chaos of McDonagh’s life. He spends his days stealing from the evidence room, stealing from drug dealers, snorting drugs, and gambling away money he doesn’t have. His only refuge seems to be found in his prostitute girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes) who provides a sense of understanding and security for his entropic soul.

“Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans” by no means approves of McDonagh’s behavior but it regards him with a certain sense of wonder and sympathy. I think the grander message in “Bad Lieutenant” is that drug addicts are like flooded New Orleans – in need of our help but more often than not, brushed aside.

Rating: On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is a “The Shining” *

Rationalization:

Any film that knows its characters in spite of their irrationality or inexplicability creates a powerful portrait. Knowing that some dark nights in the human soul are unknowable is one aspect of a great character study. Nicholas Cage works up a fine frenzy in “Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans,” and in the end, despite his addictions and illicit behaviors, when he asks “Do fish dream?” we smirk because beneath all his malevolence he is just another of God’s wounded creatures.

*it is duly noted this film is a semi-remake of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film “Bad Lieutenant” but aside from the obvious fact that they portray drug addled cops these films are very dissimilar in theme and story.