The Unthreatening Male Lead

I just watched “Silence”, Martin Scorcese’s new film about the horrendous persecution suffered by Roman Catholic converts in Japan in the 17th century.   The artistic success of this film is almost entirely dependent on the slender shoulders of it’s lead, Andrew McCarthy, as Father Rodrigues.  (The story is written by former film critic Jay Cocks and director Martin Scorcese; nothing in it should encourage either of them to dispense with a real writer in the future.)

Rodrigues is tormented by his conscience as he becomes aware of the suffering of the Christian converts on his behalf (they are hiding him), and because of the faith his church has taught them.  Some of them die excruciating deaths rather than betray him.  Others do betray him.  He himself endures terrible trials which lead him to profound questions about his faith, his God, and his own morality.

I find it hard to believe that Scorcese really wants Andrew McCarthy as the star of this film, any more than I believed he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead in “The Departed” or “The Aviator”.   Andrew McCarthy is there for a reason and anyone who understands Hollywood knows what it is.  If you are an ambitious director like Scorcese and you want the kind of budget that affords you monumental and expensive location shoots and effects and costumes and extras– you need to assure your investors that your film will make money.  And to do that, you need a bankable star, no matter how unsuitable, to play the lead in your film.  If Andrew McCarthy, or Leonardo DiCaprio, or Toby McGuire has agreed to star in your film, a studio will guarantee you tens of millions of dollars.

For some bizarre reason, the sexually unthreatening male child actor has become the box-office dominatrix of Hollywood.  Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Andrew McCarthy, Tobey McGuire, and others convey boyish charm and callow manners and have huge appeal for a segment of the movie-going public. Their most distinctive quality is their de-sexualized boyishness.  When Kate Winslet makes out with Leonardo in “Titanic”, it reminded me of an older sister teaching her little step-brother how to French kiss.  Creepy and antiseptic.  It was impossible to imagine Jack going any further than sketching.  It was impossible to imagine that he knew what further was.

I can’t prove it, but I suspect that the popularity of these boy-men figures is largely to do with the female movie-going public.  Movies are filled with intimate scenes of interactions between women and men.  These scenes are comfortable for women to watch as long as they don’t contain a hint of genuine sexuality.  The unconscious ideal of this audience is warm, safe cuddle in a comfy bed, with a puppy of “man” who adores you and is inexorably compliant with your wishes.  They will fetch you an aspirin tablet and sit on the couch and watch Oprah and Ellen and Dr. Oz with you.  Just as they are comfortable with a black man who looks as innocuous as Will Smith or Denzel Washington, or as funny as Eddie Murphy.

An actor like Heath Ledger, Michael Fassbender or Christian Bale, on the other hand, would scare you, because you know he isn’t going to stop with the snuggle and he isn’t going to be compliant. Scorcese may have learned his lessons from “The Last Temptation of Christ”, which starred Willem DeFoe– a real actor without the boy-man appeal– and for which he was unable to raise the money required for crowd scenes, which he staged with trickery instead, and which were embarrassing to watch.

The role of Rodrigues calls out for an actor with genuine talent.  The two essential characteristics of Rodrigues that are missing in McCarthy are these:  firstly, a 17th century Portuguese priest would have been a powerful man with considerable status in his community and extraordinary confidence in his training and convictions.  He doesn’t say “our religion thinks” this or that, as if some other religion might have a valid viewpoint.  He knows.  This is the way it is; God commanded it and I am the conduit of his grace and power.  You people are all going to burn in hell if you don’t acknowledge the intercessory role of the church, and it’s priests, in your lives.  We bring God to you.  Without us, you are condemned to eternal perdition.  When you sacrifice your freedom and your worldly goods and even your lives on behalf of the church, you are doing God’s work.  McCarthy makes it feel like his trying to get you to join his boys club. Eventually, of course, Rodrigues does begin to have doubts about this transaction.  But you can’t tell us the dramatic story of the rise of those doubts without first establishing the miraculous certitude and arrogance of 17th century Jesuit missionaries.  Or there is no drama.

Secondly, early on in “Silence”, Rodrigues is anguished over the suffering and sacrifices made by the Japanese believers on his behalf.  But he questions himself in an anachronistic, 20th century way, with an implied 20th century belief in the fundamental equality of man.  The 17th century Jesuit believed that the glories of eternal salvation far outshone the comparatively brief agonies of their persecution.  Martyrdom is glorious!  Your reward is beyond measure.  Rodrigues never alludes to this belief.  Fair enough if Scorcese is trying to suggest that he never believed it– but he doesn’t suggest it.  He just dumps Rodrigues into the middle of this circumstance and has him react with a modern sensibility.  Although, one often senses McCarthy, the inept actor, possibly creating his own lines (some of them are that bad!) and gestures to attempt it.

 

[whohit]The Unthreatening Male Lead[/whohit]