Date: Fri 18-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Winslow-Mamet-Playing-Trey

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: A Brilliant Mamet Work Lives Up To The Challenge Of Dialogue

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but film, at its roots, is a visual

medium. It's a vehicle based on moving images, hence the term, "motion

pictures." At its earliest, cinema was involved in storytelling that, aside

from some piano accompaniment, was communicated solely by what the viewer saw,

not heard. Dialogue, by necessity, was not part of the equation. For that, you

had to go to the theater, the playground of playwrights nimble in the art of

verbal exchange. Dialogue is also at the heart of The Winslow Boy , the newest

film from David Mamet, currently playing at the Bethel Cinema.

Set in 1912 and based on actual events, The Winslow Boy traces the ordeal of a

family whose name and honor are at stake when their youngest member,

13-year-old Ronnie (Guy Edwards), is expelled from a prestigious naval college

after having been implicated and quickly tried for the crime of stealing a

postal note. Despite evidence that screams his guilt, the Winslow boy

proclaims his innocence and gains the backing of his banker father, Arthur

(Nigel Hawthorne), and suffragist older sister, Catherine (Rebecca Ridgeon).

Together, they seek to clear Ronnie's name by any means necessary, including

ultimately risking the family's funds by hiring England's top lawyer, Robert

Morton (Jeremy Northam), to defend the young lad.

Though the theft of a five-shilling postal note seems trivial, it inflames the

passions of everyone in England. The Winslow home becomes swarmed by writers

seeking the latest quotes, and public opinion is captured daily in the

headlines of the newspapers and the pencils of the political cartoonists. Who

could have imagined that one trial could so capture a nation?

Mamet could have turned The Winslow Boy into a cunning commentary on our own

society's voracious appetite for media hype and coverage. Instead he has

evoked his roots as a playwright to draw the audience into the more interior

drama of this family and how the defense of the Winslow lad affects each

member and his or her relationship with one another. Our first indication of

his focus on the world of theater is his source material (the first time he

has adapted anyone else's work), a 1946 play by Terence Rattigan. What better

way to emphasize dialogue and deftness of word and phrase than by basing one's

movie on a stage drama?

Second, Mamet shies away from expanding the work even in the visual medium of

cinema. Over the course of the film's 110 minutes, most grand events happen

off screen. Though crowds flock to the Winslow doorstep, forcing family

members to often enter and exit covertly by the back door, Mamet never shows

us the gathering throng, nor does he put the critical courtroom scenes on

screen. It's as if all these things would distract us from his true concern,

the dynamics of the interplay between the principal characters and an

examination of their true motivations.

For this to work, Mamet's cast had better be good, able to keep our attention

riveted without benefit of peripheral action. They are up to the challenge. It

helps that they're given crackling dialogue filled with wit and rhythm (Mamet

proves his ability to play verbal ping-pong even without the four letter words

that often serve as cadence in his colloquy). Even in a pivotal sequence in

which Morton interviews young Winslow and mercilessly grills him in front of

his family, Northam and company perform brilliantly and give life to the

wonderful words on the page. Indeed, Northam is key, and his scenes with

Pidgeon (who fits better here than in The Spanish Prisoner ) are especially

good.

The Winslow Boy is rated G... a Mamet picture rated G?! Believe it, and

without any sacrifice of verbal cleverness, or pace.