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| eventbrite.com |
When you hear someone talking about how all the jobs have left this country, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? The old car factories in Detroit? The inner cities of places like Baltimore or Chicago? The abandoned and desolate little Midwest towns? Well, if you think that last one then congratulations, you’re a leg-up on everyone else in terms of this article’s content. But what does critically acclaimed film Hell or High Water have to do with this, you might ask? Well, let me tell you, because it actually has a lot to say. Spoilers for Hell or High Water follow.
In my review, I mentioned quite a bit about how the story visually sets the scene for this film, but not how the script does. This was more to spare you spoilers, but I want to dig into that for a minute because it ties into this topic in a big way. The film opens with a bank robbery committed by the two brothers, Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine), with no context at all. As the film unfolds we find out that they’re trying to save their mother’s land, but it isn’t even until the end of the film that we find out why doing that was so important. Toby tells Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) that his mother’s land has oil reserves underneath it, and that he went through all the trouble of the film to make sure that he can secure his children’s futures. He even gives the land to his ex-wife and lives in an apartment, signifying his devotion to his family even in the most trying of circumstances. But why did he even need to go through all of this to begin with? What kind of place does he live in, anyway?
The film is set in West Texas, the part of the state that looks like it hasn’t advanced past the 1890’s, and it’s hard not to think of a ghost town in a Western when you see the places the brothers visit. Every young person in these areas has either left or are planning to when they get old enough, leaving adults who can’t leave or have resigned themselves to their station in life. These people are bitter and cynical towards each other and the world, feeling like they’ve been left behind by the rest of the country. With no jobs or opportunities for growth, it’s hard for the audience member to blame the two brothers for doing what they’re doing. West Texas is presented as a dead end, and Toby is hellbent on making sure that his kids do not suffer the same fate that he and Tanner (as well as their parents and grandparents, and so on) did. “Poverty is a disease,” he tells Hamilton, and it’s this one simple line of dialogue that sums up everything we need to know about his character.
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| theamericanconservative.com
Don't tell me you wouldn't rob banks to get out of here, too.
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I personally connected to this aspect of the film because of my mom, who comes from a town like the ones in this film, except not in the Midwest. It’s pretty much the same story you hear all the time: coal mining town that used to be prosperous, but then the mines closed and everything went to hell in a handbasket afterwards. Every time we go up and visit my grandparents she drives through her hometown and mentions how nice it used to be when she was younger. This is where Toby and Tanner come from, pretty much (except for location) and that’s really the film’s way of addressing one of the biggest problems facing the United States today: jobs leaving the country and people being left to fend for themselves with no real opportunity for a better life. The money has completely left the area except for one place: the banks, which serve as the real antagonist for the film.
Near the third act, Hamilton’s partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) sums up the main philosophical struggle going on. He, being half-Native American, explains how 150 years ago, the town they sit in was stolen from his ancestors by white men. Then, in an ironic twist, the descendants of these thieves are now having the land stolen from them by the banks, who take advantage of their debt and lack of jobs to make a profit. This isn't the only time it's mentioned, though, as during their investigation Hamilton finds people who witnessed a bank robbery. One of the men says that this event was watching a robbery of a place "that's been robbing me for thirty years." Tanner himself actually justifies their robberies by saying that the banks they’re robbing are the ones taking care of his mother’s estate, so they’re basically returning the bank’s money to them by using it to settle the costs for their land. When Toby goes to settle the debt, the banker even speaks smugly to him, especially when he says the bank paid for Toby’s mother’s bills (adding even more money to the debt) “as a courtesy.” I don’t know about you guys, but if that was me I’d have smacked that fool in the face, but that’s why I don’t handle finances.
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| memegenerator.net
Corporate America, basically.
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Signs for debt relief and lawyers to handle debt are littered throughout the movie, mostly just in passing shots of the highways, but these little moments really hammer home what’s going on with Tanner and Toby. They’re desperate people who have been pinned against a wall and have no other way out. While there’s never any talk of the idea of the American Dream itself, you get the feeling that Toby once believed in it. He speaks to a waitress about jobs he’s had and how much he works to provide for his ex-wife and sons, but there’s something to the way Pine plays him that shows where that belief has led him: disappointment and disillusionment. Does that sound familiar to anybody?
Yes, this idea and theme has been incredibly prevalent throughout our current election, fueling the campaigns of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and becoming a major point of discussion again. And it isn’t just the big cities that are being discussed, but the places like these West Texas towns (ironically part of a state that constantly boasts about job creation) as well. However, despite all this focus on the issue, let’s be honest with ourselves: do we really think anything’s going to change? How can towns that are down to the elderly and the poor really bounce back from the horrible conditions they find themselves in? Can jobs actually be brought back from overseas after decades of being away? And finally, are more towns going to fall victim to this? These are all questions that Hell or High Water doesn’t ask, but makes you want to ask and discuss with others. That’s the mark of a great film, folks.
While the brothers ultimately win out in the end (but not without great cost), it’s hard not to grimace at the fact that they had to resort to such dangerous and illegal methods to provide for their families. What’s even sadder is that this is probably how it plays out for the poor and downtrodden in our nation, whether they’re in a Midwest ghost town or in the dangerous streets of Detroit. While one movie isn’t going to provide the answer, I hope this movie inspires folks to continue having this discussion and working together to find ways to fix this crisis in a timely manner. After all, if poverty is a disease then we’re all vulnerable, aren’t we? |
| infotravel.club
If you think this can't happen to your town, then you're lying to yourself.
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