THE FUNERAL
US, 1996, 96 minutes, Colour.
Christopher Walken, Vincent Gallo, Benicio del Toro, Chris Penn, Isabella Rossellini, Annabella Sciorra, Gretchen Mol.
Directed by Abel Ferrara.
The Funeral won the O.C.I.C. (International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audio-Visuals) award at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. Part of the press release may be of interest: "At the end of the 20th century, we still live in a world of violence, an evil world. The dark side of human nature is still in need of redemption. The gangster film has often served as a metaphor for this world, a microcosm of our ambivalent world, mirroring, selectively, harsh realities and dramatising them in a larger than life- style.
Power and violence are used as a means to solve problems in life and death struggles. Killing leads to revenge and to a vicious circle of murder in which people are trapped. The Funeral uses this gangster movie tradition but does not glamorise it. Rather, it shows the spiral of violence, especially for the family locked in it, culminating in madness and self-destruction. The screenplay seriously critiques this violent world: the women in the film question the romanticising of a male violent code and imply that there are other ways of resolving conflict; the priest friend of the family asks how truly religious the family's Italianate Catholicism with its rituals, pictures and symbols actually is; rather, he tells them that they are `practical atheists', that the only effect the prayer asked of him can have is when they themselves are honestly open to prayer and change.
So, on the one hand, the film is a `De Profundis' film (`Out of the depths, I cry to you O God') and, on the other, a film which implies that the human spirit can break through barriers. The values that The Funeral dramatises are those of the value of life: the destructiveness of violence, guilt, loss of hope and the possibilities for discovering hope and choice for change. Sombre gangster film.
1.The work of Abel Ferrara? The New York Italian Catholic background? His writer Nicholas St John and his religious background? Their perceptions of America, violent society, religious symbols and themes? Themes of sin, guilt, redemption?
2.The atmosphere of the '30s, New York City, the dark interiors, the house, the clubs, the streets? Cinemas? The darkness of both night and day? Themes of darkness and light? The musical score and its atmosphere?
3.The title and its focus, the symbolism of the funeral? Johnny and his death and burial? The death and burial of this society?
4.The opening, the arrival of the coffin, the grief, the family, the individuals coming to pay respect, the group, the people in the house, the religious rituals accompanying the arrival of the coffin? Johnny lying in state? The family gathering, eating and drinking together? Floral tributes?
5.The focus on Johnny and his death, the mystery of his death, his age, his place in the family, his relationship with his brothers, with his girlfriend? The personality of Johnny as perceived by those around him, as perceived by the audience, the real picture? Johnny's death as the catalyst for interactions in the family?
6.The portrait of Ray? The oldest brother, being in control? His relationship with Jean and her love for him, yet her desperation about him? The children, the American household - yet presided over by a gangster? The children and their playing with guns and the interchange with Jean about this? His relationship with Ches, Ches's family? The priest and the rituals? His unbelief, his declarations, going to sit in the car? Sitting in the car and his remembering his father, the hold of his father over him, the shooting of the criminal, his age, his father's influence, his killing the victim? His growing up a criminal? His style? Meeting with other criminals, the deals? The club, the drinking, the pornographic films? The rivalry with Gaspar and his deals? The confrontations with Gaspar? The family grief and the codes? His henchmen and their searching for the killer? The boy and his rape story, his taking the boy for the drive, getting the truth out of him? Shooting him? Gaspar and the truth and his execution? His sense of responsibility for the family, the lack of religious dimension, yet living by a code? Jean and her love? The death of Ray? And his being shot by Ches? An inglorious end?
7.Jean, the strong woman, her place in the house, love for her children, love for her husband? Comforting Helen and telling her life story? Manhattanville College, her education, wanting to have ideas? Yet giving all this up for Ray? Living with her memories? The discussion with the priest, the request for prayers, listening to his comments about their practical atheism? Her anger at Ray, her love for her family? The impact of the deaths? Her knowing that they were only criminals?
8.The contrast with Ches and Clara? Arriving at the funeral? Going to the corpse and his highly emotional outburst of grief, wanting his son to touch the corpse? His love for Clara, yet his brutality to her? The erratic moods, his arrival home? Clara and her strength but her subservience? Going to the bar, Gaspar and the deals? Johnny and the clashes, specially with the unions? Picking up the girl, offering her $20 to sell her soul? His violence towards her? His understanding of family and family code? His madness and his ultimately shooting Ray? Clara as submissive, caring for the children, love for her husband? Supporting Jean and Helen? Her horror at the deaths?
9.The revelation of Johnny and his character? Relationship with Ray and Ches? With Helen and her coming to his funeral? Bridgette? His going to the film - and the irony of its being The Petrified Forest with Humphrey Bogart keeping the people in a siege in the hotel in the desert? His attitude towards sex? His being murdered? The flashbacks and his going to the Communist talks, his endorsing the sentiments? His ideologies? The trucks and the transport? His friend and the killing? The reasons for his being shot? Whether it mattered or not?
10.The contrast with Gaspar, his place in society, his code, deals, the trucks? His swagger? His wife and her having affairs? His being taken by Ray, the brutal interrogation, his lies, executed?
11.The world of organised crime, the henchmen and their brutality, the dealers, the violence, interrogations, executions? Being able to be called in for detective work, for brutality?
12.The Italian background of the family, Italian Mafia codes, family honour? Everybody living by the code? Being sanctified by the church? The place of the priest and his friendship with the family - yet his criticism?
13.The atmosphere of the Depression, the social upheaval of the time? Leading into the development of the Mafia after the '30s?
14.The religious perspectives of the film? The focus on the crucifix? The candles and flowers? The rituals and prayers? The priest and his comment on the practical atheism of the family and their need for praying themselves, otherwise nobody being able to touch them, no prayer being able to help them?
