FARGO

US, 1996, 93 minutes, Colour.
Frances Mc Dormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell.
Directed by Joel Cohen.

A film from the Coen Brothers. Director, Joel Coen, has won the Best Director award at the Cannes film festival, a well-deserved win. The brothers went on to win the Oscar for their screenplay. But trying to describe and review Fargo is not easy. It is difficult to categorise the movies made by the very clever Coen brothers. They use the well-known American genres of thrillers, comedies, police investigations but turn them into movies that often puzzle the general audience but are critically well-received. Their films include Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing and The Hudsucker Proxy. Anyone who enjoyed any of these films will be pleased with Fargo.

It was one of the best films of 1996. A warning, it has some violent murders. But it puts this violence in the context of American society, of greed and crime, of hit men and guns as well as the mixture of human niceness, shrewdness and stupidity. Which means that we laugh one minute and are taken aback the next. So, it is a funny, thoughtful, as well as visceral, movie. William H. Macy is excellent as a dumb car salesman who gets the brainwave to hire killers to abduct his wife and demand a ransom to be paid by her wealthy father.

It doesn't quite work out that way. One, because he is stupid and nervous; two, because the killers are stupid and violent; and three, because we think at first that the very pregnant chief of police (Frances Mc Dormand at her best and Oscar winner for Best Actress) is stupid, but in her straightforward and honest way she is definitely not. Her character dramatises the point that common-sense and decency are at the core of being human. The spoof of Scandinavian-American? accents, vocabulary and manners is a sometimes hilarious Minnesota version of Harold Pinter. Complex and entertaining.

1. The acclaim for the film? Oscars? Other awards? Critical acclaim?

2. The title, the beginning of the film in Fargo, snow and ice, winter? The kidnap plot in Fargo? The transition to Minneapolis, the world of the car salesman, ordinary homes, businesses? Winter, the snow-covered car parks and streets? The transition to Brainerd, the statue of the hero with the axe at the town, the snow-covered highways, the motels, the police home? A context for a blend of humour, the light touch, crime, violence?

3. The film supposedly based on a true story - but changed for the Cohen Brothers' perspective on good an evil, heroism, crime? The use of American crime genre conventions - and twisting them for humorous and serious purposes?

4. The focus on crime, the film as a kidnap and murder investigation? The focus on the investigation, Marge and her pregnancy, her husband, the other police? The focus on the criminals, their behaviour, growing cruelty? The focus on the ordinary salesman and his getting himself into financial mess leading to completely unexpected violence and death?

5. Jerry, his background, getting into financial difficulties, love for his wife, relationship with his son, dominated by his father-in-law, unable to borrow money from him? The plan to kidnap his wife? Seemingly foolproof - but already mixed up by the advice as to which time he was to meet the kidnappers? Their waiting in the diner, the talking with him, his taking the car to give them, his having to cover it up, the paperwork and his faxing indecipherable figures? The plan, his not wanting any violence? His explanation that his father-in-law would provide the money? His going back, homely, his father-in-law watching TV, staying for supper, the discussion about the parking lot - and the father-in-law agreeing to give the money? Jerry wanting to call the kidnap off, calling his friend at the garage who set it up, no phone number? The inexorable going forward of the violence?

6. The abduction, the wife falling down the stairs, having her in the back of the car, in a bag, whimpering? Driving away from Minneapolis, being held up by the police, the questioning, the suspicions, the murder? The young people in the car passing by, their being pursued, murdered?

7. Marge, Norm, the phone call in the middle of the night? Norm preparing eggs for his pregnant wife? Her going onto the job, looking at the people in the car, at the trooper? Her investigation - her homespun wisdom, seeing through confusion?

8. The portrait of the criminals, the big and the small, the comment that he was funny-looking? In the diner, the talk and the silence, driving, the short man exasperated? Their going to Brainerd, the meal, the prostitutes? The abduction, the murders? Their hiding at the farmhouse, the wife, the big man killing her because she made noise? His watching the television, the soap operas? The small man doing the deals, the phone calls to Jerry, Wade listening in? The demands of the money, going to the parking lot, his anger at having to pay four dollars and abusing the guard? The confrontation with Wade, his exasperation, shooting him, Wade shooting his face? The phone calls and the confusion with Shep? The man in the club, listening to Jose Feliciano, with the woman and her non-committal answers, the bedroom, Shep attacking him and throwing him across the room? His going back, the confrontation, his being put in the wood-chip grinder? Marge and her seeing the car, tracking them down, the confrontation with the big man, his running, her wounding him in the leg, her putting him in the van, her exasperation and her wondering why he did all of this just for some money? A portrait of brutal criminals?

9. Marge, her character, niceness? Norm and his work, designing the stamps - and his finally being accepted for the bird on the three-cent stamp? The meals together, enjoying them? Marge and her pregnancy, her morning sickness, piling her plate? Asking about restaurants? Her decision to go to Minneapolis, her discussions with Jerry, his finally being exasperated and running? The discussions with Shep about his phone calls? Her ability to put things together? Her meeting the old school friend, his advances, her puzzlement, sadness at his story - and then ringing up and finding that it wasn't true? Her relationship with the police? Going to drive around the city, seeing the car, her solving of the case? Going home - and the final words of the film, two months to wait for the baby?

10. Jerry, his panic, the death of his wife, the killing of his father-in-law? His running away? His being arrested in the motel?

11. The glimpse of his son, at home, going to McDonald's, his grief at what was happening to his mother?

12. Wade, dominant, business associates, the discussions with Jerry about the loan, their refusal to give him the money? Wade and his impatience, leading to his death and his shock at being killed?

13. The work of the Coen Brothers, their different perspectives on different film genres, their ability to combine the humorous and the serious?