CHANGING LANES

US, 2002, 100 minutes, Colour.
Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck, Toni Collette, William Hurt, Sydney Pollack, Richard Jenkins, Amanda Peat, Kim Staunton, Dylan Baker.
Directed by Roger Michell.

Changing Lanes, with its grim picture of human failings, might seem an unusual choice for an award from the US Catholics in Media. However, many 'secular' critics have been favourably impressed by its attempt to dramatise ethical issues (even though most did not notice or mention the Good Friday connection). The film is directed by British Roger Michell (Persuasion, Notting Hill).

The characters are not particularly sympathetic. They show the 'shadow' side of all of us. Ben Affleck is the upwardly mobile lawyer who has married the daughter of the boss and is involved in a case where pressure has been brought to bear on a senile client so that the firm can manage his estate as a charity. Samuel L. Jackson is an insurance officer who is an alcoholic, separated from his wife and children yet trying to do the right thing by them. On Good Friday morning, both are hurrying to the courts. The lawyer changes lanes and they crash.

We live in an era of rage. What begins as road rage escalates into out and out war as two grown men indulge in meanness and cruelty under the intense pressure of their personal problems. The lawyer needs to retrieve documents found by the insurance man. The insurance man needs a loan to buy a house for his wife and children.

At the Catholics in Media function, co-writer Michael Tolkin said that elements of the dialogue were specifically religious. When the angry and desperate Jackson sits in a bar, he telephones his AA counsellor (William Hurt) who tells him that 'he has broken his covenant'. When Affleck passes a Church, he sees the veneration of the Cross of the Good Friday liturgy. He goes in and vents his anger and bewilderment to the priest in the confessional.

The struggles of the two men remind us of our own struggles to control our animosities and angers. The two men are also challenged by their wives and other associates to reflect on who they are, on the integrity that ought to be essential in our lives. Jackson is described as being addicted to chaos. Affleck is continually tempted by the law partners to sell his soul for profit.

Maybe the ending is more optimistic than is justified. On the other hand, the sufferings of Jesus on Good Friday are spoken of in terms of reconciliation between us sinners and a forgiving God. After the passion comes the resurrection. On a modest scale, this is what happens in Changing Lanes.

1. The impact of the film? Human drama? Relevance to road rage? Moral dilemmas and choices?

2. The New York City settings, action over two days, a sense of realism, the streets, AA meetings, banks, insurance, lawyers' chambers, schools, the courts, restaurants, the church? The musical score?

3. The title, its reference to the accident on the road, reference to careers, to life choices? Slow lanes, fast lanes, overtaking lanes?

4. The setting of the film on Good Friday, its significance, people at work, the courts sitting, the religious dimension, Gavin passing the church, the unveiling of the cross, his confession? The Holy Thursday beginning, the Holy Saturday ending? The Easter Vigil, a time of the passion and death of Christ?

5. The structure and the intercutting of Gavin's experiences with those of Doyle Gipson? Gavin and his busy life, the concert, having to go to court? Doyle and the payment on the house, wanting a kid's room, wanting his boys with him, asking for the loan, the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with his counsellor and the champagne hopes? Gavin and his associates, the possibility of fraud charges, the clash with the granddaughter? The setting up of each man's tensions and how they will interact and intercut?

6. Gavin going to court, in the car, hurrying, not looking, the accident, the crash and stopping, not doing the right thing, wanting to hurry away, offering the cheque? The "better luck next time" taunt? His rash behaviour and the consequences? The crucial twenty minutes?

7. The contrast with Doyle Gipson, the driving, his being late, the decision to buy the house, confronting Valerie? His arrival, the judge taking a dim view, his angers? The issue of the files, the rain, his going back to get the documents? His anger at his children being taken away from him? His plea, the refusal?

8. The portrait of Doyle Gipson: the comment that he was addicted to chaos, his past drinking, his unreliability for his family, his job, his love for his boys, the separation, wanting the house, Valerie wanting to go to Oregon? His going to the bar, bringing his counsellor, listening to the two men, his violent attack on the two men, his ringing Valerie, the fax to Gavin?

9. The character of Gavin, young, the interviewees for assistants' work in the law firms, his abandoning one, the other waiting till he returned? The brittle marriage, his wife and her ambitions, his father-in-law, the partners, the pressures? The concert, the granddaughter attacking him, going to court, his speeches in the court, his being set up about the documents, the lies? His relationship with Michelle, the deception to his wife? Lunch with his wife, the pressure? The discussions with the partners and the forging of the documents?

10. Michelle and her advice about going to the arranger of loans, his ability to hack into systems? Sinister appearance and rooms, computer skills, the decision to bankrupt Doyle, the issue of the money, Gavin and his vindictive attitude, his change of heart, the hacker not being able to reconnect, ruining Doyle?

11. Gavin and the bankruptcy, ringing Doyle to get the documents back, going to the bank, the refusal? Doyle ringing and threatening Gavin? Their meeting, the documents? The growing malice, Doyle and his interference with Gavin's car, the wheel, the crash?

12. Gavin after the crash, passing the church, the Good Friday ceremony and the unveiling of the cross, his going to confession, opening up to acknowledge some aspects of his life? His going to the school, lying to the principal, the threat to the children?

13. Doyle going to the school, the arrest, with his children, jail? His being bailed out? Gavin seeing Valerie and the kids, his change of heart, trying to rectify the situation?

14. His going to the office, Doyle being there, their calling a truce?

15. Michelle, her relationship with Gavin, sexual relationship, secretary, the advice about the hacker, her trying to rectify the situation?

16. Gavin and the meal, his wife, the blackmail - and the threat to his integrity?

17. A resolution, a happy ending, Doyle and his children?

18. Themes of morality, ethical decisions, their bases, malevolence and rage, blackmail, corruption of the system?