J. Edgar

Demystifying Hoover

The name J. Edgar Hoover for most of the 20th century was synonymous with the law in the United States of America. Ironically, but not surprisingly, he flaunted the very law he gave his life to uphold to surreptitiously spy upon, conspire against, frame and blackmail some of the most influential men and women of his time. All in the service of an unflappable zeal for power and ideals mostly out of touch with the people he was to serve.

Clint Eastwood, now one of the most prolific filmmakers/actors in America has for the better part been consumed with the American male identity in some of his best films and most notably, “Play Misty for Me”, “Bird”, “Pale Rider” the “Dirty Harry” series, “Unforgiven”, “Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino”. So for Eastwood to expose through his particularly deft lens the human frailties of the consummate lawman should be very natural, but in the case of J. Edgar starring Leonardo Di Caprio in the title role, Eastwood’s gaze upon this complex man does not come easily. Eastwood revels in these complexities. His American male hero overcomes them, always finds resolution, usually against authorities, the politically correct or not so politically correct powers that be and finding the moral high ground, albeit dirtying his hands to get there. The audience has repeatedly found admiration for the raw success of the Eastwood hero. Not so with J. Edgar. Despite an extremely sensitive and tortured portrayal by Di Caprio (definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination), Eastwood’s protagonist, ultimately self-satisfied with his political hegemony and triumphs and yet so out of touch with his own skin, invites more pity than any other emotion in what is mostly a layered and picaresque biopic.

This is a film of contrasts, some stark — public versus private persona, others not so stark – the moral ambiguity of power. Eastwood finds a clean thread in the first and a murky palette in the second. Even with the title choice of the film ‘J. Edgar’ (as opposed to ‘Hoover’), Eastwood is out to provide a highly personal portrait of his character, peccadilloes unsparingly revealed, mother Anna Marie’s dominance so powerfully emitted on the screen by Dame Judi Dench. You could feel the audience cringe when she recounts the fate of Edgar’s boyhood friend ‘Daffy’ and the true meaning of his nickname to her unsuspecting and vulnerable adult son. Edgar’s relationship with long time friend, colleague and alleged lover, Clyde Tolson played exquisitely by Armie Hammer despite the worst make-up job of 2011, becomes the cornerstone of Eastwood’s portrait. The film has undoubtedly forever peeled back one of the many onions in Hoover’s cupboard while giving us a thesis of what fear drove this insatiable man to the heights of power and secrecy – a need to be loved not only publicly but so it seems privately despite his own discomfort with the nature of that love.