Anxious lawmen, wives dealing with trauma, radical cult leaders and mad tin foil hatters – all of them in one place! These are not characters straight out of a new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ instalment, but a collective of fanatics from Eddington, Ari Aster’s latest experiment, both a satire and a tragic western.
It’s May of 2020, and we meet Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), the local sheriff of a fictional city called Eddington. Cross, always believing in his self-containment and uniqueness, is either a victim or a result of America’s narrative about its sovereignty. To give you an idea, let’s take a quick look at his attitude towards the pandemic. We learn Cross is certain he won’t get COVID; in the first scene, he refuses to put on the face mask. This is a recurring situation throughout the entire film.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise Cross is not a man to be commanded by anyone. He is the master of his own fate – that’s what this country has taught him. Perhaps, this is why our officer of the law can’t stand the presence of Eddington’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who comes up with all those new restrictions. “Garcia is not even an American surname,” Cross probably thinks, while patrolling his beloved city. He assumes there must be a reason why the mayor is wrong – for Cross, Garcia’s race might be the case. “Yes, this is it – he doesn’t belong here, you know,” Cross likely tells himself before entering the police station.
Here’s a question: What does it really mean to be American? While in a supermarket, again unwilling to put on the face mask, Cross repeats some populist remarks about personal independence he knows by heart (although he has never considered their true meanings).
Yet, in his babbling about COVID and all of it, Cross is heard by others. Eddington’s citizens discover he sounds like a true Yankee, courageous and unafraid to admit his true beliefs. A few of them clap, and one asks for a selfie. For Cross, it’s a dream come true. His love for this country is finally noticed.
And, who are “the others”? People affected by the current crisis. For all of them, there must be a rational explanation for why the virus has appeared and disrupted their everyday paradise. It has to be someone’s fault. It’s only a matter of time before ‘Eddington’‘s citizens will turn their anger against an imaginary enemy.
But, these people need a leader, so Cross takes matters into his own hands. After entering a police car, Cross posts his first video on social media. It’s an announcement that he will be participating in the upcoming elections. It starts a domino effect so wild that Cross’ peaceful life will soon become a nihilistic western. One full of bodies, Nazis, rednecks, idealists, radicals, abolitionists and BLM activists – the whole of modern America suddenly in one place. But, don’t forget Eddington is only a town of 2,000 people. How will it accommodate all this extravaganza?
‘Eddington’ reminds us of a repository of America’s greatest fears and dreams. It’s a story about people who don’t want to be tamed, yet they are the ones craving power (Cross, indeed, belongs to this group). We can also perceive Aster’s pamphlet as a menagerie of all that causes the US to be divided, from radicalism to the inability to act lawfully when necessary. As Cross notices, he has no chance of defeating Garcia, so he starts breaking the law, more and more often, even risking losing the love of his life (Emma Stone). Why? For the simplest of reasons: he just can – as an American citizen, Cross has every right to save his country. First, though, let’s start with the town.
American historian Jill Lepore once wrote that, “no nation can be freer than its most oppressed, richer than its poorest, wiser than its most ignorant.” Not sure if Aster has ever read Lepore, but ‘Eddington’ takes this quote to heart. Through his inimitable style, which focuses on performance and the nature of human beings, the director argues that the US will never be a haven of hope, unless it addresses its frictions. For the director, COVID was the last straw in this so-called land of the free. It opened Pandora’s Box, releasing our personal demons. And, ‘Eddington’ pictures the moment when the lid of this mythical object is being slowly loosened.
To some extent, Ari Aster plays it safe – his project does not really reinvent the American wheel, when it pokes fun at conservatives and Trumpists. Instead of proposing a solution for uniting the fallen nation and rebuking every side of a conflict, like a valid satire should, ‘Eddington’ reminds us of an SNL sketch, full of gags, bias towards the country’s ordinary citizens, and no particular denouement.
While scolding populists, Aster inadvertently becomes one. His approach embodies the greatest issue of today’s America: it is as divided as Europe was one century ago, with an apparent demarcation line. Elitist in his narrative, Aster still entertains by exchanging the genres within the narrative, but fails to bond his viewers across the aisle. Trumpists will still be Trumpists, while Democrats will remain Democrats.
Like Gary Cooper at high noon, Phoenix’s fugitive is left on his own after midnight, seconds till the final sequence commences. But, before that, Cross carelessly engages in all his little skirmishes to fight for the mayor’s throne, soon to be soaked in blood. He is reminiscent of Shakespearean characters, too invested in their motivations to see the bigger picture, so there is no solace awaiting him. Instead, we follow Cross’ downfall. Watching him is like observing all those buffaloes from one of the film’s posters, which, while running, can never stop, even when on the brink of the cliff. In ‘Eddington’, there is also a sequence that echoes it.
It’s the same with Cross: once a patriot, always a patriot, who can’t quit his vendetta, no matter the circumstances or the entropy that ensues because of him. However, we still pity poor old Joe. He is unable to escape this inner spiral of hatred, which has its roots in the US’s latest politics and the use of hate speech in the media. The audience’s unexpected compassion for a silly character like Joe Cross might be Aster’s greatest achievement yet.
‘Eddington’ is in UK cinemas now.
photography. Maria Biardzka
words. Jan Tracz
