A corrupt drug and gambling addicted New York City Police Lieutenant is pushed to the limits when he is investigating the rape of a nun.
I was warned by my brother that this film was extremely random and a bit off the wall. It doesn’t take long to realize that with the drug taking and sexual scenes which take place (and that is before the awful rape scene occurs). But I persisted with it because Harvey Keitel puts in a truly incredible performance, the things he has to do in this film is unlike anything you would have seen in other films before, he really goes for it and is laid bare at times.
It’s quite difficult to watch at times as you don’t want to see what is on the screen at all, but it all paints the picture of how messed up the lieutenant is. His insane gambling on the Baseball world series where he ends up in a lot of debt but keeps doubling the money for the next game in the series, I won’t spoil the outcome of all this but the ending overall is bittersweet.
Probably the most difficult part of the whole film is how the nun decides to forgive the two men who raped her and she will not tell the police who they were as she claims that she knew them. The lieutenant is not going to let this go and manages to find out who they are, again though what he does is probably not what you would expect. But before this he does have a very strange experience, possibly due to the amount of drugs he had taken and see’s Jesus in front of him in the church after talking to the nun. Yes I did warn you that this film is random and off the wall.
It is all about the performance from Keitel he gives so much in this role and crosses a line at times a scene with two young girls in a car and him standing outside is very risky (if you have seen the film I am sure you know which one I mean). So he really does go for it throughout. While his performance was rather amazing I cannot see myself ever watching this film again. Seeing it once is enough as parts of it will last in your mind that is for sure!
