Movie: Blue Ruin
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves
Rating: ****
The protagonist in “Blue Ruin”, played by Macon Blair, doesn’t ever come across as the kind of guy you would expect to go on a killing spree to avenge the murder of his parents. He’s timid, hardly ever speaks and doesn’t have the looks of a typical hero, yet he makes you root for the unlikely avenger in him. This revenge drama by Saulnier takes us through the life of an amateur, who is nervous even with a weapon (knife or gun) in his hand but still yearns to kill the murderer of his parents.
For the first 20 minutes of the film, where we see Macon aka Dwight sneaking into empty houses to take baths, eating from trash cans and sleeping in an old car, there are hardly any dialogues. When he comes to learn that the killer of his parents is freed from prison, he sets out on a journey to kill him and his family not because he longs for blood but because he’s afraid of being killed. It’s the fear of being killed turns Dwight into the hunter. Although he knows he’s drowning in fear from the beginning, he still gathers courage to do what he’s been waiting to do for a long time.
While most revenge stories turn its protagonists into killing machines overnight, Saulnier avoids it by exploring the vulnerability of Dwight, who has to kill in order to stay alive. Neither does “Blue Ruin” tilts to gore nor pretentiousness in its attempt to strike a balance when art house style narrative meets a bloody and violent tale. It avoids glorification of bloodshed and instead focuses on the pain of taking a life. If you thought it’s easy to pull the trigger, this film tells you how difficult it is to take a life.
Macon Blair, the director’s childhood friend, carries the film on his shoulders. Dwight is not a confident man and is swallowed by fear even as he sets forth to seek revenge. There’s fear in his eyes, his actions and even in his words as he mostly mouths words meekly. Most of the story plays out wordlessly, yet a lot is conveyed through Dwight’s eyes that do the talking. You see in his eyes that he doesn’t want to kill Wade (killer of his parents) or any of his family members but he must. It is through those eyes you see Dwight is asking himself why he is doing all this. Of course, there are no answers to these questions in the film, which relies heavily on one man’s decisions, actions and consequences.
It’s a story that focuses on Dwight, a man at war with himself, Wade and his family. No other characters are killed just for the heck of it like they are usually in such films. It’s precisely why Dwight fights this battle alone and refuses to take the help of his childhood friend, who offers his assistance because what he has gotten into is ugly.
“Blue Ruin” is a gripping picture that haunts you with a melancholic character. Revolving around a singular performance by Blair, the film is undoubtedly the best revenge thriller that takes a new attempt at an old genre.
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