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Spoilers: True story films |
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Written by Chris Vognar, MCT
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Monday, 18 June 2007 |
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 Warning: This story contains spoilers.
Actually, this story is about spoilers. You know, those shocking twists and hairpin plot turns revealed by evil critics and overzealous friends who live to spill the beans.
Classic example: That chick in "The Crying Game"? Not really a chick. Sorry, the movie is 15 years old. The spoiler statute of limitation has long since expired.
But what happens when the spoiler in question is fact, not fiction? What if it's something that anyone who reads the newspaper or watches TV should know? For instance, the fate of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist kidnapped in Pakistan in 2002. The team effort to find and rescue him is dramatized in "A Mighty Heart," opening Friday.
This was one of the biggest international stories of the year just five years ago. Is it possible some have actually forgotten the ending?
Of course it is.
"I'm always amazed at what people don't know," says Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures. "We're living in an age that's like the Tower of Babel. People can't process all the stuff that's out there, and they forget things quickly."
Bowles has his own real-life spoiler issues to worry about. Magnolia is distributing the bizarre, true-romance documentary "Crazy Love." The film focuses on the twist-filled (and twisted) romance of Burt and Linda Pugach, which has played out in New York tabloids and on daytime talk TV for parts of four decades.
Everything in the film is a matter of public record. The one-sentence plot summary on the Internet Movie Data Base (imdb.com). spoils two of the film's three major twists in one fell swoop. As they used to say on "The X-Files," the truth is out there.
But just because it really happened doesn't mean moviegoers know the details.
And even if they once knew the details, it doesn't mean they remember `em all.
Not surprisingly, Dan Klores, the film's director, would like to keep the element of surprise intact.
"My preference would be for people to not know anything about it going in," he says. "But people have written features about the film, and I'm pleased that the audiences are still shocked. Even if people know what's coming, they wonder: When is it coming? How is it coming?"
Or, as Bowles puts it: "You may know the bullet points, but when it comes down to the actual realization of them, and how outlandish the behavior and style of the people are, it trumps the bare facts."
Spoiler rules would seem to apply differently depending on who's doing the spoiling. You can always cover your ears and make "nah nah nah nah" noises if a friend is about to talk too much. Anyway, as Bowles says, "I think people generally have an innate sense of when and when not to give things away. It's hard to police that."
Daily critics face a higher standard. Hell hath no fury like the reader who thinks you've given away the ending of a movie, even when you haven't. If a film is hot off the presses, critics are reasonably expected to refrain from spoiling, or at least provide a written signpost to skip the next paragraph or to read no further.
Every press member at the "Crazy Love" screening I attended was handed a typewritten sheet of paper requesting that we not disclose the "Crazy" secrets. According to Bowles, not everyone has cooperated.
"I won't say we've had great cooperation with journalists in general," he says. "Some of the reviews have basically recounted plot point after plot point, which is not really what you want. You want that element of buzz. You want people to be astounded by the story."
And the culprits aren't always critics. Recent feature stories in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times recalled the Pugach saga in minute detail. Bowles says the New York press has revealed far more than media in other parts of the country, operating on the assumption that New Yorkers should be familiar with such a memorable New York story.
This kind of regional focus doesn't apply to "A Mighty Heart," which stars Angelina Jolie as Pearl's wife, broadcast journalist Marianne Pearl. (The film is based on Marianne Pearl's book of the same name.) But even if you know the outcome — and it's a good bet that most media consumers do — the suspense of the story still puts a knot in your stomach. After all, everyone knew the tragic conclusion of "United 93" going into the film. That didn't make it any easier, or less rewarding, to watch.
It's all part of the excitement of watching movies. And in an age when more and more documentaries employ the narrative strategies of fiction film, you must exercise care even when discussing recent history.
If you don't, you're just spoiling for a fight.
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REEL GIVEAWAYS
Think you know your spoilers? Match these classic twists to the movies they appeared in. (Answers below. Read at your own risk).
1. Oh my God, it's his father!
2. Holy cow, it's his sled?!
3. So the gimpy guy is Keyser Soze?
4. They drove off the cliff.
5. Lady Liberty in the sand.
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Answers:
1. "The Empire Strikes Back"
2. "Citizen Kane"
3. "The Usual Suspects"
4. "Thelma and Louise"
5. "Planet of the Apes"
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Chris Vognar:
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