Conversations with America

Before we get started, anybody seen Cap 2?

By which I mean Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier.

Because I have now seen it twice, and it was great! It’s a perfect example of how a comic book movie should be made- because it was a great action/thriller film and not just a comic book on the screen.

But this review isn’t about Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. In fact I told myself when I started this blog that I wouldn’t be reviewing on my beloved Marvel films- nobody wants to hear how amazing it was when... and I loved it when this character did... or I can’t believe they didn’t say how he was meant to...

No. You don’t want that. I don’t want that. Nobody wants that!

So, why have I been talking about Cap 2: TWS for this whole time then? Because, dear reader, this review is on a film which inspired the Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony, to create the Political Thriller style Captain America film.*

Today we will be looking at Francis Ford Coppola’s political thriller The Conversation, to which Joe Russo said was “a huge influence” on them, just like The French Connection and Three Days of the Condor. These political thrillers provide the structure, style and even the occasional similar scenes of Captain America 2.

So, The Conversation is about, strangely enough, a conversation! But more importantly its about the subtext behind the conversation.

Harry Caul is a surveillance expert who has been hired to record a seemingly ordinary couple’s conversation, but when he begins to look a little closer at the situation Harry begins to suspect that his work is putting them in real danger.

Here’s a little film knowledge for you, more often than not films are structured in three parts, or Acts- a beginning, middle and an end- but you probably guessed their names, didn’t you? Now, while filming Captain America the Russo brothers decided to really try and spend some time letting us, the audience, know who Steve Rogers (Captain America) is- “We spent the better part of the first act of this movie on Cap," Joe Russo- and you know why? Because that’s how it should be done with a classic thriller, Joe Russo knew it, Anthony Russo knew it and, of course, Francis Ford Coppola knew it when he was writing The Conversation.

The Conversation spends so long looking at Harry Caul that the titular conversation takes a backseat for the first act while Caul demonstrates that original mix of loneliness and paranoia which makes him such an intriguing character. Caul is broken and deeply suspicious, which just makes the stakes higher in Act 3 when he has to make a choice- to defy his employer and risk his life or stick his neck out for someone he’s never met. Like Caul, Steve Rogers is given plenty of time to show that he is more than just a soldier and a boy scout- he’s lost, possibly friendless, and only has his work to fall onto... all this builds up to raise the stakes for Act 3.

Another staple of the 70s Political Thriller is the suspicion that comes round every corner. The line “trust no one” has been used in multiple occasions, not least by Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury in Cap 2. In the case of The Conversation the question is ‘why do they want this conversation recorded?’ and it is this question that sparks an obsession in Harry’s mind.  The employer, named simply The Director, is mysteriously out of town when Harry wants to talk to him leaving only his assistant, a rather threatening young Harrison Ford, to make sure the deal goes through. What’s clear is that there is something wrong with this assignment, but other than that we know absolutely nothing, which is just what Harry knows.

In a similar way Captain America begins to uncover a secret from within SHIELD, the worldwide intelligence organisation, and as the plot unravels it becomes clearer that friends and foes are incredibly hard to distinguish between in this new modern world. Who is behind this plot?

The question that both films bring up, in very different ways, is ‘how can you stop a plan when you don’t even know whose behind it?’ For Captain America this means suspecting every friend to be the enemy until proven otherwise, but for Harry Caul things are a little more difficult. Caul isn’t super, he’s average. He isn’t threatening and he isn’t impressive. Maybe he should suspect everyone but he doesn’t and maybe he should be looking to make allies, but he doesn’t. This is what makes The Conversation so compelling, how very ordinary Caul is and yet he retains a sense of quiet mystery.

There are a great deal of similarities between Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier and The Conversation, something I suspect a lot of people would be surprised about. Joe and Anthony Russo made sure that the two where in some way comparable. Like how both films focus on the dangers of technology in the wrong hands, in Cap 2 its social media, satellites and weapons and in The Conversation it’s all about hidden microphones and bugging people. Or like the elevator scenes, those who have seen Cap 2 or even the trailer might remember a scene where Cap is standing in a lift as it gradually gets more crowded, he looks a little uncomfortable at first then proceeds in knocking them the hell out. Well this scene, minus the knocking them the hell out parts, is incredibly similar to one in The Conversation where Harry looks even more uncomfortable in a crowded lift.

Little things, but important to the feel of the film nonetheless!

So, yes, believe it or not the classic Coppola thriller The Conversation is almost like the granddaddy of the star spangled man’s second solo outing, The Winter Soldier, or maybe even the godfather... He-he Coppola references...

I hope that if you where a fan of the oldies you might look past all the CGI and explosions and see The Winter Soldier as it is, an intense Political Thriller. And, if you loved Captain America 2 then, fingers crossed, give The Conversation a go- you can even make a game of spot the similarities between the two films!

Oh how fun!

*Just as a note, the Russo brothers are the (dare I say it?) geniuses who co-wrote such great TV sitcoms as Arrested Development, Community and, one of my personal favourites, Happy Endings – which is cool “and that’s coming from a guy who wore a bandanna around his jeans leg in high school, so I know of what I speak.” –Dave, Happy Endings.