Director Ridley Scott’s latest addition to the mob biopic
genre, “American Gangster,” is a well-written exposé of 1970s
New York, police corruption, one man’s rise to power and
another man’s struggle to bring him to justice.
In the film, which is based on a true story, Denzel
Washington stars as Frank Lucas, a Harlem-based gangster
who managed to smuggle copious amounts of pure cocaine
into the United States during the Vietnam War.
Lucas accomplished this task by enlisting the aid of
U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam, where the emotionally
disturbing environment of war and the availability of opium
and cocaine led many soldiers to become addicts, and by
traveling directly to the Vietnamese fields where cocaine was
harvested to negotiate a deal with its planters.
Russell Crowe costars as Richie Roberts, the honest cop who
eventually caught and imprisoned Lucas while exposing the
corruption overtaking the New York Police Department.
It might have been easy for the screenwriters to depict
Lucas as a demon and Roberts as a saint. Lucas does kill
many people throughout the film without remorse; in one
memorable scene, Lucas dispatches a rival on a Harlem street
in broad daylight and then walks a block away to finish his
breakfast at a diner.
And at a time when it was common for police to steal
recovered drug money, Roberts famously refused to keep $1
million he found in cash in a car’s trunk. He opted to do the
right thing and turn the money into authorities, thus turning
himself and his partner into outsiders at their precinct.
Yet, the beauty of “American Gangster” is that it aims
to show the complexities of a drug subculture while also
exploring the complex motivations of its two characters.
Lucas, a person spawned from a world of poverty, oppression
and violence, uses violence without hesitation, yet he
uses it to achieve the American Dream – a peaceful life as a
successful businessman with a happy family and a safe home.
Early in the film, when Lucas hits it big, the first thing he
does is bring his large family from North Carolina to share
in his bounty and move into his enormous mansion.
And though he considers himself an honest cop, Roberts
is hardly a saint in his personal life. He cheats on his wife
with his divorce attorney, and he suffers friendships with
old friends from the wrong side of the tracks.
On the other hand, the film does not sugarcoat the
havoc that resulted from Lucas’ dispersal of pure cocaine
on the streets; scenes of overdosed junkie mothers who
have abandoned their crying babies illuminate how terribly
destructive drug trade can be and who ultimately suffers the
most from its existence.
Both Crowe and Washington submerse themselves perfectly
into their roles. Washington’s performance hints at his sinister
character in “Training Day” – his role in that film won him
an Academy Award – yet, it also explores what makes people
turn to crime and challenges the stereotype that drug dealers
are heathens hell-bent on corrupting their communities.
In one critical scene, when Roberts lambastes Lucas
for killing thousands of
people, Lucas says junkies
would be junkies with or
without him. All he’s done
is profit from a system he
did not create, he says.
He sees his position as a
drug kingpin as a natural
component of commercialism;
he provides a good
product for less, he says.
Furthermore, earlier in
the film, Lucas hands out
turkeys on the street to
poor Harlem residents,
giving back to the very
community he has infested
with drugs.
These are just some of
the scenes in “American
Gangster” that challenge
traditional concepts of morality
and one’s connection
to one’s community and
family.
Although “American
Gangster” has an ending
that might shock audiences,
the conclusion,
like the rest of the story,
is based on a true story. When all is said and done, the
beautiful and respectful way the real lives of these two men
were adopted to film is Academy-Award worthy, and there
is no doubt this epic gangster film will receive talk of a “Best
Picture” nomination come award season.
Grade: A