by Arik Ben Treston

Three Kings
Warner Home Video, 1999

Back in 1994, a wildly unique little comedy broke its way onto the independent film scene. The film was David O. Russell’s motherly love comedy Spanking The Monkey. Two years later Russell returned with another whacked-out gem of a film, Flirting With Disaster. Disaster was a sly comedy that never achieved the level of recognition it deserved. Now, Russell has made his most complex film to date. Defying categorization (while including War, Comedy, Action, Drama), Three Kings is a genre-hybridization film that doesn’t let you peg it into something specific. That’s precisely why the film works so well. While it underperformed in theatres due to improper and inadequate marketing, video will give this movie a new platform to show off its talents.

Taking place in the very early 1990s during the Gulf War, the film follows four soldiers who have found a ‘treasure map’ of sorts (in a very dark place that just has to be seen) that apparently, if true, leads to the secret stash of Kuwaiti gold that Saddam Hussein has had buried in the desert. With the war practically over (at this point, Iraqi soldiers surrendering and Iraqi civilians are being encouraged by the Bush administration to fight their evil leader), these four soldiers decide to make an afternoon trip to recover this gold for themselves.

Leading the pack is Archie Gates (George Clooney), who’s near retirement and sees this as his last hurrah. With him is Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) and Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze, Oscar nominated director for Being John Malkovich). Sniffing around the army camp looking for a ‘substantial’ news story over ‘style’ is tough TV reporter Adreana Cruz (former SNL player Nora Dunn). With all the pieces in place, the film takes off in search of the gold. While at this point it could have set itself on heist-film autopilot, Russell continuously changes gears as we go along. When our four come to a small village, they are not bothered by the Iraqi army. By this time the army was too busy dealing with locals trying to rise up against Hussein. Now that the war is pretty much over, the American army does nothing to help the villagers, even though it was our administration that pushed them to revolt. This makes for a tense scene as the four search for the gold while locals are harrassed and shot right in front of their eyes.

Exploring the interesting social commentary on the strangeness of a technical war that, for the most part, didn’t lead to hand-to-hand combat, Russell manages to put it all up on the screen. Our soldiers slowly meet more and more locals who open their eyes to the abandonment by our government of their cause to fight on for their freedom once our main job was done. While the Americans are vilified as Satan scum, the Iraqis nonetheless wear our jeans, use our blenders, and sell fake Rolex watches.

When things begin to go wrong for our four intrepid soldiers, aid comes from underground resistance fighters who, essentially, team up with them to help them find the $23 (give or take) million in hidden gold. This journey and convergence of different people working together help bring humor to the film and a broader social understanding of the region to the audience.

Russell deploys numerous cinematic weapons to spice up the visual style of the film. From slow motion bullets-eye-view shots flying through the air to internal photography of what a bullet does to your insides once it enters your body cavity, the diverse photography gives the film a gritty, hard edge that complements the story’s wild sensibilities. It is a film with strong acting by all involved and enough developments and turns to help it flow at a brisk and always interesting pace.

Miller’s Crossing
20th Century Fox Home Video, 1990

With the new attention that Albert Finney is receiving for playing a foul-mouthed schlub of a lawyer in Erin Brokovich, attention should be turned to another wonderful film that costarred Finney in a brilliant performance. Miller’s Crossing was the Coen brother’s third film, after Blood Simple and Raising Arizona and before Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski. With every film they have done, they have been able to stay away from overly repetitive styles or themes and have kept each entry fresh and complete on its own. Miller’s Crossing is no exception. A unique and mesmerizing film, Crossing is a complex amalgam of various gangsters (Italian, Jewish, and Irish) and their inner-workings in a 1929 city. Finney is Leo, an Irish crime boss who basically controls the cops and the mayor. Gabriel Byrne is Tom, his right arm, who takes care of business for Leo. Tom is in love with Verna (Marcia Gay Harden), which is a slight problem, seeing as how Verna is Leo’s moll and all. Bernie Bernbaum is Verna’s screwed up brother whose time has come to be eliminated. Things don’t get any less complicated from there. Add to the mix Italian gangster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito), who whines about the different factions not having ‘ethics,’ a big dumb wrestler, and more clever expressions than you could shake your fist at and you have yourself a recipe for a satisfying romp in ‘Gangsterville, USA.’