Bad Lieutenant (1992)

★★★★
Characteristic of an Abel Ferrera film, Bad Lieutenant is a gritty, dark crime story featuring a cop who has completely succumbed to his demons. He prowls the streets looking for ways to indulge his terrible habits, whether it's hard drugs, gambling or sexual harassment. As far as he's concerned, he has nowhere to go but down. Any chance he might have had to save himself is gone. When the opportunity presents itself, he will steal from crime scenes to fuel his descent even further. With his mind in a constant state of disarray, the cop can barely hold himself together as he pivots between his latest investigation and visiting his associates to obtain the only thing that matters to him anymore. His family is a distant reminder of how things used to be for him, while his position as a lieutenant puts him in position to manipulate everyone for his personal gain. He hasn't been happy for years.

Harvey Keitel plays the unnamed Lieutenant with remarkable conviction. It is the performance of his career. The Lieutenant starts each day craving his first hit and his daily routine is mostly spent visiting his contacts to get more drugs. In the middle of all this, he shows up at crime scenes to make his appearance known before slipping back to rundown apartments to take more drugs. When he satisfies his urges, he meets with his fellow cops, who are betting on the playoff series between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. As the movie opens, the Dodgers are up 3-0. The Lieutenant steers his friends into betting on the Mets, telling them that the series is rigged, and that Major League Baseball will force a game 7 to make more money on advertising. Later with his bookie, the Lieutenant doesn't take his own advice and bets on the Dodgers. Things start to go awry when the Mets win game 4.

Elsewhere in the city, a nun (Frankie Thorn) is raped. To the Lieutenant, this is just another crime. He eavesdrops on the Nun in the hospital as the nurse goes over a list of injuries, though he eventually loses interest and drives to the church, only to collapse on a pew. The Lieutenant is more concerned with his addiction. One of his dealers is Zoe, played by Zoe Lund, the cowriter and actress who starred in Ferrera's Ms. 45. Very little dialogue goes on between them. He has business there, and she knows what he needs. The scenes in which they shoot up or inhale crack are starkly presented and very detailed. Their moods shift to silent detachment from their surroundings. Earlier in the film, the Lieutenant had a drug-fueled tryst with two women, a scene that showed just how much of a lost soul he has become. He has a wife and children. They endure his routine, which involves passing out on the couch and waking up late. There is one important scene with the Lieutenant at home, visiting his children while they sleep. He's struggling very hard to see them as they are. He hasn't completely lost his humanity. If there's a way out of this downward spiral, he might just take it.

The Mets win again. His desperation shows. There's a $50,000 reward for the capture of the rapists, which might help the Lieutenant with his increasing debt. The announcers who are calling the game are very much a part of the story. The New York-based commentary team excitedly announces how the Mets are staging their comeback. Their commentary serves as a dagger to the Lieutenant, whose actions are known to us, and as a result their calls reveal the escalating problems for the Lieutenant and the amount of trouble that he's bringing to himself. Unfortunately for him, the nun forgives her attackers. Her forgiveness presents two dilemmas. First, without her statement, the Lieutenant can't find the rapists. Secondly, it causes a crisis of conscience within him. He confronts her directly after she has recovered. He points out that they could commit this crime again. What she says shocks him.

Bad Lieutenant was one of the first films to receive the NC-17 rating, and there's one scene, among others, that contributed to this rating. The Lieutenant pulls over two girls and humiliates them by forcing them to perform actions for his gratification. Though he doesn't make physical contact, he is hardly better than the guys who raped the nun, yet she forgives them. Redemption is at the core of the story. This is a very spiritual film, with catholic imagery playing an important role. Jesus cries out in pain when one of his faithful servants is brutally attacked, but what does he think of the Lieutenant? Does he feel his pain too? Jesus died for our sins, and if this nun can forgive her attackers, then perhaps the Lieutenant can find forgiveness too. Towards the end, he does something that he feels could be the key to redemption. In his own imperfect way of thinking, he's doing what the nun did, knowing that the consequences for doing so would give him no easy way out. That is perhaps the point. He acknowledges that he's done a lot of bad things, and he's not going for the quick fix.

Bad Lieutenant is a masterful character study. Harvey Keitel fearlessly brings this man to life with a ferocity unlike anything I've ever seen. He doesn't just use words, but also his body by employing staggered movements and facial expressions to convey his anguish. How much more damage can the Lieutenant's body withstand, anyway? There are times when he has to move himself by sheer will. Ferrara's direction is brilliant. He pulls no punches in his presentation of depravity. He goes to these lengths because he's serious about the redemptive part of the story. For the Lieutenant to plea for forgiveness, he must sink low enough to feel the pressure of his sins crushing him. Even he has a point at which he reaches rock bottom. Ferrara unapologetically takes us there by starting the story well after the Lieutenant's vices have ensnared him, and we watch him sink further still.

© 2022 Silver Screen Reviews