SHINY JEWELL

MOVIE
Richard Jewell
Paul Michael Hauser, Kathy Bates
Director Clint Eastwood
Review Ray Chan

BASED on true events, this movie recounts the cautionary tale of Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser), the security guard who made national news in 1996 – first as a hero, when he discovered a satchel of bombs in Atlanta’s Centennial Park during the Summer Olympics and helped lead spectators away from the blast zone, then as a villain, depicted as a frustrated law enforcement wannabe who might have planted the explosives in order to glorify himself as a saviour.
    Jewell is a dreamer obsessed with carving out a career in the police force, painstakingly conscientious in his endeavours to maintain law and order, even going beyond his duties to targeting traffic offenders while employed as a college security officer.
    As a chunky, solitary and awkward individual still living at home with his mother (Kathy Bates), he became a suspect simply because the FBI believed his profile suited that of a tyro terrorist who wanted his 15 minutes of fame.
    The movie takes viewers through the media circus that enveloped Jewell and his small circle of family and friends, including the lawyer he hires to defend him, Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell).
    Big and boyish at the same time, he exudes an aura of naivete and innocence, as he comes to grips with his new-found fame, initially disbelieving that he is seriously being considered a person of interest.
    The defining characteristic of Hauser’s performance early on is an earnest eagerness to help in the investigation in any way he can, an attribute that is quickly taken advantage of by FBI agents, who – led by the uncompromising Jon Hamm – believe Jewell of such low intellect that they try to prise a signed declaration of guilt from him.
    While initially unfailingly deferential, insisting on the existence of a professional kinship with his persecutors – even as they conceal their snickers at his references to “cop-to-cop” camaraderie – the burly babe in the woods eventually comes to realise the contempt in which he’s held, an epiphany that is emotionally heartfelt and poignant.
    Thanks to the resilience of the prickly Bryant, though, Jewell gradually gains a semblance of self-worth, while quickly losing faith in the religion of authority.
    Hauser’s portrayal of the child-like titular character is wonderful, and viewers cannot help but warm to the only son who just wanted to serve on the side of the law and make his mama proud.
    The movie ends on a melancholy note when, several years later, Bryant tells an exonerated Jewell – who has made his way back into a police desk job – that the real bomber has confessed to the crime.
    But he doesn’t show any satisfaction, his capacity to participate in the system forever disturbed.
    Gone is the ambitious swagger of the campus cop, now disaffected to the point of simple self-reflection, and questioning himself if he really is content to wear the badge.

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