City of Hope (1991)

Powerful

A Masterpiece!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

A New Jersey city in which all loyalties are mixed up -- ethnic, racial, personal, family. Some people turn one way or another reflexively. Others feel as if each limb has been tied to a different horse and their slowly being pulled apart. Vincent Spano gets the main credit here but it really belongs to John Sayles who wrote and directed this tale of a near hopeless urban condition. Some guys are obviously "bad" -- the phony Italian mayor. But most of the people we see are just trying to please the people they owe something to, while making a buck on the side if it's possible. Even the cops are given more than one dimension.I don't want to get snobbish but the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote a lot about moral acts. He divided them into two kinds. "Hypothetical imperatives" were acts that came from thinking, "What's in it for me?" And "categorical imperatives" led to different acts that came from thinking, "What if everybody did this?"Only one character is impelled by categorical imperatives -- Joe Morton as the Councilman representing the black and Hispanic district -- and in the end, it seems he may have been won over to the other side. It's hard to tell. The ending of the film is ambiguous. Periodically the viewer has seen David Strathairn as a raving lunatic who goes around shouting things like, "Help!" and "Prices have never been lower!" Everyone pays him civil inattention. He's seen in jail, on the streets, and in crowds. And here, at the end, Vincent Spano is hiding atop a building crane with a bullet in him. His father, Tony Lo Bianco, tries to comfort him and then cries out "Help -- somebody help!" The camera shows us the street far below, lighted with those garish yellow city lamps. It's entirely empty except for a lone figure. It's Strathairn, who waves his arms back at Lo Bianco, shakes a hurricane fence, and begins to shout, "Help!" The likelihood of an improved situation is small.You have to hand it to John Sayles. It took a lot of courage to make this movie, and some of his others. They're filled with corruption and sometimes murder but they're not simple minded. The figures at the top of the hierarchy are sometimes the main cause of urban rot -- as in this case -- but they're not exactly evil. Like everybody else, they're move in a direction towards reward and away from punishment -- only their rewards are greater and their punishments less. At least in this movie. Historically every man who served as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, between 1962 and 2006 was indicted for corruption.It's really an ensemble movie and there are multiple intertwined plots so it's hard to outline them. Overall, it's a picture of life among the working class and the poor. The film doesn't leave anyone with an easy way out. As I say, a courageous movie.

A fantastic movie. Superb. Excellent. A keeper. I am definitely going to rent and re-view Brother from Another Planet. Ensemble type of movie. Low-key score. Dead on performances--everybody tight and sticking to the story, no histrionics or dopey movie-star closeups. If there's a continuum of corruption movies with On the Waterfront on one extreme (intrusive score, ridiculous script, pandering to gorgeous movie stars) and Hands Over the City on the other (realistic portrayal of life with Rod Steiger and lots of extras), then this movie was closer to Hands Over the City. It's not neo-realism, but the way in which everyone's history haunts and thwarts them was excellent. And of course, the last scene is something to rewind and watch over and over again.

This has become one of my favorite movies, and I am happy to see it return to cable showings. Because of the large ensemble cast, I think that it benefits from more than one viewing. I am struck by the contrast among the characters trying to their best despite hardships (Wynn, Angela, Jeanette, who is Desmond's mother, Les, who has been mugged, and Nidia, on council with Wynn), characters who mean well but ultimately fail (Joe is the classic), and characters corrupted beyond redemption (Carl-- and I love it that Sayles gave himself the nastiest character, assistant D.A. Zimmer, Mayor Baci, and O'Brien-- Kevin Tighe must be Sayles' favorite sleaze-ball). And where will Nick end up if he survives? It is interesting to see actors again in Sayles' films (Chris Cooper-- always good, Joe Morton, Angela Bassett, Tom Wright-- the ultra-activist-- did anyone else recognize him as Flash Phillips from "Sunshine State?", and David Straithairn-- what a role for him!) Errol, the retired mayor who advises Wynn on the golf course, has some very interesting things to say that bear attention. Just how does one lead? And how does one become a leader without compromising himself? Where is that line drawn? Music is used effectively as well. I like whatever it is that is playing on Vinnie's boom box at the end when Nick comes to Carl's shop to confront him (I can't read the titles on the red credits at the end, and they don't appear on the IMDb). And I love the Neville Brothers' "Fearless" at the end. Perfect.Watch this movie.

This is supposed to be a story about - well, it's not really aboutanything - but it does have a whole mess of standard New Jerseystereotypes so I assume it is supposed to be about the grittyunderside of city corruption and the Political Machine.I think.Anyway, save your money, buy the Springsteen box set - or at leastthe greatest hit CD - because in 3 minutes of Springsteen you'llget a better understanding of blue collar northeastness than in all100 or whatever minutes of this film.Yo Nicky!