The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate

This article covers the 2004 remake
of the Manchurian Candidate 

My interest in the Manchurian candidate was sparked when I noticed that Denzel Washington had gotten one of his lines wrong in the remake. A bit later I caught the original on late night cable and things became clearer. The story had changed in the remake and the screen play still contained a line of conversation which had made sense before but no longer did.

This one line led me to judge the movie as a second rate movie for many years an opinion I have since reconsidered.  So what had happened in the screenplay and what had caused me to reconsider?

Adaptation

The story comes from (Cordon, Richard 1959) a book with the same title which was considered a classic political thriller. In the book the protagonist is Major Bennett Marco and his men are brainwashed in Manchuria with the aim of creating a sleeper agent that could be placed into the highest political office.

The first adaption from 1962 is a political neo-noir suspense thriller adapted by George Axelrod who had also done the adaptation for Breakfast in Tiffany in 1961. The adaptation had a number of stars including Frank Sinatra. As the cold war was still ongoing the adaptation was fairly faithful though it did water down the sexual aspects of the book. However following Kennedy's assassination the film was out of circulation for almost 15 years. The Manchurian candidate is Raymond Shaw son of a senator captured  by Soviet forced and brainwashed by Chinese. After the war he is groomed for The antagonist being Shaw's mother

In the second adaptation (2004) the war is now the Gulf war of 1991 and since the cold war is now over. Manchurian references a front for military - industrial complex. This time the antagonist is played by Meryl Steep.

Now what I find interesting in this story are the following:

1. The neo-noir protagonist is a regular Joe but he has a shared history with a the future vice president. Such a connection is due to a plot device - they were both in the army. This is  credible as most presidents and some senators boat of their military service. This common background is not that uncommon. This is also the relation between the Winter soldier and Captain America.
2. Brain washing and hypnosis was a stronger trope in the 60 when people got to know about LSD. However today there are more modern parallels. In 50 First Dates and in Memento the love interest and the Protagonist characters have to deal with long term memory loss and the resulting confusion. In Inception the protagonist is blindsided by the manifestation in dream state of his gilt for the  death of his wife. In Gamer 2009 and in Assassin's Creed 2016 characters are compelled by external wills in a virtual reality. These issues contribute to creating an unreliable Character. In the Manchurian Candidate, the Protagonist is confused, and practically deranged at times. As he tries to sort though his past new evidence comes to light, though this is hardly conclusive it intimates a conspiracy of  unprecedented proportions. other individuals arise around him corroborating, supporting and believing in what he is able to uncover. This adds an element of unpredictability to the story line in a positive way.
3. The conflict is taking place on at all three levels:
1. There is inner conflict initially embodies in nightmares - Raymond and Marco's characters are fighting their brainwashed identities, to reassert control of their individual wills, to recall past events and to ease their troubled conscience.
2. There is outer conflict - to get to his senator friend and in lieu of his problematic recent history. The FBI and Secret Service provide obstacles and Manchurian which may be involved in the misfortune of Marco's platoon after the war.   
3. There is institutional conflict. Both Marco and Raymond are struggling against the political organisation which is trying to put Raymond into power. The evil is embodied in Raymond's mother  Mrs Elenor Iselin who was rated as on of the top female villains of all times by the AFI.
4. There is a subplot symmetry between the Raymond and Marco - both are compelled to kill against their will.  Both want to reassert their mastery over their destiny. Though Raymond who has been completed to kill a number of times is weighed by guilt. The symmetry is eventually broken since the "moral code" determines that killers protagonists should not  survive to a happy ending. Which boils down to Raymond not surviving. Marco who has cooperated with the CIA and brought down Manchurian is given a reprieve.
5. For the moral premise we can look at the Medal of Honour Raymond got though a deception. He eventually realises he has murdered his love interest, her father and two of his platoon members and gives the medal to Marco. In the final scene Marco places a picture of Raymond and the rest of the platoon in the waters of the sea which washes all sin. He also 'buries' the medal of honer in the water  signifying that  Raymond's final action has redeemed himself. 

One aside is that the cast of The 2004 adaptation, in particular the less well known supporting actors have all gone to have very successful careers since.  

Runner Runner story troubles

Ben Affleck in character (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Having worked with Online Affiliates just as the US legislated against online gambling was passed, I noticed many plot holes in Runner Runner. But these are issues which won't be noticed by most viewers. 

The defect

There is a major story defect in this movie which will affect most viewers.  

The Nemesis Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) is portrayed as a "nice guy" until almost the very end and while he does foreshadow the upcoming betrayal of the finale, his character maintains the image for most of the movie. Since he never confronts the Protagonist Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) 
the main character is passive, repeatedly emulating his master and never challenging or supporting an opposing point of view.   This translates into increased shut-eye during the movie...

How it permeates the plot

To better understand the ramification of this type of antipattern we consider Two additional characters: Agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) whose actions are implausible kidnaping and planting drugs and blackmailing the protagonist. Also the Romance character,  Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton). Since Ben Affleck is so "nice" he does not mind that his girlfriend has an affair with Richie Furst and so despite very minor tension the affair is not consummated and the relationship is a low stakes one. This becomes a problem later on when the Romance chooses the protagonist over the nemesis. This hardly seems credible as they have not consolidated their relationship and Rechie is hardly a match for Ivan. 

Bottom Line

Ben Affleck in Argo was at the peak of his acting career. But this is not argo - it is a low stakes story about high stakes gamblers. I gave it 3 points out of 10.

Soft & Hard Turning Points in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur

Alfred Hitchcock's 1942 Saboteur has many items of interest and worth of study.

• His use of storyboard to develop key scenes, 
• The film's box office success despite the serendipitous lack of stars in the main roles.
• The ambivalent patriotic message mingled with an irreverent portrayal  or police, FBI and navy.
• The exposition of the danger of 5th columnists just as America entered the second world war and the fact that these people look perfectly normal.
• A favorite Hitchcock theme where the hero's identity is mistaken for the villain.

However, Today I will focus on the narrative structure of the movie and on the turning point. The movie has been described as melodramatic and the list of twists and turns bellow will provide ample evidence to support this. Most action adventures today's are faster but using soft turning point is often missing.

Some Terminology

Characters

• The Protagonist - the hero Barry Kane 
• The Antagonists - initially the saboteur Frank Fry and later Charles Tobin the saboteur master mind
• The Love Interest character - the protagonist's love interest. Patricia Martin
• Allies - Truck driver, Martin's Uncle, The Circus People.

Martin is not an effective romance character because the romantic conflict between he and Kane is single sided, there is no competitor for he affections say amongst the antagonists. The conflict occurs at the personal level and at the institutional level but not at the romantic level. So technically Martin should be considered an ally rather than a Romance Character.

Turning Point

• Hard turning points - story arc turns due to an external action which reverses the circumstances.
• Soft turning point - the turn is in the emotional overlay event twisting the character's perception or the viewers point of view
• Simple - the story turns in one scene based on a single event (action or exposition)
• Compound - the story turns in structured using multiple events.

It is possible to combine create a hybrid turning point which is both hard and soft. However separating hard and soft turning points, like using compound rather than simple turns is a matter of finesse. The technique is worth mastering as it reduces the concerns a writer must satisfy during the essential story point and also provides an organic structure for using exposition for powerful emotional impact. Hard and Soft turning points can naturally alternate and allow the lulls in the actions to posses an emotional counter rhythm to the hard action thereby improving the variation of scenes and permitting the characters to develop both though  action and emotion.

The Narrative Structure

1. The first turning point which is the inciting incident which sets the story's tenor. An act of sabotage by the antagonist Fry a War World II fifth columnist who starts a fire in an airplane factory. But fortune tuns against the protagonist's when his heroic attempt to put out the fire is mistaken for the work of the  saboteur Fry. When the police can find no record of Fry it falls on Cane to locate the one man whose identity can clear him from the murder of his pal  Mason.
2. After being interrogated Cane goes to console Mason's mother. He has not yet resolved to find Fry and needs a second push. This takes the form of the police arriving to questioning Mason's mother. The bereaved mother refuses to turn Cane for the murder of her son and asks him to leave. At this point Cane's situation has changed from a material witness to that of a wanted man. He has found his driving outer motivation "to find and expose Fry the suboteur" This accordingly is the first act climax.
3. On the road he meets a truck driver who decides to help him despite an opportunity to turn him in. This is a soft turning point since help by the truck driver shifts the audience from suspense to near comedy. Hitchcock is a master of controlling emotion by creating asymmetries of information between the protagonist and the audience. In this scene Cane resists an instinct to attack the driver and gains a valuable allay down the road.
4. The next turning point has the compound structure and is hybrid of soft and hard parts: 
1. At a farm he meets Charles Tobin, who confounds him by faking ignorance about Fry. (Hybrid)
2. Tobin steps inside to covertly inform on Cane to the Sheriff. (Exposition)
3. Cane discovers more clues - familiar handwriting and a telegram about Fry's future location. (Exposition)
4. Tobin's role is now revealed and Hitchcock uses this opportunity to produce a confrontation between Tobin to and Cane. (Hybrid)
5. Cane is able to make a temporary escape - but only by seizing the innocent girl and stealing a horse. (Action)
6. Shortly Cane is  immediately lassoed by some farm hands. (Action)
5.  Cane now encounters a number of setbacks, he is handcuffed in a Police car in the company of three country cops. It seems his fate is sealed but then when the police car stops on a bridge Cane escapes and when he pushes one of the cops into the water he is aided by his former allay the truck driver. This turning point follows the action with a soft release of tension using humor.
6. Next is a soft turning point. Cane enters the home of a blind man who cannot see his handcuffs. However later when his niece discovers them the blind man says he was not deceived and that but that he could clearly identify that Cane is a innocent. He directs his niece to help Cane. One again it seems that he is on route to find Fry.
7. However in the car the ice blond Patricia Martin thinking she has outsmarted Cane impulsively reveals that she has decided to turn him in to the authorities. But Cane is able to master the situation and soon break his handcuffs. Is this a turning point or not ? Is so is it soft or hard, simple of compound?
8. Cane has however damaged the car in the desert and they end up hopping onto a traveling circus. Here amongst a minor emotional drama they are helped by the Circus people who hide them from the police.This is a soft turning point since the circus people are initially hostile and need convincing to suppress on of their group and this requires emotion rather than force. It is also intimated that Martin despite her doubts may have fallen for Cane . 
9. Next follows a major sequence in which Cane and Martin uncover the saboteur's plan to destroy Hover dam. Cane is at last vindicated in the eyes of Martin who now unreservedly falls deeply in love with him. Cane deceives two saboteurs that he is is a member of their organization by providing  his credentials a news paper front page article from one of their pocket which attributing the fire in the plant to him. He is soon tight with them and they arrange to help him get away.
10.  The next turning of Cane 's fortunes is due to the revelation that Martin who had informs the local Sherif about the saboteurs has been located by the fifth columnist. She is able to updates her uncle before she gets picked up and will soon be reunited with Cane . This has the consequence of Tobin also being in the house. Tobin exposes Cane as an man who now knows too much. Cane flees into a charity event being held in the house but no one believes him and suspense is transformed to despair as he is soon brought in. This again is a compound turning point embedded in sequence aimed at showing how difficult to detect the fifth columnists. 
1. At first we have an exposition scene which starts soft and emotional based on doges by Cane .
2. At  the appearance of Tobin triggers an action which is hard. 
3. The Protagonist and romance are not able to escape during a second soft turn 
4. A further action splits them apart followed by an escalation from Cane . 
5. This which culminates with an active confrontation between Tobin and Cane.
   At last the two conflicting point of view have been defined.
6. Finally Cane is knocked out. 
11. The next sequence involves Martin and Cane each devising and executing escape plans. Cane proceeds to Brooklyn harbor and is able to foil Fry's attempt to sabotage the launching of a war ship. But once again he is caught by fry. However Martin has summoned the police and the tables are turned once again but unfortunately Fry escapes once more. It is now up to Martin to catch Fry as Cane is held by the police. 
12. But while Martin delays Fry at the statue Cane is now asked to come and help the police. When the police men hesitate to apprehend Fry he run up for a final confrontation with his nemesis.This time it is Fry who stumbles and falls barely clinging to the statue. Finally despite Cane's effort Fry falls to his death.  

The uses of soft and hard turning point is effective for analyzing the structure of the movie. The only real difficulty is to assess compound turning point that combine both hard and soft turning points. Yet even these can be often be broken down into hard and soft beats like in #4 and #10.
 
Two more point to consder: 
Do soft and hard  turning point have a discernible hierarchy?
On what emotion do the soft tuns make?

 References  

• 1000 Frames of Saboteur 

• Saboteur's Wikipedia entry