Film review: Deliverance (1972) « The sound of my own voice

Film review: Deliverance (1972)

29Feb08

This film is about four men taking a canoe trip on the Cahulawassee River in the untouched wilderness of rural Georgia, before it’s turned into a an artficial lake as a result of a dam construction. In their attempt to connect with nature they find a world of immense beauty, but also of predatory cruelty.

The leader, Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) is an apocalyptic survivalist and philosopher. Many critics pin him as a macho man, but his ideals are more like Rousseau’s than, say, Dirty Harry’s. “I think the machines are going to fail, the political systems are going to fail and a few men are going to take to the hills and start over” is his signature line.

Along with him there is the liberal, goodhearted guitarplaying Drew (Ronny Cox), the chubby insurance salesman Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Ed (Jon Voight), the not so settled family father who is fascinated by Lewis way of life and in a way becomes his apprentice.

Although this film is a drama about nature versus civilization it has inspired so many horror movies with its evil hillbillies, it almost looks like a horror movie itself. It even becomes a sort of horror comedy in the famous banjo duel-scene. But it’s more than a horror movie. It’s a drama about mans place in the order of things, and about our ability to survive. And it all comes down to character.

For instance, after succesfully negotiating a rapid Bobby enthusiastically says: “We beat it, didn’t we?” to which Lewis replies: “You don’t beat it. You don’t beat this river.” Bobbys self-satisfied attitude is later punished as he gets sodomized by one of the inbred locals. The logic in this isn’t obvious, but the morality is.

Drew the humanitarian is generally liked but he eventually dies. I think it’s because he, although basically good, is too weak. He is the liberal wussie who means well but who lacks realism.

More interestingly, the survivalist Lewis himself is seriously injured. This perhaps because he too, like Bobby and Drew, is stuck in his own world. It’s only Ed who likes his life but at the same time is open to Lewis ideas who gets through the ordeal (physically) unharmed.

But it isn’t just the story that makes this film so great. It’s also the combination of the horror-like qualities, the characters and the great acting, the beautiful and almost documentary cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond that all come together in a harmonious way. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, this film looks good from all angles.