Primal Fear

PRIMAL FEAR

Director: Gregory Hoblit

Screenplay: Steve Shagan, Ann Biderman

Primal Fear is an interesting name for a fascinating character study with an unflattering final pronouncement upon mankind’s basic – primal – nature. It is both a psychological thriller and a courtroom drama, with complicated interrelationships and a certain grim realism that is gritty without being overplayed.

The movie certainly doesn’t start out optimistically. Martin Vail, brilliantly portrayed by Richard Gere, is a high-powered lawyer who loves high-profile cases almost as much as he loves himself, is being interviewed for a magazine interview. He quotes what a law professor told him on his first day of law school: “If you want justice, go to a whorehouse. If you want to get fuc*ed, go to court.” The reporter chuckles. Vail preens. He is happy about being on the cover of the magazine and reminds the reporter that the interview is in fact a “cover story.” And in a way, the whole movie is about cover stories. They hide truth, and promote lies. Covers can be ripped away to expose hard facts, or the threads of a cover can be teased out slowly, suggesting what may come without giving too much away. Vail’s cover is intimately intertwined with picture-perfect presentation of himself for the public news.

In this movie, cover stories abound. Angelic singing introduces us to church choir, and the choirboy, Aaron Stampler. He is wide-eyed and sincere, singing like a cherub. His father figure, Archbishop Rushman, is the only character in the movie whose cover is in plain sight – the beautiful, elaborate religious vestments that adorn his body and signal his upper level in the hierarchy of the church. He has his picture taken for the local news with some of the choirboys and, interestingly, the city’s district attorney, which points to the Archbishop’s political connections as well as his church position. And Oh! What a tangled web they weave as again, picture-perfect presentation for...