Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay: Francis Ford Coppola

Running time: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Thriller/Drama



CRITIQUE:

Basking in the dazzling acclaim of The Godfather and recently The Godfather II, in this 70s era of Hollywood gold, maestro Coppola takes a break and makes a film of different genre. However, the result is a testament that he is a man that doesn’t rest on his laurels. The Conversation turns out to be an electrifying composition about the Big Brother morality of contemporary America, as much as The Godfather was a human dissertation on the Italian mafias on Uncle Sam’s land. It is an early wake-up call to the advancement of modern technology, the intrusion of privacy on citizens and questions on moral obligations on this era when the Watergate scandal broke out. It does ring true.


Gene Hackman, one of his finest career performances up there with his patriarchal figure of Royal in The Royal Tenenbaums, draws an employment-driven blue-collared eavesdropper with a heavy guilt-complex, when he realises his subjects, a couple, might end up in a murderous plot. From its zooming opening, a wide aerial shot of a public square, and a fuzzy technical manipulation of sound, we are reminded that we are an audience witnessing an unfolding dilemma in the privilege of secrecy. And just like Coppola’s mafia story, he doesn’t rush to his conclusions and patiently and slowly penetrates into the psyche of his characters, as Hackman unravels the truth and his moral change of mind, a crumbling conscience within him. Then, snap! Coppola then sets the trap shut, as along with Hackman, we are being deceived yet bedazzled with a denouement of a conspiracy that is as complex as it is brilliant and annoyingly intelligent. For anyone who has seen the remarkable German Oscar-winner The Lives of Others, the influence can be traced here.



VERDICT:

An all-important film about political paranoia and social insecurity, The Conversation may be Francis Ford Coppolla’s most enduring masterpieces along with The Godfather.



RATING: A+