A man plays many parts (Shakespeare)
LOOT is not a film providing easy answers. KNOW THYSELF the old Greeks proclaimed, and when we watch ‘Loot’ we get an idea why this just might be a good idea.
There are many themes in this film that boldly defies conventions and genres. For me it is an allegory, about greed, illusion and deception.
The obsessive investigation of the filmmaker, Darius Marder, who shot over 500 hours of footage leads us into dark territory. ‘The Dark has a light of its own’ Kirk Douglas says in ‘The Bad and The Beautiful’ and the light comes in form of an overpowering epiphany at the end of the film, an epiphany that can only end in collapse to the ground. A man at the end of his life who has lost his son and his eyesight has received the gift of catharsis.
The unsentimental description of weakness is hard to watch but the rewards are many. Like in an aquarium where you see fish swimming close to the surface when the light shines in, these characters move - but they and we know that down there, where no light shines, scary creatures are waiting and dangerous undercurrents hide underpinning the darkness.
Lance, the archetype of the treasure hunter is living the boy’s fantasy of circumventing the system by looking for the treasure and planning to dig it out of its dark grave in the earth. He is not concerned with only one treasure, but one after another, not getting tired gambling for the big prize. At the begin of the film we meet him in the Philippines where he literally sinks his money into a hole.
The film is also about fathers and sons.
Lance has a son struggling with drug addiction and he reacts with anxiety when he learns that both his ‘business partners’ have lost their sons to drugs, reminding of a Mother Courage situation.
Darryl and Andrew have more in common than the wish to unbury the plunder and their deceased sons, both have lost most of their eyesight. Darryl is a clean cut American with a past, he seems to be somewhat stunned by his memories, as if he could not believe that was him back than, these haunting images seem not compatible with who he is now and that his Veteran partner does not want to have anything to do with the hoard does not prevent Darryl from going after it.
The second character who hid a treasure back then is Andrew, a man appreciating Samurai swords and gold. He has a sinister cloud surrounding him in his cluttered environment, where unexplainable envelopes filled with cash coexist with decade old cheese.
The treasure is hidden in the memories of the veterans, haunting reoccurring images connecting them to forbidden knowledge of the past, hidden in their psyches until finally they find themselves forced to step up to facing their demons.
‘Each man in his time plays many parts’ Shakespeare told us and this unique and fascinating film shows us archetypical stories illustrated on two men, one able to receive an emotional purging and another one who has to retreat, disappear in murky waters, hiding in the darkness, paralyzed in denial and frozen due to guilt.
The story presents us with humans who are beyond Good and Evil, and an almost mystical dimension transcends on these doomed men and their haunting memories of the war and when the veteran US soldier meets with a former SS man - both realize that they remember a song that froze a moment in time and brought two former enemies together again in a synchronistic revelation - it is clear that there is an awesome larger than life occurrence, a treasure in itself.
No women are to be seen in this tale, except a short appearance of a spouse assisting in the attempt to find a treasure map, this search as futile as all the others.
In a strange way this tale of treasures brings to existence a warning, like any good fairytale it is coded and yet clear as daylight.
Afterthought
Sons will kill their fathers, the old saying goes, and yet, these fathers see their sons die.
For me LOOT is also an Odysseus story, a reminder how difficult the transition is from warrior to civilian, from the violence of war back to providing father, husband and citizen. The Odysse shows us how many trials Odysseus has to face before he is able to come home, really come home. He must come down from the bloodthirsty adrenalin high - purged and ready to face the domestic ‘dog on a chain’ existence, the constraints and challenges of married life after risking life and limb in survival mode.
‘Hurtlocker’ is about that too, showing clearly the meaninglessness of consumer paradise when returning from war. It is not about choice, it is about setling into identity and the transition between the mine field and the demands of family and profession, a tricky challenge for any man returning from war.
The characters in LOOT don’t dwell on that. They search what they have not lost but buried wishing to get in touch with the items representing what was conquered in wartime hoping to find an end, an explanation, a redemption.