Wildlife, based on a book by Richard Ford - 9 out of 10

Wildlife, based on a book by Richard Ford
9 out of 10


For the viewer that is not just familiar with, but enchanted by the mesmerizing works of Richard Ford (let us just mention The Sportswriter and Independence Day, notes on which you can find at realini.blogspot.ro) the atmosphere, complexity, peculiarity, depth of Wildlife will come as little surprise, given that the motion picture is based on the narrative by the Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Ed Oxenbould is outstanding, even if so young, in the title role of Joe Brinson, the fifteen years old son of Jerry aka Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeanette aka Carey Mulligan.
To begin with, the parents seem to be still infatuated, attracted to each other, although if this is a question of love is a different matter...the genius Thomas Mann has written a short story in which one character is appalled by the frequency with which people use

I love you so much, there are no words to express it, or
Our friendship is too big for small words...

On the contrary, that character argued and I agree with him, these are words that have an all encompassing meaning and in the opinion of the literary personage, we don't find love or true friends, except in art, literature.
In reality, the argument was, when the significance of the word is tested, we find that such fantastic friends that we have abandon us, at the first real hardship.

The bizarre Jerry works on a golf course, as a caddy and one day, the manager of the club happens to be present when clients mention a bet that they have had with the employee, in good fun, and because this is against the policy of the establishment, the father is fired - it makes sense to this viewer, who is appalled at the many infractions at the club where he goes, where some staff do not know that they must say hello.
The parent, who talks to his son about this is outraged nevertheless and furthermore, when he is invited to come to work again, some time later, he refuses with vivid, determined hostility.

Jeanette tries to buy some groceries, when the check bounces and it is clear that they would face a financial challenge soon, albeit she protests when for the first time the issue of working as a teacher is mentioned, but very soon she has to try to find a job, only to be refused repeatedly, until finally, when a woman learns that the spouse is also unemployed asks...

Do you know how to swim?

Thus, the mother becomes a swimming instructor and meanwhile, Joe gets a position as an assistant for a professional photographer, in an age when people had no mobile phones, with spectacular cameras.
Jerry is restless in spirit it seems, but inert, immobile in his lack of action, for he does not get a job, refuses to contemplate one in a store...

I will not be bagging groceries, like a teenager!

Indeed, when his wife brings up the idea of their son earning money and learning something from it, as opposed to spending time with the football team, the father is opposed to the plan, only to be resigned to it in the next moment.
Jerry decides to join the firefighters and this causes an uproar, clashes that may end up in separation, for his wife is enraged by this idea, a dangerous action and one that pays only one dollar an hour...even in the fifties and sixties, when the story takes place, this was a menial job.

One of the people that take swimming lessons from Jeanette is Warren Miller, perhaps more than fifteen years older, a war veteran and a successful businessman.
He first comes to the house to borrow a book on poetry, although this might not be his priority.

When mother and son go his house for dinner, with Jerry out fighting the fires, or, as he says, watching the forest disappear, Warren has an interesting, Zen story to tell...
He mentions flying and invites Joe to join him, if he wants to.

Once, as he was alone in his airplane, a flock of wild geese came flying by.
This was a sublime, State of Grace moment.

The pilot did not care for anything at that time.
He was in what a classic of psychology would call Flow.

Warren was above it all.