Margaret, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan - 8 out of 10

Margaret, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan
8 out of 10


Even if Margaret is not such a splendid work as the most recent fabulous, outstanding Manchester by the Sea, for which the author has won The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, it is still remarkable.

Indeed, there are some themes that the two motion pictures have in common - the importance of the truth, coping with adversity and trauma, the problem of guilt and retribution.

Anna Paquin is one of the youngest winners of an Academy Award - if not the youngest? - for her supporting role in Jane Campion's The Piano, a wondrous feature in which she was only eleven, actually I think she was ten years old.
She has the leading role in Margaret, where she is Lisa Cohen, a seventeen year old high school student.

Lisa lives with her mother, but she raises the possibility of moving with her divorced father, for one year.
When she mentions this prospect, her mother is infuriated and makes a scene.

As she wants to get a cowboy hat, the heroine sees a bus driver wearing an interesting one and tries to find where has he bought it from.
The problem is that the bus is moving, the discussion takes place in awkward, improper circumstances.

Maretti is the name of the driver portrayed by Mark Ruffalo.
This young man is looking at the teenager, while the lights turn to red and a pedestrian walks in front of the moving bus.

She is killed and in the first stage of the investigation, Lisa states that it was an accident and the color was green for the bus.
Maretti has the same deposition and the case is soon closed.

At one point, one of the detectives mentions the fact that without an intent to kill, it is next to impossible to prosecute and condemn the driver, if when the crucial witness has changed the initial statement.

Which she does, following a process of becoming aware of the moral aspect, the implications of having basically lied in the first instance.
This change of heart made sense for this viewer, as opposed to so many of those involved, especially Maretti.

The latter is flabbergasted to see the teenager walk into his apartment, where she tells him and his wife that she wants to have a word.
In private...

Lisa Cohen explains that she will change her statement, but wants to talk to him first and that he knows very well that the color was green.
Even more dramatic, incriminating and terrible, he was not watching the road!

She tries to remind him the way they looked at each other, as she was looking for the hat and other such details.
The driver is appalled, aghast and infuriated.

What will get with all this?
How will my family survive?
There is nothing we can do for her, she is not coming back!

Words to this effect and more, after which he becomes rather aggressive, asking for her phone number and appearing to be ready to sue her.
Meanwhile, the police detectives in charge are not pleased with her change of heart at first, then annoyed and outright angry when she talks to a superior officer to complain about the manner in which the investigation had been conducted and more.

And there are many sidelines, adjacent characters that have their own experiences, dramas, personages played by great artists like:

Matt Damon aka a high school teacher, Jean Reno as the man who takes Lisa' s mother out to see Turandot and on other occasions, the writer- director himself portrays the divorced father.
Matthew Broderick in the role of another teacher, John, has some excellent moments.

In class, there are discussions over what Shakespeare has meant or perhaps he hasn't, in one of his quotes which mentions the gods and their attitudes towards human beings that they treat or regard as flies.
While a student has very insightful, if unusual perspective on the matter, the teacher becomes abrasive, rigid, and ultimately obnoxious and plain wrong.

There are many gems, brilliant scenes that make this film memorable and excellent, if perhaps a little too long at two hours and thirty minutes.
Finally, there is the issue of the guilt of Lisa Cohen, who was so determined to make Maretti pay - and she is right to seek justice- but she shares in the blame, for she is the one who kept distracting the culpable drive.

Yes, she is a teenager and a driver has a tremendous responsibility, first and foremost he has to watch the road and the colors of the traffic lights, no matter what others do around him!

Thought provoking, intriguing and challenging!