Rebel in the Rye, based on the book by Kenneth Slawenski, written and directed by Danny Strong - Nine out of 10

Rebel in the Rye, based on the book by Kenneth Slawenski, written and directed by Danny Strong

Nine out of 10

We can wonder if the presence of Kevin Spacey in this excellent film has not ruined the reception, because the once celebrated actor is now anathema and indeed, there are scenes where viewers can wonder about how the actor approached his partner on screen.

It is unfortunate to have the scandals behind the scenes - involving alleged harassment and sexual misbehavior of one artist – affect what is otherwise a remarkable, formidable motion picture.

The hero is an intriguing, engaging, spectacular and at the same time recluse – at least from one moment on – agoraphobic, disturbed famous writer whose work is celebrated as one of the most important landmarks in Universal literature.

Early on, in the first few scenes, we see a young JD Salinger that used the name Jerry for some time, played by the extraordinary Nicholas Hoult, fascinated by Oona O’Neill aka the charming Zoey Deutch.

The hero learns from his friend that Oona is interested in writers and he approaches her, only to have her taken away by other friends, but the two of them will have a chance to talk later on.

Jerry’s father wants him to study and have a career that is more “sensible” than what he chooses, but pressed by his mother, Miriam – who will have the majestic masterpiece Catcher in the Rye dedicated to her -, he accepts to pay for his son to learn how to be a writer.

The young man seems to have been lucky in his professor Whit Burnett aka the banished Kevin Spacey, who tells his students to make the difference between writing serious stories and would be the first to discover the talent of the one who would become one of the absolute masters.

Jerry Salinger gives some stories to his teacher, who is also editor of Story, a magazine that publishes good material, and the professor refuses his first attempts, only to give him a check for twenty five dollars for…his first story.

Intriguingly, he explains that he refused to publish it the first time, because he wanted to see if he is serious about writing, for he loved the material the first time he read it – this character would play a crucial role, not just because he published Salinger for the first time.

Burnett is the one who reads a short story with Holden Caulfield as a character and maintains that Jerry must write a novel, not just a short story with such an interesting personage and insists that the young man must continue to write during the war, for which he is enrolled – indeed, the author would later state that writing about Holden has saved his life.

Before joining WWII, The New Yorker appreciates the work of Salinger, although they have disagreements, with the magazine demanding changes that the author opposes, for he says Holden is not a drunkard, he does not write like others and the happy ending that they prefer is not what happens in real life and he wants something that resembles reality, where couples separate and do not get back together to live forever after in bliss and ecstasy.

The hero is flabbergasted and traumatized when he sees on the front cover of a newspaper the headlines with the news that the woman he loves, Oona, has married a man that is much older than her, Charlie Chaplin, an event that has provoked a scandal and caused immense pain, especially after the daughter of Eugene O’Neill declared that she has finally met her true love.

The massacres taking place in the devastating world war add to that traumatic event and the writer decides to abandon writing, which nevertheless maintained his balance and had helped him through the PTSD experienced after the drastic separation from Oona and Salinger has trouble finding his way back to normality.

When the genius presents through his agent Catcher in the Rye, the reaction of The New Yorker and others is more than negative, for they suggest that the work is so bad, Holden Caulfield such an outré, outrageous figure – indeed, one man of letters asks if the main character of Catcher is supposed to be mad – that this work should be thrown away, fro it would make the readers of his stories abandon him.

There is a printing house which sees the genius, but the conflicts are not over, for the glorious author does not want publicity of any kind or interviews, is against the image of the main character on the cover- readers have to imagine him, not be shown what he looks like -and he has to be told that the book needs to be read, if he only wants to have it printed and not published, he should then take the manuscript to a printer and forget about publishing.

The effect of The Catcher in the Rye was and still is tremendous, with readers loving it, some of them to the point of frenzy, others alas finding in it the incentive to try to kill John Lennon, Reagan, and in the film, we see at least one deranged individual harassing and insulting the author for…stealing his life’s story, for he was convinced he is Holden Caulfield.

As time goes by, the psychological issues of the worshipped –and at times abused – phenomenal writer become more serious, and after a teenager manages to get an interview from him – in spite of his refusal to give any one to any newspaper – and then he finds it printed in a local newspaper instead of the school one, as the girl had promised, Salinger becomes mad with fury, raises a fence around his property and would eventually isolate himself from everybody, including his poor wife and his two children…

She would satirize his meditation – he works with a sort of guru that has helped him find some sense, but it is still hard to understand his attitude, explained as it is by the author who says that he is very good at writing – which he would never use for any ends, would not publish anything anymore from one stage on – but he is lamentable as father, husband or anything else.

Rebel in the Rye deserves appreciation and more than the apparent indifference with which it was met, even if Kevin Spacey is a part of it.