Another day, another film making money eroticizing violence: "Chicago"
spreads trite ideas about the criminal justice system

"Chicago" 2002 Director Rob Marshall PG-13, 113 minutes

On March  9th, "Chicago" won the  top Screen Actors  Guild (SAG) prize
for 2002 films. It also has 13 Academy Award nominations for the March
23rd event. MIM would say it's  an indication that 2002 was a bad year
for Hollywood.

Renee  Zellweger  ("Chicago" character  named  "Roxie")  won the  best
actress prize from SAG and  Catherine Zeta-Jones of "Chicago" won best
supporting actress.   Zellweger, Richard  Gere and "Chicago"  also won
Golden  Globe   awards  in  January.   Nicole  Kidman   is  still  the
front-runner for the  Oscar award for best actress.  She said she will
be of two minds if the war with Iraq intensifies by March 23rd and she
has to step on stage for the Oscars.

Some have  already argued it would  be "obscene" to  be "grinning" and
"prancing"  at  the  Academy  Awards  while war  was  on.  The  awards
ceremonies were  subdued during World  War II and postponed  after the
shooting of Reagan and the assassination of Martin Luther King.(1)

From MIM's point of view, just  as the Academy Awards are taking place
in an  awkward circumstance, the  whole "Chicago" movie just  does not
fit together.  "Chicago" strives hard  to be "sexy"  while integrating
older Amerikan  music forms, a  mixture of things  as far back  as the
1920s, but it does this retro  act in the context of something that is
far  from a  dead issue--the  criminal  justice system  and the  death
penalty in particular.

Give Zellweger and Zeta-Jones the  "credit" for their interest in sexy
Vaudeville  dancing and  singing routines.  The movie  is  about their
characters' pursuit  of fame along  these lines in show  business. Had
"Chicago" left  it at  that, we  could have ignored  it all  as merely
soft-core porn.

Instead of  being just soft-core  porn, "Chicago" brings  attention to
the fact  that wimmin  are a relatively  rare presence as  convicts in
prison. It also covers some of  the many reasons the public has a hard
time believing  that a womyn could  be a criminal.  Yet,  this sort of
attention to gender issues is far from useful the way "Chicago" twists
the issues.

The  no-nonsense  prosecutor comes  off  as  an  unlucky but  truthful
character while  money and sex  corrupt the defense  attorney (Richard
Gere). The issue of access to such an attorney does come out strongly,
and  we see  one Russian-speaking  womyn executed  we suspect  for not
speaking English to defend herself.

It is  the fact that "Chicago"  touches on such  substantial issues of
the  criminal   justice  system   while  muddying  the   line  between
entertainment  and violence that  makes "Chicago"  both as  a Broadway
play  and as  a movie  awkward from  beginning to  end. Issues  of the
criminal justice  system do deserve serious  treatment. Wimmin seeking
fame for singing and dancing careers simply do not. "Chicago" fails in
mixing these  two contending  elements.  The only  way out  would have
been  a  much  more   cynical  and  satirical  commentary  that  would
potentially leave the audience uncomfortable.

The director  arranges a moment  when Renee Zellweger as  "Roxie" wins
her court  case for  her murder  of an ex-lover.  At that  moment, the
press  scurries  away   to  cover  a  murder  on   the  steps  of  the
courthouse. Roxie  stands there bemoaning  that no one wanted  to take
her picture  to benefit her  future career. Unfortunately,  the moment
was not  harsh enough  to give  the picture clarity.  In fact,  in the
happy ending, one of her accusers stars with her as the two accused of
murder  comprise an  act on  stage together,  all for  the  benefit of
ticket sales. While it is certainly ironic, the ending also comes as a
triumph of the  show-biz aspirations of Roxie and  Velma. That is what
guarantees the film  will have a negative public  impact, whatever the
intentions of the script-writer and director.

Another problem arises in that in the real world it is the prosecutors
who  go on  to become  mayors, governors  and presidents  while public
defenders lack  resources and must  find their motivation  from within
their   character.  "Chicago"  plays   into  the   propaganda  machine
surrounding current day issues of  crime and punishment. A much better
examination   of   the  same   kinds   of   issues  involving   crime,
entertainment, the  media and the  public's views occurs in  the movie
"Running Man" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So far the movie-musical "Chicago" has taken in $115 million in ticket
receipts. It's not impossible it could surpass the $183 million record
for a  musical set  by "Grease."(2) If  it sets the  record, "Chicago"
will do so because it  bought into the public's simple-minded views of
crime. "Chicago" profits from the  pain and suffering of others: if it
wins any  Oscars while children  die in the  bombing of Iraq,  it will
only be too fitting.


Notes: 1. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/11/1047144972410.html
2. http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/10/news/companies/oscars_chicago/