From the point of view of Rusty's (Harrison Ford) colleagues, his innocence is first undermined when his fingerprints are found at the scene of the crime. He is called to his superior's office, and it is revealed to him by another prosecutor that the results of the fingerprint analysis he seemed to have conveniently forgotten about had come in, and that his were on a glass that was used the night Carolyn (Greta Scacchi) was killed. This proves that he was at the scene of the murder, the night of the murder.
But from our point of view, Rusty's innocence is first undermined when we realize he was having an affair with Carolyn, and then when he has his detective friend ignore the phone reports that show the exchange of calls between him and Carolyn. The fact that he was involved with her already makes him suspicious; but that he is trying to hide it makes it even worse.
From that point on, things consider to get worse for him. We see her breaking up with him, and how unwilling he is to accept it in a scene depicting the two of them in her office. He grabs her arm as she pushes by him, asking to know what he can do – she tells him to grow up. Just after this, 57 minutes in, we see him lurking in the darkness, on the street across from her apartment. The scene is so dark we can barely make out anything besides a part of the brick wall he is sort of hiding behind, and half of his face. The right half of his face his lit, and this is the dominant. The fact that his whole face is not the dominant, just half, is significant – it shows he is no longer completely himself, he has too sides, a dark one and a light one. The fact that the rest of the frame is completely dark shows he has let himself be taken over by his dark feelings. The closed form implies that this is very straight-forward; there aren't too many ways to interpret what we are seeing. Everything points to the fact that he is guilty.
These are all times that Rusty's innocence is undermined for the viewer, and in some for the other characters in the film. But there are also scenes in which his innocence is undermined for the characters in the film, but creates doubt in the mind of the viewer, who has more information – for instance when Rusty's boss testifies that Rusty requested to be placed on Carolyn's murder case, when in reality he, Rusty, and the viewer all know that to be false.
I thought that the scene showing Rusty’s dark side was very well caught. Likewise I agree with the fact that there is a duel deception and mistrust of Rusty. It is not simple the police force that has presumed that Rusty is guilty. It is also the audience. This juxtaposition is significant because it would be easy to watch a fantasy world in which people have strayed from the original position. It becomes a much deeper message when we ourselves have to face the realization that as a society we have strayed from what we hold as a dear ideal. It becomes a stronger statement about the disintegration of our society in the very real way. We have even gone so far as to presume that we are knowledgeable about an imagined world. By thinking in such a way society has actively hurt itself. It is literally self-destruction. With that said it is also greatly important that it is not only the audience who has fallen into this trap. The police force has also failed to look objectively at the case. This reassures the audience. It is definitely a negative thing that has occurred but it reassures the audience that this could in fact happen to others. They are to blame but they are not the only ones who forgot who they are at the source .
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ReplyDeleteSmith - Presumed Innocent Comment
ReplyDeleteIn our legal system justice is a big part of what is aimed for. Justice can be used in the conventional sense of the word such as the justice system but there is a more to the word. Justice can be something that is more morally right or wrong rather than a law. This movie is not only about the law but also what it ethical. During the movie we are reminded that Sabich is a good man but the consistent reminders that he has made sizable mistakes undermine that. The main mistake is the fingerprint on the glass and I agree with you that everything points to him being guilty. He even feels the guilt because he did have a relationship with her, which is the cause of her murder. He just wasn’t the one to kill her, his wife was. I have never thought that only half a face could be a dominant but the way you broke down the mise en scene analysis was very interesting. I think that people in general all have two sides. One they show people and a darker hidden side. Rusty’s innocence is undermined by these instances and they help the storyline be more complicated for the viewer.