The Guilty

A troubled police detective demoted to 911 operator duty scrambles to save a distressed caller during a harrowing day of revelations  and reckonings.

Darkness awaits you again. Gustav Moller's first Danish film is one of my favorite films of 2018. In American version,It's surprising that director, Antoine Fuqua is the director of the remake. He was known for exaggerating and acting rather than downplaying its importance. To create this, Mr. Fuqua wisely cast the reliable Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role and the talented Nick Pizzolatto to write the script.

Gyllenhaal never deceives the audience and sincerely puts himself into the role. Other than some shots of the car on the highway and the opening scene of the California wildfire, Gyllenhaal's Joe Belle is on screen throughout the entire run. He is an investigator in charge of the 911 call center and is awaiting trial on charges with an unknown outcome. Joe also separated from his wife and daughter.

This is an important part of his coming transformation. As we listen to his first few calls, it becomes clear how Joe’s road experience has shaped his quick thinking. He is not shy about telling callers that their choices have led to their current situation. Just as he is about to hang up on the last call from Emily, his thoughts take over and he sees that she has been kidnapped by her husband in a white car and is afraid to get to the road safely.

The first phone call between Joe and Emily is a work of art and creates incredible tension throughout the film and Joe’s transition. Fuqua and Pizzolatto inject a specific discourse into contemporary America. Fires always remain in the background, affecting emergency resources as well as the air you breathe. Police conflict and abuse of power are also an important part of what happened before us.

However, perhaps unintentionally, the film deals with harsh enforcement and how quick decisions are necessary to help and survive. In the blink of an eye or the bleep of a phone call, Joe goes from bad behavior to explosive overreaction. We have seen that biases can lead people to make mistakes, even if they have worked in the past.

In addition to Gyllenhaal's acclaimed performance, the film also stars actors such as Riley Keough (as Emily), Peter Sarsgaard, Ethan Hawke, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Christie Beauty (on the phone), and Na Montoya and Paul Dano. Adrian Martinez and Christina Vidal appear with Gyllenhaal in the call center, but this scene usually features a male actor. We learn that Joe Belle seeks personal redemption as he does his best to save Emily, and one sentence in the film directly reflects this: "Refugees save refugees."

Gyllenhaal previously worked with director Fuqua on Southpaw (2015), but this brutal action looks different for both men. 

This Danish film was actually shot during the 2020 Covid restrictions and is well worth a watch. Great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.I congratulate him for another slightly strange film. The producers deserve credit too, they did a good job and made it feel realistic. Various surprises and shocking moments for the audience. They stay calm for the most part and only move forward a bit towards the end. 

If you haven't seen the original, you may be caught up in the suspense and ask yourself many of the same questions that Joe asks himself at the end of the film.

Dropping Trailer:

Signing off .