Affliction: Movie Review, DVD Review (1998)

Written and directed by Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Russell Banks, 114 minutes, rated R.

Paul Schrader’s outstanding film, “Affliction,” features Nick Nolte in an Academy Award-nominated performance that not only ranks as the best of his career, but as the best performance by a lead actor in 1998.

That’s no small statement when you consider the four men Nolte is up against for Best Actor at this Sunday’s Academy Awards: Ian McKellen in “Gods and Monsters,” Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan,” Roberto Benigni in “Life is Beautiful” and Edward Norton in “American History X.”

Still, as good as these men are as actors and as strong as they were in their nominated roles, Nolte eclipses them. So superb is he as Wade Whitehouse, so haunting and humbling and absolutely right for this complex role, it seems unthinkable that he won’t win for Best Actor.

Based on the 1989 novel by Russell Banks (whose “The Sweet Hereafter” found a different kind of tragedy within a small, rural town), “Affliction” is the story of Wade Whitehouse, a divorced, middle-aged man whose dead-end life has hit its final barrier in the dead-end town of Lawford, N.H.

As his lined face, sad eyes, stooped posture and shuffling gate convey, Wade knows a thing or two about disappointment: His ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) hates him, his daughter (Brigid Tierney) can barely stand to be in his presence, he is dating a woman (Sissy Spacek) fearful of his unpredictable rages, and he has seen all of his hopes and dreams for a promising future fade into ruin.

But Wade’s troubles didn’t begin in middle age; they began at birth. The product of a fiercely abusive, alcoholic father (James Coburn, equally brilliant and disturbing in an Academy Award-nominated role for Best Supporting Actor), he and his brother, Rolfe (Willem Dafoe), now must deal with the legacy of violence that’s literally and ferociously been pounded into them.

And then something remarkable happens, a glimmer of hope steeped in sudden death: In the snowy woods of Lawford, a wealthy, powerful man dies as the result of a hunting accident. Wade questions the accident, believes it was murder, and knows that if he can somehow solve this possible murder, his life will take a better turn. Finally, he’ll grab the public respect he’s never had, perhaps reclaim his shattered self-esteem and, with any luck, even cast out the demons that have afflicted him since childhood.

Marked by the hard truth of its performances, the weight of its consequences, its gripping plot and its sharp insight into rural New England life, “Affliction” is the real thing, a film with universal themes that many recognize and appreciate.

Grade: A+

Note: Benigni won the award.

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