Winter Films - 14

Wow. Has this been a journey or what? About two-and-a-half months of winter films. All with an eye toward you taking this cold, cold season and using it as a backdrop for your own winter film. I hope you’re well on your way to doing just that.

And I’ve saved the coldest for last: Fargo [1996]. I’m talking white-blindingly freezing.

You may know the TV show of the same name—which is terrific—but I swear, the movie is even better. The story flows from Minnesota to North Dakota as it takes us on a trail of kidnap and murder… and you get to meet stupid villains and simple good guys. The contrast between the two groups is so vast it’s like they’re from different planets.

The main character is Marge Gunderson who heads a small police department in Minnesota. The people she works with aren’t the brightest on the planet, her husband is kind but not compelling—but then Marge herself isn’t compelling. She lives a small, quiet life and the idea, the very thought of the kind of killers she’s tracking down existing at all is almost beyond her comprehension.

When Marge finds the first murdered bodies, her first comment is to note that the killers couldn’t be from her town… because no one in town could have done something as heartless as this. In Marge’s mind, the people she knows are good people and this kind of wild murder spree? Has to be an outsider.

And she’s right, of course. Because we get to meet the murderers too and they’re wacko to the max. Which makes them a little bit funny… but wait, Marge is a little bit funny too because of her regional accent and simple ways. So though Fargo is classified as a crime/thriller/drama, it’s got moments that make us laugh as well.

So unlike last week’s Ice Storm, there’s more of a contrast here—you’ve got good guys and bad guys and no one has anything they’re hiding that we can’t easily see on the surface.

It’s like this is the story of good vs. evil. And nobody is brilliant on the ‘good’ side, but still good triumphs. And when Madge does triumph and gets the worst killer in the squad car to take him to jail, you can feel her lack of understanding—of how anyone could do this horrible thing for “a bit of money.” She’s that sweet, that naïve, that decent.

Fargo is freezing cold but, in the end, it’s human warmth that prevails.

And thus ends our exploration of winter in film. Hopefully you’ve seen how just that one thing—winter—can color a film and its characters. I encourage you to go forth and write that winter film of your own now that you’ve had a good look at the genre. It can be a chilling experience—for you as a writer and, hopefully, for your audience as well!

Copyright © Diane Lake

24Feb19

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