New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

In a pivotal turn of events, the Lieutenant is assigned to investigate the brutal assault of a nun - and by investigate I mean “get hammered and pass out at the crime scene.” A holy relic was stolen during the attack, and the Church is offering a $50,000 reward. Based on what we’ve covered so far, you can probably guess who is more interested in the cash than the dignity of the world’s largest religious institution. The Lieutenant desperately tries to convince the nun to identify her attackers - less because he wants to help her, but rather because he needs the money. Like watching an especially messy science experiment develop, you find yourself repulsed AND curious as the Lieutenant is first puzzled and then moved by the nun’s compassion for her attackers. At times, he almost forgets his financial desperation and longs for that same forgiveness in his own life.

Needless to say, Bad Lieutenant is a morality play, although it’s a particularly inelegant one. Like most morality plays, the story takes place in a self-contained alternate universe where normal cause and effect seem to HAVE no effect. Over the course of the movie, we see this man ingest every drug known to man, drink himself to sleep and wake up in strange places covered with bodily fluids on a regular basis. And yet not once do we see him take a bath. How is anyone willing to talk to him? Isn't he working on a case? Doesn't he have superiors to report to? This guy never stops using long enough NOT to smell like the elephant pit at the zoo. It's hard to believe this guy ever became a cop, let alone remain one long enough to make Lieutenant.

No, that’s not really the point, but it does periodically stretch the bounds of credibility. Still, as the Lieutenant falls into darkness he - and we - begin to realize that like most addicts, he doesn’t want to live this way, but he can’t find a way out. “Vampires are lucky, they can feed on others”, his heroin pusher advises him. And she’s right - addicts consume themselves, and as the clock ticks down to game seven, the Lieutenant becomes obsessed with making up his bets, self-medicating his pain and dodging responsibility for his actions. And despite all the effort, this is a guy who would seem to want to die, but doesn't have the guts to do it himself. Think of him as Popeye Doyle without a partner to reel him in.

A character arc like this signals an eventual redemption tale, but for someone this despicable, salvation is going to be as painful to experience as it is to watch. Bad Lieutenant IS painful to watch - it’s grim, bleak and disgusting, much like the life of a junkie. And at the end, when the last piece of the puzzle gets snapped into place, it seems to fit - and in an equally bleak way, it’s satisfying.

Continued:       1       2