Bad Lieutenant (1992)

	Directed by: Abel Ferrara	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama/Crime NORWEGIAN TITLE Bad Lieutenant RUNNING TIME 98 minutes
	Produced by: Edward R. Pressman Mary Kane
	Written by: Abel Ferrara Zoe Tamarlaine Lund

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
The Lieutenant	Harvey Keitel
Beat Cop	Victor Argo	-
Cop One	Paul Calderone	-
Cop Two	Leonard Thomas	-
Zoe	Zoë Lund	-
The Nun	Frankie Thorn	-

Review

As one of the bleakest and most crime-ridden periods in the history of New York City was coming to an end, indie filmmaker Abel Ferrara made Bad Lieutenant, a film that became the representation, culmination, and perhaps even redemption of that period. It's about a police lieutenant, played by Harvey Keitel (himself a native New Yorker who had seen it all), who has let himself fall into a downward spiral of gambling, drug use and corrupt police work over several years. He is the embodiment of the city's debauchery, and he's on a collision course. Although he's in denial about his self-destruction, he is filled with a guilt that his self-indulgence inflicts on his soul. With its unpolished and unyielding rendition of life on the streets, Bad Lieutenant was a wake-up call at the time and remains a stomach punch today. And Ferrara's method of following Keitel around the city with a camera, documenting his downfall and his confused attempts at redemption, gives the film an authentic, almost documentary feel (which is further enhanced by Zoë Lund's painfully real contribution). It's distressing and draining much the same way that Last Tango in Paris was, and Keitel's performance is reminiscent of Brando's in that film, especially in the actors' bravery and willingness to let their faces and bodies become a symbol for some of the ugliest aspects of humanity. Ferrara doesn't condemn his protagonist, however. He argues that he is merely a product of the corrupt society he's living in, albeit also the worst representative of it. This is the essence of the film, and this is what redeems an otherwise completely unsympathetic character.