Break Before Bend

Author(s): D.W. Dillon (NV)
Break Before Bend

Directed by Philip Kaufman
Written by Kevin Jarre
Cinematography by Ken Kelsch
Edited by Freeman A. Davies
Music by Ry Cooder
Produced by Walter Hill

Principal Cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal as Darren Burke
Sarah Polley as Eloise Burke
Vincent D'Onofrio as Dr. Samuel Stefano
Esai Morales as Livan Castro
Tabu as Sanjana Raj

Tagline: "The truth can hurt."

Synopsis: They knew his troubled past. They knew his calm and collective demeanor was a mask that hid his nationalistic soul. For the CIA, Darren Burke (Gyllenhaal) was the perfect recruit. Under the tutelage of Dr. Samuel Stefano (D'Onofrio), he would learn the art of interrogation and much, much more. Dr. Stefano, a Vietnam veteran, was the victim of "water boarding" by his captors during the war; stripped nude and tied down, while gallons of dirty water splashed his face, followed by single slow drops of water blasting his forehead for hours causing excruciating discomfort both mentally and physically. Dr. Stefano knew the world of torture better than anyone else. Now a master interrogator, he was ahead of his time. Developing a new form of interrogation where he would manipulate the mind. By placing an electrode inside the brain, he could control whether the suspect would feel pain, pleasure, anger or fear. The program was terminated citing possible brain damage. When 9/11 hit, the gloves came off and Dr. Stefano had free reign. Through more research he would be able to manipulate the brain into telling only the truth.

Darren Burke had entered a world over his head. He had steered clear of Dr. Stefano's experimental methods. That is until his latest suspect, notorious Cuban drug dealer Livan Castro (Morales), who had withstood the grueling "Forced Standing" technique; enduring 12 hours in shackles that stood him upright with no room to bend, lay, or kneel to pray. The memory haunts Burke's dreams, hearing the screams in his nightmares of that arachnophobic drug dealer left in shackles, only now surrounded by tarantulas, at the suggestion and behest of Dr. Stefano. Angry and ashamed with himself, Burke no longer looked his wife or children in the eyes. He had changed and it was showing. His failed attempt at suicide, physically punishing his children with a belt, along with his rough sexual behavior in the bedroom frightened his wife, Eloise (Polley), to the point of tears and confusion. When Dr. Stefano asked Darren to perform his latest brain manipulation method on the wife of a suspected terrorist, Sanjana Raj (Tabu), he finds himself at wits end with his mentor. Her desperate plea for freedom would change his mind in the end. After the death of Sanjana Raj, under interrogation at the hands of Dr. Stefano, Darren Burke now knew what he had to do. His whistle-blowing will place a target on his back. The government will use all means necessary to keep him quiet, from damaging his credibility, to assigning Dr. Stefano a project to "change" Burke's mind. A battle of wits to the tolerance of pain will test not only Darren, but his mentor as well. They would attack each other’s past painful memories, from Dr. Stefano's Vietnam experience to Darren's painful memory of being kidnapped and molested as a child. The truth is horror, and the truth will be heard at the cost of someone's life.

What the Press Will Say? The movie opens with a monotone narration by Jake Gyllenhaal, describing the numerous forms of interrogation through torture, done throughout the history of man, accompanied by gruesome re-enactments, "...British soldiers in the 18th century loved the idea of "Pitchcapping"; pouring hot tar into a cone-shaped paper "cap", which was forced onto a bound suspect's head and then allowed to cool and cruelly torn off. In World War II, “Denailing” was the method of choice, only the captors liked to soak the fingers or toes first, causing even more pain...the Viet-Kong felt the need to castrate U.S. soldiers, while both sides found water boarding an effective way to gather intelligence."

His unhinged voice sounds like Vincent Price narrating a Stephen King novel for a Books-on-Tape. It's an introduction with such impact that perfectly shapes what is to come; disturbing, but horrifically intriguing. The horror he speaks of comes in the form of one man. Dr. Samuel Stefano, played by rogue actor Vincent D'Onofrio whose personal touches to each character's personality introduce a somewhat controlled chaotic figure. He's a master at the art of "information gathering" which his predecessor, Darren Burke (Jake Gyllenhaal) comes to define it more as "experimental torture". Stefano revels more in his experiments working, with complete disregard for the suspect. D'onofrio moves with precision but yet his actions are unpredictable as in the scene where he carefully removes a shorted-out electrode that has been placed in the brain of a suspect only turn up the voltage in complete frustration, causing severe brain damage.

"Break Before Bend" is a triumph in the cloak and dagger world of our government. It's plot driven by moral codes, patriotic duty, and psychology. Philip Kaufman, best known for his classic remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the Oscar winning "The Right Stuff" and the up-coming HBO Ernest Hemingway biopic, is no stranger to unnerving scenes that will forever haunt you, but his direction and use of coverage is truly masterful-finding every which way to shoot the best scene.

The film reaches it's budding conflict when the sorrowful wife of a suspected terrorist is murdered under interrogation, prompting our hero to take a life-altering risk. With his family frightened and his emotions reaching it's peak, words were never more true as when Burke shouts that he'd rather "...be hunted by the mafia than by his own government...". A glimpse of the cat and mouse-psychological thrill ride we are set endure for the final act.

Many of the scenes are stark and confined, but Kaufman dares you to feel uncomfortable and feel for the suspects. Whether they are innocent or guilty, he craftily manipulates the viewer into vesting into the actual core of the film's theme of morality. Through every loss of life there is a life changed, and writer Kevin Jarre (Tombstone) embodies in word and structure every inch of that philosophy with his dialogue. We are the peanut gallery of medical students observing a veteran brain surgeon at work. We should all watch intently and take note.

Best Picture
Best Director - Philip Kaufman
Best Actor - Jake Gyllenhaal
Best Supporting Actor - Vincent D'Onofrio
Best Supporting Actress - Tabu
Best Supporting Actress - Sarah Polley
Best Original Screenplay - Kevin Jarre