A complicated man investigates a complicated crime !!!

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2015)

'Capote' directed by Bennett Miller is based on Gerald Clarke's biography 'Capote'. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as the titular Truman Capote and also Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Clifton Collins Jr. as Perry Smith and Chris Cooper as Alvin Dewey. Capote notices an account of a horrific crime involving the murder of an entire family named the Clutters in Kansas on the newspaper. He decides to write a non-fiction novel on the mentioned real event and so he goes to Kansas to gather more and more information about the case. While he is in Kansas, the two murderers namely Perry Smith and Dick Hickock get caught and he starts visiting them in jail.
I had already seen Richard Brooks' film 'In Cold Blood' which is directly based on Capote's novel of the same name which he ended up writing about the mentioned crime. So, I was already aware of the basic aspects of the story and the plot. But, while Brooks' film was a film that told the story by following Perry and Dick on their journey, 'Capote' is a film where the story gets told with Truman Capote being at the center of the narrative. Although having said that, Bennett Miller never resorts to melodramatic means to make us relate to Capote or humanise him. To a great extent, this is a story told in a subjective way about an idiosyncratic individual. His actions and decisions can be interpreted in various ways.
As a viewer the first impression of Truman Capote that I got when I started watching the film was one of unrestricted narcissism. Capote clearly was a narcissist. He paid people to throw him compliments in front of friends. He always had to be the center of all gossip in his social gatherings, etc. The reasons behind his obsession with compliments and hogging the limelight in his gatherings could have roots in his childhood. The trauma and the extreme hardships he faced during his childhood made him insecure. So even though he achieved success using his intellect through his writing, he could never let go of his past and his insecurities which led to him becoming a huge narcissist.
I think it is hinted that Capote became so obsessed with the newspaper account of the Clutter murders because it gave him an opportunity to spend some time in a place like Kansas which will remind him of his childhood in Alabama. Then he comes into contact with Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, the murderers when they get caught by the police. Capote becomes more and more intrigued by Perry in particular. Through their conversations and his research, Capote manages to notice an uncanny similarity in the nature of his own and Perry's childhood and the manner in which both of them were brought up. Capote becomes so interested, that he even gets them a lawyer to help the 2 convicts with their appeal after they are sentenced to death. Now the complexity of Truman Capote's nature and the film's plot as a whole comes to the forefront after Capote and Perry start opening up to each other. Why Capote starts visiting Perry more and more frequently can be up for debate. On one hand some will say that his sole priority was to gain the confidence of Perry, so that he would divulge everything about the crime which would immensely help Capote to enrich his novel with more intricate details. One the other hand, some might say that he genuinely fell in love with Perry and cared for him. But I believe both view points are justified. He certainly did manipulate Perry into telling him things for the sake of his novel, but I also couldn't help but sense the development of a romantic attachment between them. This duality in the nature of his relationship with Perry, in the end drives Capote to complete emotional breakdown, when he juggles between wanting Perry and Dick to hang so that he could finish his novel and his actual compassion towards Perry. This morality test ends up breaking him emotionally and we see him reduced to tears when he faces Perry minutes before his hanging. He cries because he realises that maybe he had compromised his morality by using Perry for his novel. The fact that Capote couldn't finish any other book after 'In Cold Blood' shows how much of an effect these circumstances had on him. Clearly the hanging of Perry crushed him. The funny thing is although Capote wallows in sorrow with the hanging, I'm not sure the viewers will do the same, as after all Perry was still a murderer.
Philip Seymour Hoffman can never be admired enough for his turn as Truman Capote. He could have easily been very annoying with the peculiar voice and the mannerism. But that never happens because instead of mimicking Capote, he completely internalises him and becomes the character. I could only see Capote on screen, not Hoffman, and that is fantastic. Clifton Collins Jr. as Perry Smith is also brilliant. I think Catherine Keener as Harper Lee and Chris Cooper are a bit underused in the film.
Bennett Miller has a very characteristic way of portraying peculiar characters by keeping the viewer at a distance. His films follow these characters, they are never from these characters' points of view. He leaves it open for the viewer to interpret and come up with reasons to justify the actions of the characters in his films without judging them on his own. Truman Capote in the film is neither glorified nor portrayed as an evil human being. He is just portrayed as a complicated man with issues.
'Capote' isn't the generic biopic which wants the viewer to fall in love with its protagonist. Bennett Miller captures a few crucial years in the life of a complicated man and asks us to make up our own minds about what he truly was like. Highly Recommended !!!