A Comedy in the Classic Sense, Played Out against the Northwoods Winter.

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2007)

Every so often a film comes along that is truly a unique work of a singularly unique story, style and execution as to put it all by itself, unable to be 'classified' and impossible to forget.FARGO(1996)would certainly seem to fit the bill. Just ask 6 people, who've seen it, just what was it about? I mean not just the plot, screenplay or scenario, but what, if any, "message" was there? Was there any little bit of true life experience ? Can the viewer relate to it or see anything resembling our own lives? The film opens with little vignettes of two different households. We see the Gundersons, Marge(Frances McDormand) and Norm(John Carroll Lynch). She is the Police Chief of a small Minnesota Town. She is also 7 months along of being "in a family way." He is an Artist and apparently a stay at home "Mr. Mom" type.
The other household is that of the Lundegaards, Jerry(William H. Macy) and Jean(Kristin Rudrud). He is General Manager of his Father-in Law's Automobile Dealership. Jerry is ambitious and loves the Green $tuff a little too much. He has hopes of advancing up the corporate ladder to some kind of partnership. The Father-in-Law (Harve Presnell)tolerates him but has little use for him, shutting him out on a land deal that was basically the Son-in-Law's brainstorm.
A bizarre idea for a phony kidnapping of his wife in order to collect a Ransom from the Old Man is hatched by Jerry Lundegaard's fertile imagination. Well, it sounds foolproof, no? We'll see.
The of Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare combine to form just about the creepiest pair of psychotic killer-thugs ever. Their mannerisms and demeanor are bad enough by themselves, but when together they become the embodiment of evil. They scared me, I mean gave me the creeps and I was a Chicago Cop for 'bout 34 years, worked in some pretty mean streets, too.
The "fun" all begins when the underachiever with all the bad debts closing in on him meets with these two Ghouls, and pitches the idea to them. Then, almost everything goes not according to schedule and puts layers of complications upon other layers, etc, etc.
It has been said that "If you sleep with Dogs, you'll get Fleas." This is surely an apt slogan for the whole hair brained, cockamamie plot.
Thre is an affectionate handling of the Minnesota setting and its inhabitants. The Director and Production opted for using local dialect in the speaking of the characters. The Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan Upper Peninsula inhabitants display a marked influence of their Norwegian and Swedish ancestors speech patterns. So much of their accentuation and slang expressions are direct descendants of the old Scandanavian settlers to this part of the Midwestern U.S. as to deserve recognition, with respect and affection. This Film did just that.
But, when looking back at the whole story, once we get to The End title on the screen, we get to see that there is definitely a Morale or two imparted. And after several years and quite a few viewings, I believe that this Shanty Irishman has finally gotten some of its intended bits of wisdoms.
We witness all of this outlandish, totally uncivilized and barbaric behaviour being perpetrated by otherwise peaceful law-abiding middle class, "decent" folks. And in this case, we see can the readiness of the Son-in-Law to put his trust in these sociopaths.
And even more ironic of a situation, right under our noses from the beginning is the roles of the Gundersons. He is sitting home with his Art while his Wife, while being pregnant and in the 3rd trimester, is out on patrol and pursuing the Bad Guys.
See, it's kind of like our cockeyed world!