When Idiocy Leads to Tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2011)

I just re-watched Fargo after not having seen it for several years, and was extremely impressed. What I had recalled as a black comedy about a crime gone badly awry is in fact a tragic and gripping story about violence, with a humane law enforcement officer as the proxy for the audience. The parallels with No Country for Old Men are clear, reinforcing my view that while the Coens have a definite facility for comedy, they are at their best with drama.
Much of the confusion about the genre of this film stems from its setting in the rural upper Midwest. Many assume that the accents must surely be an over-broad conceit, an example of the Coens condescending to characters they consider their intellectual and aesthetic inferiors. This is quite incorrect--the Coens are setting their tale in a very specific setting, and the comedy stems from the distinctive mannerisms and speech of that setting. The descendants of Scandinavians who came to this region to farm and who continue to live in rural isolation really DO speak very much like the characters of Fargo. The "ya sure, you betcha" twang of Sarah Palin reflects the same influence: Wasilla, Alaska was mainly settled by the same descendants of rural Scandinavians that inhabit this film.
Fargo moves briskly--the opening scene sets into action the hare-brained scheme that will lead to all the tragic events to follow. William H. Macy's character, Lundegaard, is meeting two strangers to arrange for them to kidnap his own wife. Desperate for money--he's been embezzling from the GM dealership owned by his disdainful father-in-law where he is manager of sales--he's entrusting this dangerous scheme to two men he's never met. What follows is disastrous for all involved--the kidnappers, the woman abducted, an unlucky trooper making a traffic stop, two random motorists, Lundegaard, his father-in-law, a parking lot attendant.
The emotional center of the film is the pregnant chief of police of tiny Brainerd, Marge Gusfatson, and her husband. Beautifully played by Frances McDormand in an Oscar winning performance, Marge gamely investigates the trio of murders that occur shortly after the kidnapping and eventually, with a little luck and a great deal of pluck, solves the case. A consistent rock of good sense and kindness, Marge embodies the best aspects of her culture, in stark contrast to Lundegaard, who is nervous self-interest and foolishness personified, and even more stark contrast to the kidnappers, who embody violence and greed, all in pursuit of 'just a little bit of money.'
The script, acting, directing, cinematography, music, and sets of Fargo are all top-notch. This is film-making of the highest quality, the sparse landscape and wintry terrain perfectly reflecting the bleak reality of the consequences of violence. No Country for Old Men is in many ways a companion piece--the searing sun and bleak Texas landscape is just as forbidding as the snowy landscapes of Fargo, and both films accurately depict how greed can lead to dangerously bad decisions, which in turn can have deadly consequences for both participants and innocents.
Fargo is a tragedy, a modern American Shakespeare, where base motivations--greed for "just a little bit of money"--can have vast unforeseen and evil ripple effects across entire communities.