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Look In Your Heart
Ethics and Immorality in Miller’s Crossing
Nobody knows anybody. Not that well.
It’ll always be difficult to choose a favourite film of the Coen Brothers. Long time readers will know that I’ve not only written about individual films of theirs before, but that I’ve committed two separate essays to their works before (here and here). I love their explorations of humanity, their sense of cosmic justice, and their bittersweet morality. In Miller’s Crossing, their 1990 gangster noir, all of these elements are present and more. Following mob lieutenant Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) as he navigates the upheaval of the criminal underworld in his city, the film explores ideas of ethics in an unethical world, man’s innate animal nature, sexuality in a dangerous time, and much more.
The crossing of the title is both a literal place in the film and a representation of the double-crosses that frequently occur throughout the film. The place, a crossroads in which Tom Reagan is tasked with murdering Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), is a lavish forest of trees fading from summer to fall. Under the crunch of dead leaves and blue-grey skies Reagan is first forced to question what he’s willing to do to settle the gang war. In this beautiful forest he shows his kindness. The double-crosses show his other side, his brutality and ferocity, his cold and calculating manipulations. And in these two sides we find the ethical conundrum that lies within Tom Reagan; how does one be an ethical man in a criminal world.
The difference between ethics and morality is an important distinction to make when discussing this film. In the world of Miller’s Crossing ethics is a bond, a fundamental agreement between either two people or a man and himself. It is amoral to murder a man no matter what, but it would be unethical to not respond when someone threatens you. It’s in this fallacy that our characters live, constantly striving to be the best at illegal and amoral activities, but unwilling to break the code they have established themselves. Reagan encapsulates this conundrum fully, as he refuses to betray his boss and friend Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney) in business, but is willing to betray his trust when it comes to his girl Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Gay Harden). The mixing of morality, ethicality, and betrayal is what makes Tom Reagan such a fascinating character.
I'm talkin' about friendship. I'm talkin' about character. I'm talkin' about - hell. Leo, I ain't embarrassed to use the word - I'm talkin' about ethics.
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