Affliction
1998 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner James Coburn and Best Actor nominee Nick Nolte star in this high-powered drama about a middle-aged son trying to come to terms with his abusive past and salvaging his strained relationship with his father. Paul Schrader's Affliction, adapted from the novel by Russell Banks (The Sweet Hereafter), charts the slow descent of small-town sheriff Wade Whitehouse (a raspy, gruffly restrained Nick Nolte) into violence, the legacy of the corrupt love of an abusive, alcoholic father. The story ostensibly centers on a hunting death on the outskirts of town, but as Wade digs into what may or not be a conspiracy, his personal life spirals out of control. James Coburn, who deservedly won an Oscar for his mocking, sneering performance, is Wade's father, who jumps back into the cycle of abuse when Wade moves in to care for the aging man. Chronicling the story in distant, dispassionate tones is Willem Dafoe as Wade's younger brother Rolfe, who "escaped" his father's legacy in a world of books. Schrader has made his reputation revealing the scarred psyches of American men trying to reconcile the contradictions of masculine fantasy and social reality, as in his screenplays for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and in Affliction he creates his most poignant and powerful work. The quiet beauty of the snow-blanketed New Hampshire setting (using Canadian locations) and Schrader's restrained yet intimate cinematic style builds the underlying emotional tensions until they explode in startling close-ups, revealing the repressed fear, rage, and helplessness cracking through Wade's carefully maintained fa?ade. As Rolfe's narration coolly analyzes his brother's affliction, he reveals his own: an emotional remove so complete that he's edited himself out of his family history. The legacy of abuse leaves no one untouched. --Sean Axmaker
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ProductReviews76/100 (68 Reviews)
Recent Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Jan-18-2009
- DARK CHARACTERS
THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE, YOU COULD SEE NICK NOLTIE SLIPPING AWAY DURING THE MOVIE.I HAD A UNCLE LIKE COBURNS CHARACTOR HE TREATED MY AUNT LIKE HELL.ALL THRU THE 1950S HE MADE HER LIFE MISRIBLE.DRUNK 90% OF THE TIME.I ALMOST THOUGHT NOLTIE...
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- 4/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Dec-09-2008
- With a little more silence this movie would have been perfect...
I want to start by saying that on paper, `Affliction' is one of the most impressive character studies I've ever had the privilege of reading. The novel, written by Russell Banks (that author I keep touting as the greatest American...
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Sep-11-2008
- A noir with a touch of Bergman!
Paul Shrader is one the few filmmakers who never has bent his convictions about propelling his independent entries, permeated of dark and bleak memories. Like Fassbinder for instance, he is well aware his role in the cinema , what is to...
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Mar-24-2008
- Ready to Implode
Nick Nolte is excellent as a man who is seriously about to implode. Watching him in this role is like waiting to hear thunder after the lightning strikes. He is constantly on the verge of losing it, while he is also constantly trying to...
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Selected Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Jan-18-2009
- DARK CHARACTERS
THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE, YOU COULD SEE NICK NOLTIE SLIPPING AWAY DURING THE MOVIE.I HAD A UNCLE LIKE COBURNS CHARACTOR HE TREATED MY AUNT LIKE HELL.ALL THRU THE 1950S HE MADE HER LIFE MISRIBLE.DRUNK 90% OF THE TIME.I ALMOST THOUGHT NOLTIE...
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- 3/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: May-27-2004
- Affliction (1999)
Director: Paul SchraderCast: Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn, William Dafoe, Jim True, Mary Beth Hurt.Running Time: 114 minutes.Rated R for language and mild child abuse.Director Paul Schrader's account of the troubles that...
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- 2/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Jun-20-2007
- UGH!...I lived this and still was bored to tears!!!!!!
AFFLICTION is about one thing alone; how abuse affects future generations and those that are in the path of the abuser.That said, having come from the this background myself, all I could think of is "Yes this is all sadly true. I know...
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