Drive: A Heroic Epic of Silent Masculinity
By day, he’s a Hollywood stuntman; by night, he’s an equally skilled getaway driver for bank robbers in Los Angeles. He barely sleeps, lives a solitary life in furnished rooms, where he meets a charming neighbor with a child. A moment of weakness, a job he shouldn’t have taken, and the life of this taciturn driver, who never allowed himself to think about others’ problems, transforms from a simple crime thriller into a heroic epic.
Fun Facts:
- Hugh Jackman was originally slated to play the lead role.
- Before Refn, Neil Marshall was the first choice for director.
- The film won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Refn’s Vision of Uncompromising Masculinity
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is now the leading voice of uncompromising masculinity in European and, now, American cinema. The protagonist of his Hollywood debut is so flawless that a happy ending seems impossible from the start. Men like him don’t just have short lives; they simply don’t exist in a world devoid of absolute femininity and masculinity. The laconic and resolute hero, played by a rapidly rising Hollywood star, Ryan Gosling, seems to have stepped out of Jean-Pierre Melville’s universe – a world where women resemble Sistine Madonnas and men are taciturn, decisive, and capable of smashing an opponent’s face with a hammer without losing their composure. The violence in “Drive” is remarkably stylized, reflecting Refn’s belief that a beautiful death is the culmination of a true man’s life. One character is thrown from a mountain highway into raging waves, another has his veins slit by a former best friend in a tearful scene, and a third is stabbed with silverware in a graphic manner.
Music and Emotion
Refn demonstrated his editing prowess in the choreographed action film “Bronson.” In “Drive,” this skill reaches new heights. The film’s scattered, wordless sequences evoke a wide range of emotions, from exhilaration to intense sorrow. This is not just a high-octane action film but also a powerful melodrama. The female character is less compelling compared to the male lead. Carey Mulligan plays a woman who, along with her flaws, lacks depth – a pure vision of loveliness with a gangster husband, a child, and a host of problems. But it is for such a flawless woman that such a flawless man is willing to commit a series of increasingly serious crimes. Refn isn’t particularly interested in female characters; that’s not his focus.
Themes of Duty and Heroism
All of Refn’s films (the Danish “Pusher” trilogy about drug dealers, the Sundance thriller “Fear X” about a supermarket security guard who lost his wife, the British “Bronson” about a petty criminal who wants to become a major one and succeeds behind bars, “Valhalla Rising” about Vikings cast into hell) tell the stories of high-caliber men striving to fulfill their social roles under the most unfavorable circumstances. Gosling’s character is the perfect driver, deprived of his dream job and forced to accept rewards outside the coveted track from producers who condescendingly thank him for another deadly stunt, or from bank robbers who generously pay for another risky adventure. Or from a random crowd bursting into applause – at the beginning of the film, the hero, emerging from a car with bank robbers, finds himself in the midst of a raucous union rally.
The Essence of Heroism
A feat for no apparent reason, masculinity wasted, a hero languishing without purpose – Refn’s film is not just about that.
It’s about the fact that there’s no reason for a heroic act, but that’s no reason not to be a hero.