Anarchic Analogy

"I am the easiest guy you can have. I am the fixer..." Yes thats Michael Clayton for you. With George Clooney in the title role, this film promises a lot, and to be honest, the beginning, is as intriguing as it can get.

The opening strikes you, because a set of seemingly unrelated images keep playing to a voiceover narrative, and even the narrative hardly seems to make any sense. The opening,perhaps, is the strongest element in the film. The fragmented narrative adds an additional dimension to the film. The fragmented first half foreshadows the second, where the characters reveal themselves. The characters, their lives, are fragmented and flawa. The protagonist is a 'fixer' who mends the holes in the seemingly fluent fabric of an affluent law firm. But the man cannot mend his own problems...cards. Yes.cards are his problem.

The use of cards is yet another piece of clever symbolism by the director/scriptwriter.The three main characters in the film-Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and George Clooney form the Queen, King and the Jack of the fast crumbling enterprise.

The film to an extent questions the dichotomy between sanity/insanity. Tom Wilkinson plays an ageing janitor who is defending "UNorth", a GM food corporation, against a class action. But as the case unfolds, he realises that he is on the wrong side of the fence.ANd his seemingly insane actions become a sore point for the corporation. Much in the same fashion as Toba Tek Singh ( Toba Tek Singh, Saadat Hasan Manto), the janitor, through in seemingly insane actions brings to the fore the corrupt nature of 'normal' men. Wilkinson pulls off a stunning performance, in a film that seems to be tailor made for Clooney(George Clooney was also the Executive Producer for the film!)
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A note of apology

The review is incomplete, and too late! Readers are welcome to append!