F is for Fargo

F is for Fargo, a film from 1996 that put brothers Joel and Ethan Coen on the movie-making map. It won Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, as well as Best Actress for Frances McDormand. It launched the careers of Frances, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi due to their great performances in this crime drama.

At the beginning of the film is a statement that the story you are about to see is true. It is not. Leave it to the Coen brothers to try and fake you out. But human nature being what it is, it could have been true. I like to say it is the truth about a fictitious story.

Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a car salesman in the Minneapolis area, short on money and brains. He devises a plot to have a couple of thugs, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), from Fargo, North Dakota kidnap his wife Jean (Kristin Rudrüd), hold her for ransom and demand the money from his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell). Trouble is the best-laid plans don’t always work out, and these plans go seriously awry.

Enter Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), seven months pregnant, and the smartest of the bunch we see on screen. She begins investigating the mysterious murders of two civilians and a State Trooper near Brainerd, Minnesota, who were killed in the night on a lonely highway somewhere in her jurisdiction.

She soon finds a trail to follow and pursues the criminals. I liked how the filmmakers let us see firsthand how unforgiving the North Dakota and even the Minnesota winters can be. You can almost feel the cold piercing through even the warmest coat and gloves, and the ice and snow making travel difficult and dangerous for all involved. The musical score sets the scene for the film nicely. I appreciated the accents and nuances of language that the Lundegaards in particular showcased. It’s very Norwegian or Scandinavian which is what much of Minnesota is or was when originally settled. This is Prairie Home Companion country after all.

The film is rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality. The violence is especially disturbing. Fargo inspired a successful TV series of the same name, which is currently in production with its fourth season. I have not watched it, as I rarely have time to indulge in extended series with lots of hours of viewing involved, and also because I really don’t like violence in film, despite my watching it from time to time.

The Coen brothers have created some other great films; comedies Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski are two I particularly enjoyed, as well as more serious movies such as No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and Suburbicon. A common theme they often employ is showing how absurd it is to lust after money, and how people will do horrible things when trying to get it. Hopefully those films will wake some viewers up.

Fargo - Original Theatrical Trailer