Deliverance (1972)

Director: John Boorman
Starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox.

Ah. Beginning my film blog with its first review - a tale of four urbanised men taking a weekend canoeing trip through an uncharted river in the backwoods of America and finding a hellish odyssey and terrible experiences that will be burned into their minds and change their lives forever. It's not the most appropriate film to start with, but it's a bloody good one and, seeing it recently, it's fresh in my mind.

I will state that this is one of the most disturbing films that I have ever seen. Not particularly because of the content as such (everyone knows about the infamous SQUEAL PIGGY SQUEAL! scene) but the fact that the film never lets up. From the first minute you are thrown into the boat with these four men, and the underlying tension is present throughout the entire film. Even at the end, I was expecting something further to happen.

The direction, by the inconsistent John Boorman, is no doubt the best of his career. The storyline is thoroughly straightforward – four men, urbanised and softened by living in towns for their entire lives, take a trip down an uncharted river. Only one (Reynolds) is truly capable of making the journey. The other three appear to symbolise as Boorman’s message of civilisation working against the wilderness. With the exception of an excellent Voight as Ed, the characters are never fully fleshed out within the script, and particularly Reynolds as the macho Lewis, remain stereotypes. But this is how the moral message of the film survives, taking its subjects down a hellish journey on what they assumed would be a weekend jaunt.

Burt Reynolds is undoubtedly the star of the film, taking what could have been a supporting clichéd, thankless role as Lewis and transforming himself. You sense why the others in the group see his character as the ‘leader of the pack’ – it is he who saves the two others at the last moment in a particularly unnerving scene involving two rednecks, Ned Beatty and a bow and arrow. I will say no more. The audience feels the genuine sense of helplessness as one of their boats smashes, and Lewis breaks his leg. The machismo, leader figure is gone, and the driving point of the final third of the film is Ed (Voight) stepping up to replace Lewis.

The technical aspects of the film are also very impressive, despite the, at the time, unknown actors and shoestring budget. The cinematography in many areas is spectacular, giving the audience breathtaking views of the river and surrounding forests. The characters are meant to be navigating an uncharted river in deep America, but at times the cinematography alone conjures up images of Vietnam in Apocalypse Now. The forest is suitably alien and foreign to these men, who find themselves in a situation they have no idea how to handle.

The film, simply, is one of the best thrillers I have seen, while at the same time, one of the most effective at displaying the absolute differences and contrast between man and nature.

Rating 9/10.