Clint Eastwood once more delves into history as he directs J. Edgar, a dark and emotional biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, the man who sculpted what was the Bureau of Investigations into one of the most powerful organisations in the world, now known as the FBI. Leonardo Di Caprio stars as Hoover, who led the FBI for nearly fifty years, right up until the moment of his death. Eastwood’s film jumps between two time zones: from the rise of Hoover’s career in the 1920’s, to its twilight in the 1960’s. The construction of events is cleverly mastered by Eastwood and writer Dustin Lance Black (Oscar-winner for Milk), with the journey through the bureaucrat’s career dictated by the man himself as he recounts his memoirs to youthful FBI agents. The secrecy and discretion that Hoover operated under in his career, as you will learn in the film, limits the accuracy of events and the director understands this perfectly. However, this is a film that is far from flawless in its entirety; with the inability to decipher where exactly it wants to take the audience limiting its success.
Di Caprio plays the part competently and excels in creating a feeling of extreme power and control on the surface, with serious underlying insecurities and issues. Eastwood successfully illustrates the clear irony surrounding J. Edgar Hoover; for a man determined to uncover the secrets of others, he works extremely hard to keep his own life entirely private. However it has to be noted that if you close your eyes and listen to the voice-over as Di Caprio reflects, you would be forgiven for thinking that you were actually listening to a narration by Elmer Fudd.
The intimate relationship between Hoover and his personal and professional companion Clyde is well handled, with Armie Hammer perhaps the pick of the cast as the dedicated sidekick. The film manages to allude to the mutual feelings of both men without spelling it out to the audience, and the chemistry between the pair is generated naturally as the film progresses. Judi Dench and Naomi Watts also co-star as the overpowering mother and loyal secretary respectively, with both performing their role nicely.
The main problem with the film is that it fails to commit to one course of action, it rather finds itself caught between showing Hoover to be the ruthless monster at the helm of the FBI, and attempting to draw sympathy towards him for the tormented, trapped soul that he is. Whilst these two attributes could feasibly be painted side by side, this is not really the case, and the lack of commitment to either side results in both sides actually being rather understated. The audience is neither shocked at the monstrosity of Hoover, nor reaching for the tissues as poor Edgar hides from the true nature of his sexuality.
Despite this, Eastwood does manage to create an interesting insight into the creation of the FBI as the force it is today, also demonstrating the corruption and black work done within these organisations in order to gain or hold on to power. Unfortunately, this is not ground breaking stuff and you may well leave the cinema frustrated at the inability of the film to really choose its direction and strive for it wholeheartedly.
