The World You Have Created

The Counselor

William Shakespeare has been remembered for many of his amazing work. For me, however, I will always admire his tragedies. Humbling tales with lessons only the reader is privy to at the end. Shakespeare’s tragedies have been adapted in a thousand different ways including television and film. Though, I don’t think that a modern era will ever truly capture what Shakespeare was ever really trying to teach us, but I think that we can come close. Take author Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men), hailed as one of the most influential American writers of the past few decades, who has written tragedies of Shakespearian proportions mainly centered on greed and the poison it can be. McCarthy has turned to the big screen to tell an original story with that same theme simply titled, The Counselor.

The Counselor (Michael Fassbender Slow West) is a young and charismatic lawyer that is very much in love with his girlfriend, Laura (Penélope Cruz Vanilla Sky). Looking to forever give Laura the life she deserves, the lawyer decides to get involved with one drug smuggling deal. Even though the Counselor has been warned by two ‘associates’ (Javier Bardem Skyfall and Brad Pitt Fury) to back out of the deal while his hands are clean, the Counselor plunges deeper into a world that he has failed to fully understand. Due to his ignorance, his life is flipped upside down when the deal goes wrong. Now the Counselor is scrambling to fix a problem there might not be a solution to.

I have always been fascinated by Cormac McCarthy’s work and was even more intrigued by his turn at a Hollywood screenplay. I was not disappointed. I know that there has been quite a bit of negativity that has surrounded this film. Criticism of the acting, the story, and the directing but I think those with negative comments should revisit the film from a different stand point. The lawyer represents every single one of us. The naivety to think that nothing can go wrong or the ignorance to think that we all are infallible somehow and the drug deal itself represents life. When the deal goes bad, it is to show the audience that life can change on a dime just as quickly. We need to live with the choices that we make or as one character so eloquently states, “You are the world you have created. And when you cease to exist, this world that you have created will also cease to exist.”

Fassbender produces a remarkable character. His character believes that this is the right path for him to provide for the woman he loves that his greed blinds him to the possible consequences of his actions or involvement. It isn’t until that things go south that Fassbender shows the audience his character’s true vulnerability and it is heartbreaking. Fassbender is encircled with an amazing cast, though not on screen long enough to admire their work. All except Cameron Diaz (Sex Tape), who gives a chilling performance as Malkina, a sociopathic woman with an affliction for predators. This is by far Diaz’s best performance. She is so cold and vindictive that she literally gave me goosebumps every time she was on screen.

Not really on the scale that we are used to from legendary director Ridley Scott (Exodus: Gods and Kings), but still just as illustrious.  Scott does a wonderful job of giving life to McCarthy’s words into a lavish and yet sometimes brutal vision. Scott somehow is able to provide a lot of flash and class to this gritty and harrowing tale. Now I will admit that the film is guided more by McCarthy’s screenplay, but Scott was able to put just a touch of himself in the film.

This is a very misunderstood film that needs to be viewed as homage to the tragedies that Shakespeare is known for. Or maybe a cautionary tale to never venture to far into a world that you do not understand. If anything, I believe that this is one movie that may find its later and maybe a little too cryptic for this generation of filmgoers. I will still recommend it, however, hopefully to spark that audience to view the film sooner rather than later.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time.