Betrayed (1988 film)

Infobox_Film
name = Betrayed


caption = movie poster
imdb_id =
writer = Joe Eszterhas
starring = Debra Winger
Tom Berenger
John Heard
John Mahoney
music = Bill Conti
director = Costa Gavras
producer = Irwin Winkler
distributor = United Artists/MGM
released = 26 August 1988
runtime = 127 min.
language = English
budget =

"Betrayed" is a 1988 motion picture drama directed by Costa Gavras, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger.

Plot

Set in the American Midwest, the film begins with the murder of a Jewish radio host in Chicago. FBI undercover agent Catherine Weaver (Winger), alias Katie Phillips, sets out to infiltrate a farming community, suspected of harbouring those responsible.

After receiving a warm welcome from land-owner and farmer Gary Simmons (Berenger), his two children and extended family, she begins to believe that the FBI lead is erroneous. Throwing caution to the wind, she moves in and falls in love with Simmons, a Vietnam War veteran who appears to command the respect of the local community. A short while later, her suspicions are aroused by talk of family secrets and as more chilling events unfold, Katie is exposed to the fact that Gary is the leader of a Klan-like white supremacy group involved in heinous, often gut-wrenching, acts of racial violence.

In too deep, Katie pleads with boss and mentor Michael Carnes (John Heard) to release her from the assignment, but he refuses, instead turning the screw on her mixed loyalties. Ultimately, she must betray either the man she loves or the country she has sworn to protect.

The start sequence is loosely based on the 1984 murder of Denver DJ Alan Berg, who was murdered by white supremacists known as The Order. This is also the theme of the Oliver Stone movie Talk Radio.

Political and cultural significance

In retrospect, the film may now have an historical political significance in predicting and describing aspects of American politics that were largely unrecognized or dismissed when the film appeared in 1988, but that are now critical to an understanding of recent American history.

This extends to its depiction of linkages in the U.S. between white supremacy groups, the religious right, the military, and corporate conservatives; largely describing the coalitions that have characterized the base of the Republican Party in the U.S. from the time of Ronald Reagan and the Bush family in the 1980s at the time of the film and for more than two decades, since. The film describes "false flag" assassination operations as well as the infiltration of authoritarian controls into major American institutions and predates more popular films with similar themes like Bob Roberts. The film is also significant in that it predated the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 and provides character studies of people like Timothy McVeigh and the motivations for domestic terrorism in the United States, initiated both by individual citizens and political interests.

The film is culturally significant in that it contains one of the first accurate contemporary depictions of social computer networking. In a subtle chilling scene, the extent of the racist organization is revealed by a look at their Usenet group.

Reviews/Other

The film was moderately successful from a critical perspective, with the movie review amalgamation site RottenTomatoes.com giving it a 63% Fresh rating [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1002205-betrayed/ RottenTomatoes.com rating information] ] . The performance of Winger was praised by some reviewers, who felt she was successful in conveying complex and mixed emotions throughout. Critics of the film point to a muddled and sometimes unbelievable unravelling of the plot.

In a 1996 interview, Tom Berenger named "Betrayed" as his favourite film, shrugging off any media criticism with the retort "It was exactly what it was meant to be". [ [http://www.tv.com/tom-berenger/person/29375/biography.html Tom Berenger Biography at www.tv.com] ]

The film is mentioned in the Seinfeld episode "The Comeback".

ee also

ZOG

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0094731|title=Betrayed
*tvtome person|id=29375|name=Tom Berenger