The United States of Leland

Infobox Film
name = The United States of Leland


caption = Movie Poster
director = Matthew Ryan Hoge
writer = Matthew Ryan Hoge
starring = Don Cheadle
Ryan Gosling
Chris Klein
Jena Malone
Lena Olin
Kevin Spacey
Michelle Williams
producer = Kevin Spacey
distributor = Paramount Classics
budget =
released = 18 January 2003 (premiere)
runtime = 108 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0301976

"The United States of Leland" is a 2003 dramatic movie by director Matthew Ryan Hoge and producer Kevin Spacey about a meek teenaged boy named Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) who has inexplicably committed a shocking murder. In the wake of the killing, his teacher in prison tries to understand the senseless crime, while the families of the victim and the perpetrator struggle to cope with the aftermath.

Plot

The film begins with a flashback narrated by Leland P. Fitzgerald (Gosling), describing how he couldn't remember the details of the day that he killed a mentally retarded boy named Ryan Pollard (Welch). Leland is arrested while the rest of the town reacts with shock to the senseless murder. Ryan's parents (Donovan and Magnuson), sisters Becky (Malone) and Julie (Williams), as well as Julie's live-in boyfriend Allen (Klein) grieve the loss of their loved one. Leland's divorced mother (Olin) is desperate to see her son, while his father, famous writer Albert Fitzgerald (Spacey), discovers his son's fate in a newspaper and returns home to be there for the trial.

While in juvenile hall, Leland is schooled by teacher Pearl Madison (Cheadle), an aspiring writer who is searching for a break through story. Like many others at the prison, Pearl senses there is something different about the emotionally detached Leland, and helps him circumvent the prison rules so he can keep a journal. While his girlfriend is out of town in Los Angeles, Pearl sleeps with a coworker and tells her that he is going to write a book about Leland.

Through his discussions with Pearl, Leland reveals his childhood memories such as dealing with sadness at his grandmother's funeral and traveling long distances to visit his father. One time, he decided to stay in New York rather than continue on to see his father. After he couldn't find a hotel to sleep in, a kind hearted family decided to take him in for his stay. He continued to visit the family over the years, and was especially captivated by the mother Mrs. Calderon (Sherilyn Fenn). The two also discuss Leland's history with Becky, Ryan's sister. He met her innocently at a record store and began regularly walking home with her and Ryan after school. They grew to love each other, and Leland recalled a time when Becky asked him to promise her "everything will be alright", despite his objections that he had no control over bad things that could happen. As she explained, sometimes it's just nice to hear things one hopes to be true.

Pearl covertly arranges a meeting with Leland's father at his hotel. After he asks for more information on his family's past, Albert realizes Pearl is researching for his book and refuses to let his son be exploited - something he is guilty of himself. He eventually tells the prison supervisor about Pearl's prohibited meetings with Leland, leading him to be reassigned to another section of the prison.

Leland discovered through Allen that Becky had been involved with drugs and a dealer named Kevin who was due to be released from prison soon. Becky, still addicted to heroin, sees Kevin and decides to end it with Leland. In a rare display of emotion, he argues with her, but ultimately realizes the futility of anything he can do or say to change her mind.

Pearl begins to realize the implications of his sexual indiscretion through his discussions with Leland, and admits that he is a bastard. Eventually, his girlfriend discovers his tryst and they have a fight over the phone. Meanwhile, Julie decides to break up with Allen and doesn't want him to attend her first choice college. Broken hearted, he holds up an auto repair shop and allows himself to get arrested in front of Julie. He is sent to the same juvenile hall as Leland, where he steals a knife (from Pearl) and stabs Leland in the prison yard as revenge for what he did to the Pollard family.

Pearl flies to LA to reconcile with his girlfriend and reads Leland's final entries in his journal. On one of his return trips to New York, Leland discovered Mrs. Calderon divorced her husband and the spark for life she had before was gone. He began noticing a sadness in everyone around him, causing him to be dejected. He even felt Ryan was miserable with his own situation. As the two walked home from school, Ryan became frustrated with an obstacle on the bike path. Leland helped him off his bike, gave him a hug, and whispered in his ear that "everything was going to be alright".

Themes

The movie is heavily based on "The Stranger" by Albert Camus, taking many of the book's elements such as alienation, seeming lack of remorse at such a horrible crime, and existentialism. The movie flows back and forth between the past and present and between different characters and their relations to each other, a cinematography style similar to that used in "Magnolia" and "Crash"; however, it is all tied together by the narration of the protagonist, Leland. He says that sometimes things happen because they happen, and talks about the sadness he sees in many people even if they do not see it themselves. Leland seems to be atheistic in his viewpoints, seeing humanity as projecting its own actions onto God and Satan, The "why", which is so sought after by the other characters in the movie is never fully explained. In the end it is implied that Leland committed the murder seemingly as an act of euthanasia for a person for whom he saw no future, but he never directly explains precisely why he did it and claims to have no memory of the murder itself.

Cast

* Ryan Gosling as Leland P. Fitzgerald
* Don Cheadle as Pearl Madison
* Jena Malone as Becky Pollard
* Kevin Spacey as Albert T. Fitzgerald
* Lena Olin as Marybeth Fitzgerald
* Chris Klein as Allen Harris
* Michelle Williams as Julie Pollard
* Martin Donovan as Harry Pollard
* Ann Magnuson as Karen Pollard
* Michael Welch as Ryan Pollard
* Sherilyn Fenn as Angela Calderon

Sound Track

* Scored by Jeremy Enigk, Seattle-based musician and band leader

External links

*imdb title|title=The United States of Leland|id=0301976
*anatomyofascene|id=6279|title=The United States of Leland