Indy Film Fest: In the Wake of Ire
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There have been many films about past mistakes—guilt, haunting memories, the desire for atonement. A truly grave mistake in one's past is a universal tragedy that nearly anyone can deeply empathize with, whether or not they feel they made such a mistake. Perhaps that is why so many lead characters in heavy emotional dramas, such as Brian Maurer's In the Wake of Ire, come from a tragic, but ultimately self-inflicted past.
The most common tendency with a film about such a character is to redeem them, or at the very least, cultivate empathy for them. Too often, this means having the character earnestly make a case for his or herself, ultimately resulting in a melodramatic climax in which our hero, through tears and clenched teeth, must win over the audience with a bold and broken performance of honesty or selflessness. Interestingly, what sets In the Wake of Ire apart is that it never indulges its "hero" in that way. I'll come back to that point.
Told in non-linear fashion is the story of Benjamin Lovell (Gregory Sporleder), a quiet and reserved man who lives alone in a small town. Ben is haunted by his past, in which he inadvertently (though recklessly) caused a severe brain injury to his young daughter Rose. In the aftermath of the accident, Ben's anger and self-destructive behavior drove his wife Laura (Meagan English) and daughter away. When we meet him, it's been well over a decade since the accident, and Sporleder totes a weary aura of broken humility in every step of his performance.The film inserts flashes of his tragic past in between developments in his current circumstances. Ben has a new life; a life that is, as he is, quiet. He goes to work, waves and feebly smiles at his neighbors, and goes home, only to do the same thing the next day—that is, until he meets a young woman who he suspects, and pretty quickly confirms, is his long-unseen daughter. Since the accident, Rose has retained little to no memory of anything or anyone she knew prior, and thus fails to recognize him. Understandably, Ben passes on trying to tell her who he is, presumably so as not to come off as the local loony to the new person in town. Instead, happenstance fosters a new relationship between the two, as Ben wrestles with the memories of his poor choices that made them strangers in the first place.
Cinematographer Samuel Ott has a good idea for simple, stripped-down compositions that showcase characters in their rawest emotions. Unfortunately, things do have a tendency to look a little too "perfect" sometimes, almost music video-esque, particularly when the sun shines on the camera and lens flares abound. It's a fairly small thing, but it does distract from an otherwise very honest piece of storytelling.
The lead cast does a stellar job. As mentioned before, Sporleder wears Ben's pain and regret like an old, cracking leather jacket. Meagan English delivers an emotional knockout as Ben's wife, torn apart by her love for her daughter and watching her husband descend into self-destruction. And Whitney Morgan Cox as Ben's daughter Rose shows such vulnerability under a thin film of flippant resolve.
As mentioned before, In the Wake of Ire never indulges its "hero" with melodramatic flourishes of do-goodery or boisterous self-proclaimed redemption. A film may be tempted to bring about redemption through the character talking; that is, explaining himself. Instead, Ire chooses to show Ben's transformation by having him listen. He's not filling the scene with excuses for why he did what he did. He sits there, taking in everything his estranged daughter tells him, and in the end, it's Rose's choice. There's an important lesson in there about humility and asking forgiveness. Listening. Shutting up, swallowing your pride, and listening to what the person you wronged has to say. And I think that's something that makes Ire stand out, even among some of the best emotional dramas at the Hollywood level.