BLOG POST #7

Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive are two texts that are chock full of accurate comparisons to one another. One of the biggest commonalities is that both films have a main male character who have committed horrible sins in the past but now hope to change the way they are and become better people. In Drive the Driver, after having met Irene and getting a glimpse of a happy family life, wants to become a better person so he wants to get out of the criminal life. As we see through the rest of the film this isn’t possible for him and his past catches up to him. He ends up losing Irene and hopes for a happy normal life to the person that he has become. In Double Indemnity Walter also commits crime and like driver he knows he is wrong and wants to become better. Perhaps he is trying to save his own soul. In the end though his crime and his crime partner (Mrs. Dietrichson) have led him to his doom. Both of these characters realize that they are wrong and try to do things to become better; Driver tries his best to get out of the criminal life, and Walter makes a taped confession to Keyes. Driving also has a big influence on the plot of these movies as well. In Drive the Driver’s job is as a getaway driver and many of the films best and most important scenes are in a car. For example the scene in the LA river canal with Driver, Irene, and Benicio is a huge turning point in the plot because it is one of the scenes where Driver realizes that life can be so much better than the way he lives it now. I would argue that it is where he decides to quit his life of crime in pursuit of a normal family life with Irene. In Double Indemnity Walter and Mrs. Dietrichson use a car as their getaway after planting Mr. Dietrichson’s body on the train tracks. Walter also uses his car in his alibi when he leaves it downstairs for Charlie to clean so Charlie can see him twice and place him at the apartment that night. Also when the duo get back into the car after planting Dietrichson’s body the car doesn’t start at first. This is foreshadowing that even though they thought everything would go smoothly it is inevitable that something will go wrong. In both of these films the main reality that both of these characters face is that crime and evil do no go unpunished. In both of these films the urban environment is on the side of the good. Both of these characters commit crimes and are trying to make up for it and become better for most of the rest of the plot. In this way LA is perceived in almost a righteous way. The fact is that if you do wrong, you will suffer the consequences of those actions, a realization that both main characters come too. The Driver lost his girl and a shot at a normality, and Walter paid for his actions with his life.