critique of crying game
From the opening shots of "The Crying Game" the song "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge Lewis plays along with the rolling credits. Any other song would've suited it just fine, but this one is an odd choice. It's a strangely peculiar choice because it negates most of what happens. Most, I say. During a Northern European carnival, a stationed soldier named Jody (Forest Whitaker) is busy frolicking with a woman he's just met. The two start to get intimate until Irish Republican Army members knock him unconscious and kidnap him. It becomes crystal clear that the woman, falling in love, and the kidnapping was all a setup. With a bag over his head, he seems almost hurt that his former love was just a deceiving act, despite the situation he's found himself in. Tied to a chair and used as a hostage item, this is obviously not the time or place to harbor any such pity. He's to be executed within three days if demands are not met for the IRA. That's where Fergus (Stephen Rea) comes in. An IRA member himself, he's a watcher for Jody. Better yet, he's his executioner if the next three days turn out less than satisfactory. Due to Jody's incapacitation from being tied up, Fergus feeds him, lights cigarettes for him, and even helps him go to the bathroom all without risking his escape.