Reds (1981)

I truly wasn't prepared for Reds, a nominee for Best Picture of 1981. I was expecting a film more focused on the rise of Socialism in the United States during the early part of the 20th Century, some sort of filmic agitprop maybe or perhaps a more documentary-like approach. Certainly, the film does include that perspective, especially with the interviews of some of the actual people who were witnesses to the events of that time. However, Reds is really a love story somewhat disguised as a political film. I don't truly believe Warren Beatty, the director-writer-lead actor-producer-whatever-else-he-is, really wants to convert any moviegoers to Socialism or Communism or Bolshevism or any other ism through his depictions of what happens with labor movements in the U.S. or the various revolutions in Russia or any of the other historical events he includes. I think he instead wants us to see the persistence of our love for each other despite all of the "great events" that happen as a backdrop to our lives, that ability we have to maintain our private relationships despite our involvement in other, more political or public actions. In that respect, Reds is very reminiscent of Doctor Zhivago or Gone With the Wind.

Beatty very generously keeps the character of Louise Bryant as his primary focus, and he coaxes a deeply felt performance from his leading lady, Diane Keaton. Keaton is simply great here, only a few years after her career-defining role as the title character in Annie Hall. She seems to get much more attention when she plays a comedic role like Annie, but as Bryant, she moves beyond being merely funny. She's touching and angry and loving and desperate and the full range of emotions. She's the heart of this film, and it succeeds in large part because of the strength of her acting. I wonder why she didn't get a chance to do more dramatic work after this film. Were moviegoers just unable to accept her in a role very different from Annie Hall?

Beatty is also strong as John Reed, whose Ten Days That Shook the World was an influential first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution. I don't really see the full depth of Reed's love of the ideals of Bolshevism in Beatty's performance, but I do see the passion that the man has for political activity more generally and the love he has for his wife Louise. Jack Nicholson plays Eugene O'Neill in a way that makes you forget that you're watching Jack Nicholson, and given how often he has coasted in recent years on his own oversized personality, that's saying something. Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar for her portrayal of Emma Goldman, but I have to say that her performance didn't strike me as being particularly noteworthy. Stapleton is a great actress, certainly, but what is she truly allowed to do in this film that would draw the notice of the academy? She's good, as she always is, but I think perhaps this was an attempt on the part of the academy members to find a way to acknowledge Beatty's overall accomplishment.

I do admire Beatty's various achievements here. He's a solid director and a consistent actor. His script, co-written with Trevor Griffiths, is well structured. It's tough to imagine any studio willingly supporting a film like this nowadays. Can you imagine that pitch meeting? "I want to make a movie about a couple of American Socialists who fall in love and who support the Communist Revolution in Russia." I just can't believe that such a film would ever get funding these days. Thankfully, Beatty had the clout at the time to make this interesting and sympathetic movie about subject matter that would become so taboo in the years that saw the rise of the New Conservatism during Ronald Reagan's presidency.