The King of the Jungle – The Gentlemen filmkritika

01

The gangster film tradition

One of my favourite genres is gangster films, so I was very excited when I heard about Guy Ritchie’s 2019 movie The Gentlemen, knowing that the director’s unique style makes the film a gripping and touch-and-go one. Depicting gangsters – often by the advice of ex-mafia men – on the silver screen has a long history and not only in American cinema but all over the world as well. In Europe, the most famous movies about mobsters mainly use the famous and infamous world of the Italian mafia. In Asia, their counterparts mostly involve the life (even if it is only a fictitious one) of the Triad or the Yakuza. In Hollywood, the picture is broader, including Central, South American, and American gangs, too (a means of representing racial tension within the population). The Prohibition-era contributed to the emergence of inexhaustible sources of gangster stories about rivalries, revenge, power and the far-from-average life of the members. The Great Depression revealed that the existing traditional values of that time were in danger, and the cinematic representation followed the trend, making gangsters a kind of hero (and introducing new genres with it), and showing the decay in American society. With this new perspective, these crime films were easily distinguishable from the ‘morality tales’ of the previous era (the silent films).

02

Ritchie’s gangsters, narration and masks

Now, criminals still have a place and position on the screen, let’s just think about the still-running series of Peaky Blinders (from 2013 possibly to 2022) set in the 1900s, starring Cillian Murphy or movies such as Guy Ritchie’s The Wrath of Man (2021) with Jason Statham as one of the main actors or The Gentlemen (2019) with the brilliant cast of Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant, just to mention a few. Ritchie is famous for his gangster films, depicting criminals in a different way, showing them to the viewers as more complex men with emotions, heart, and style (even if it does not necessarily mean fashion, but lifestyle and the way they manage their issues). He tends to use a specific narrative device, namely, to detail the events from different characters’ perspectives, creating a universe of different little worlds like the Jungian concept about the map of the soul. Moreover, Jung’s theory about the masks we wear in different situations can also be relevant in connection with the film as the characters have to show their different faces in the course of events. Yet one, main core persona must exist in them from which other personas can evolve, causing struggles within the person. Turning back to Ritchie’s narrative style, viewers can find a dominant narrator in his films. In The Gentlemen, the storyteller is non-other than the character of Fletcher (Hugh Grant), who is an annoying (slightly homosexual), greedy, and mercenary private investigator and tracker for the infamous journalist Big Dave (Eddie Marsan).

03

Fletcher’s story and the adult bedtime tale

Fletcher tells his version of the events around and about a very affluent and influential drug dealer, the King of the Jungle – Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) – to Raymond Smith (Charlie Hunnam), the right hand of Mickey as a true story, making it look like a cinematic representation – he even reveals a script (titled Bush) about it and uses the lingo of Hollywood. The whole tale is full of wit, irony, sometimes pure sarcasm, humour and of course, action, not to mention the turns the events take. At the very beginning of the story, one can realise that there is one main theme in the movie and everything functions as a side dish around it. The protagonist wants to sell his lucrative drug business, which causes certain complications, which the spectator can explore over the course of events throughout the storytelling. Thus, the film functions as an adult bedtime story. One by one, the viewer can get to know the characters: the protagonist Mickey, the anti-protagonist Dry Eye (Henry Golding), the queen of the drug kingdom Rosalind (Michelle Dockery), the Coach (Colin Farrell), etc. These fictitious personalities are not simple stock characters from the shelf but fully developed and multi-dimensional ones, meaning they have complex value systems, weaknesses, emotions, for instance. It does not mean that the spectator must agree with them, but they become understandable and lovable (or the opposite) despite their, well, occupations. The main villain is not even a specific character, but rather an institutionalised system depicted via Big Dave, the media, more specifically, the press. It does not care about the person behind the profession or appearance; its (Dave’s and Fletcher’s) only aim is a thrilling story at any cost. Even if it means to go after the most merciless mobsters, such as a Russian oligarch or Mickey Pearson.

04

Mickey, Rosalind and the kingdom

Mickey is introduced to the audience as a calm, patient mafia leader, who uses violence only if it is necessary in order to protect his position, business and beloved one. He also refrains from transgressing boundaries set up by other criminal leaders or even society, yet his hands are connected to a bloody past when he had to solidify his name in the trade. He leads his bush business underground (literally), giving help to fallen (morally and financially as well) aristocratic families via it. Through his character, the spectator can also realise how inheritance issues work in the UK, how aristocracy has faded away from being the leading class. Thus, the film is a critique, showing the falsehood of classes, society as such, mafia life and politics (the drug legalisation issues mentioned in the movie). Back to the characters, Mickey’s wife is not the typical woman whom the viewer expects. She also runs a successful business and has the ability to control and manage men (even her own king). She is strong – not waiting for her husband at home in constant fear to come back safe and sound – and does not hesitate to pull the trigger if the situation requires it. Rosalind is represented as a kind of helper on her husband’s side, a woman who does not want to talk him out of his illegal activities. She is the one and only weakness for Mickey, however, together, they can rule the British weed trade.

05

Rivals, outsiders and loyalty

The ‘real’ bad boys are outsiders (not ‘proper’ Englishmen) with not as an excellent reputation as they want it to be. Through their characters, – Lord George and Dry Eye – the audience is introduced to the clash between the old and new meanings of respect or being a successful mafia leader, and the clash between the two old superpowers, America and England represented by Matthew (Jeremy Strong) and Mickey. Obviously, only one can win the battle, the one who is capable of being a step ahead of his enemies. In order to defeat the enemy, a loyal and honest right hand is essential. This character is Raymond Smith (Charlie Hunnam), who has a slight OCD regarding tidiness, which makes him even more contradictory than the others. He has to do the filthy work (sometimes literally) – one time he is ordered to step into a flat of heroin addicts – yet he refrains from dirty places and people if it is possible. He also hates using the so-called hard drugs and tries to convince young people to live a more balanced (mainly emotionally) life. Through his character, the film becomes even more fascinating and complex, revealing that tough guys can also have their own soft sides and personal issues, they are not even invincible. Mickey and Raymond sharply contrast with Dry Eye (Henry Golding), the impulsive, violent, dishonest and disloyal gangster from the other side of the globe, who forces (without any success) Mickey to sell the business to him. Unfortunately, he is able to find others who are willing to betray the value system of the gangster life, but as in a good fairy tale, the villain gets his punishment.

06

The Coach and blurred boundaries

One can think that these characters have already exhausted the scale, yet, grey can have fifty shades, so an additional helper occurs on the scene: the Coach (Colin Ferrell), who tries to keep the young away from troubles. He is not a gangster or a mafia man (as he states it about himself at one point), but he does what is needed for ‘his’ kids. He gets involved in the illegal business because of the hot-headedness of the Toddlers (a bunch of young boxers, seeking trouble). Thus, he has to pay back the inconveniences he caused by fulfilling three wishes like a good fairy, or a genie, or the goldfish in a fairy tale. Yet, if the circumstances require, he does not hesitate to sacrifice his own rules and save lives. The fact that he is an Irishman in the film and reality, and that Mickey is American in the film and real-life as well, shows how boundaries are becoming ever-increasingly blurred, how the world is rushing towards globalisation in every step of life. Moreover, The Gentlemen is not an average movie in the sense that if one watches it, they can realise that no children occur in it. The young with whom the Coach trains are young adults. The only exception appears in a fast-food restaurant, but those kids – seemingly over 16 – have no significant part or role in the course of events.

07

Families, hints, reality and fantasy

As I have mentioned before, inheritance issues become a kind of ground for the story, so high expectations are relevant to see children. Yet, the answer is still a no; the descendants the viewer gets to know are also adults, probably in their early twenties. Interestingly enough, families are not depicted in great detail, like they were protected from outsiders and curious eyes, even if it means the curious eyes of the spectator. Mickey and Rosalind have no children, at least that is what the film implies. In these mafia circumstances, this can be understandable, but one should not forget that Rosalind is not a stereotypical housewife. Her character is much closer to a man than a woman (except for her appearance). Otherwise, the other characters’ private lives are hidden from the audience, only little hints can be found (Fletcher is trying to escape alone, no woman is at his side). Talking of little hints, the film is rich in them, but these are waiting for the spectator to explore and figure out them. At the end of the film, the most compelling location is the office of a director, who is Guy Ritchie himself and the poster of his own work in it. It is really worth observing this scene. The sense that Fletcher is explaining the script of his story, which is the film itself directed by Ritchie, to the director who will make it to the audience, and it is on the screen in real life as well make the boundaries even more blurred. The borderline between reality and fantasy becomes as much dimmed as the physical, cultural, and social horizons of life.

08

Conclusion

In conclusion, the film explores several themes and issues via the main event of selling a thriving drug business. The complexity of the characters makes it fascinating, using the features of the fictitious personalities to create a diverse little universe of the gangster world. Throughout Fletcher’s story, the viewer can face the current problems and questions of society, globalisation, politics and, of course, mobsters. Given the fact that the director is Guy Ritchie, one can have the expectation of a well-prepared, well-balanced storyline with his unique means of narration – introducing the events from different characters’ perspectives – and depiction. The Gentlemen completely brings all these features, sprinkled with wit, humour, and irony, playing with language as a toy in the director’s hands. The film proves that gangsters still have a place on the silver screen, even if they are not the traditional merciless, heartless ones, – given the audience shiver by their mere appearance – but a new kind of hero of everyday life, who seeks balance between his illegal activities and his position in society. By understanding and recognising the complexity of these gangsters’ features and acts, one can hardly judge them; on the contrary, they become lovable. Each and every character represents a different kind of mindset with its own problems, making the whole ‘family’ a complex universe of little gangster planets.

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