The Crying Game

This is a story about a frog and a scorpion and of learning to be true to your nature.

The first half of this film is a political thriller: A British soldier, Jody (Forrest Whitaker), is taken hostage by the IRA only to be befriended by one of his captors, Fergus (Stephen Rea). On the eve of his execution Fergus promises Jody that he will travel to England and look up his girlfriend and pass on his dying words. It is then that the British army raids the camp and Fergus escapes to England where he makes good on his promise to Jody -who ironically dies in the raid.

It is there that the film changes tack completely and becomes a, slightly screwball, skewed romance- of sorts - as Fergus falls for Dil (Jaye Davidson) the very woman he was supposed to deliver Jody's final words to. And this is where the lines become blurred - the lines that separate gender; politics and identity.

It's impossible to review this film without giving away the surprise twist so I apologise now.

In the first twenty minutes of the film Jody tells Fergus the story of the frog and the scorpion to illustrate how people behave according to their nature. At the time Fergus doesn't understand the story as he has no idea who he really is and what he stands for. At the time he's a volunteer for the IRA but I get the feeling that his heart isn't really in it - he's not as cold hearted as the rest of the volunteers and even befriends Jody despite the knowledge that they will have to execute him the next day. It is this vulnerability - for not knowing who you really are makes you extremely vulnerable - that Jody exploits as he gets Fergus to promise to deliver his dying words to Dil - when Fergus comments on Dil's attractiveness Jody warns him to leave off; she's not Fergus' type (never were truer words spoken... ) And Fergus is easily manipulated, with no real understanding of why he's upholding his promise; except that he's a man of his word. He's like a leaf in the wind; aimless - and when he escapes to England he works on a building site, trying to build the courage up to confront Dil. When they finally meet it's as if the spirit of Jody is watching over the two of them -there are pictures of him at Dil's place and she even comments that Fergus reminds her of him. Fergus finds himself attracted to Dil's enigmatic personality but is shocked when he realises that Dil is in fact a man -hence Jody's comment "She's not your type.". In many Hollywood films the story would either have descended into farce or slipped into "Fatal Attraction" territory. Not so in Neil Jordan's film, for in many ways The Crying Game now becomes more akin to the Fred Astaire screwball comedies where double entendre's and double-speak run rife. It's the repartee between Dil and Fergus that supply this spark: Dil has fallen for Fergus completely but he is unsure exactly which way his land lies. His whole world has been rocked - he still has obvious feelings for her but does not know how to reconcile them.

It is then that his past catches up with him: two of his former IRA companions (who also survived the raid) arrive in London and accuse him of betraying them. The only way that Fergus can prove his innocence is to assassinate a government minister -thereby signing his own death-warrant.

The Crying Game is about making choices and discovering your true identity. Three of the main characters - Fergus; Dil and Jude (an astonishing Miranda Richardson) - all undergo identity changes but their core nature stays the same. In some cases this core nature is obvious: Dil wears her heart on her sleeve and, even though she is made to look like the man she really is later on, by her very nature she is feminine. Jude, on the other hand, starts the film as the "bait" -she uses her feminine whiles to entice Jody, which leads to him being taken hostage, but by the end of the film she has become something far more masculine and sinister by way of ‘90's power dressing. (for all those people who remember Richardson from her Blackadder II days, be prepared for a major shock!) They say clothes make the man, and Jude is shown for being cold and ruthless.
Fergus becomes Paddy when he's in England but seems helpless whenever he's confronted by strong personalities. - he is dominated by Jude (both at the start and end of the film); manipulated by Jody and finally entranced by Dil. It's not until the end of the film that he discovers his true nature, and understands what he will sacrifice himself for - this is beautifully illustrated when he tells Dil the tale of the frog and the scorpion when he's in jail; the story has come full circle and Fergus now realises who he is and what's more he knows that Dil will be there when he is released.

This is a very enjoyable film and once you can look beyond the shock twist and the surrounding hype it's actually a very tender love story.

I have to talk about this "shocking" twist... there are clues to Dil's real "identity": she's a hairdresser in a very "camp" salon, frequents an obvious "gay" bar and the relationship she has with Dave is ambiguous, to say the least, but we are so focused on the developing relationship between Dil and Fergus that we don't see these clues, even though they are obvious. (Watch the film and you'll laugh at how you managed to miss all the blatant hints and nudges) This is partly down to Neil Jordan's assured direction, but also down to the tightness of the script. Left in the hands of lesser writer / directors this film would easily have fallen prey to cliché's and "Carry On.." territory. Thankfully it doesn't, and actually ranks in my list of favourite films of 1992.