THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE by Jonathan Demme
September 17th, 2004 by Andre Soares
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) 
Direction: Jonathan Demme. Screenplay: Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris, from George Axelrod’s 1962 screenplay and Richard Condon’s 1959 novel. Cast: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Kimberly Elise, Bruno Ganz, Ted Levine, Vera Farmiga, Miguel Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Simon McBurney
CONDITIONING MOTHER LOVE
While keeping the framework of the 1962 original, this remake of John Frankenheimer’s paranoid political thriller The Manchurian Candidate has revamped the plot so as to create parallels between what we see on screen and off-screen current events. The results are mixed at best.
Even though Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme’s latest production boasts top-line talent both behind and in front of the cameras, with the exception of Meryl Streep’s magnetic turn as the power-hungry U.S. Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw (a lighter version of Angela Lansbury’s mother-from-hell in the original film), much of the talent involved is either misused or underused.
Denzel Washington, the film’s emotional centerpiece, is a case in point. Despite his efforts, this strong and much-too-earnest actor is never fully convincing as a psychologically battered former serviceman on the brink of insanity. (See synopsis.) Liev Schreiber is equally ineffectual as the brainwashed Gulf War veteran who may become the next U.S. vice president.
Demme’s self-conscious touch only adds to the film’s woes. The director shows an enormous fondness for awkward closeups and is utterly incapable of making the most outlandish plot elements seem nothing short of laughable.
(The Manchurian Candidate’s filmmakers play coy by refusing to name the party of their brainwashed future vice president. However, bits of dialogue — including a reference by Senator Eleanor Shaw that her party is weak in the American South — and a red-and-blue political map of the United States shown in one scene make it clear that Shaw is a Democrat.)
Indeed, the film’s chief problem lies with the screenplay. If the similarities to the George W. Bush White House are both intriguing and disturbing, an overabundance of plot holes and a dishonest, overly tidy ending severely cripple the picture’s sense of immediacy.
Additionally, The Manchurian Candidate’s 130-minute running time feels like 130 minutes. Such ponderousness is something that a suspenseful thriller, whether or not it offers a pressing political message, cannot afford.
U.S. Army Major Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) spends his days giving speeches about the heroic deeds of Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), who won the highly prestigious Medal of Honor for saving Marco’s Gulf War platoon during an ambush.
Marco’s nights, however, are considerably less placid. He suffers from a recurring nightmare, in which he finds himself back with his platoon on the night of the ambush. But in this dream, the ambush is not perpetrated by Iraqi fighters, but by much more sinister forces.
In the meantime, the idealistic Raymond Shaw becomes the most-likely next vice president through the wily manipulations of his mother, Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw (Meryl Streep).
Upon learning of Shaw’s nomination, Marco, his sanity about to go over the edge, starts pursuing the candidate. The army major must discover the whole truth about the ambush and its aftermath — before Shaw wins the vice presidency of the United States.
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