Written by Roberto Leal
Cutting Through the Layers of A Brilliantly Crafted Murder Mystery
Knives Out, at first glance appears to be a brilliantly crafted murder mystery, showcasing Golden Globe-nominated, Cuban-born actress, Ana de Armas. As conceived and realized by writer/director Rian Johnson, Knives Out is being hailed as the best murder mystery ever. No argument here. Knives Out is a movie that will leave you guessing until the rolling of the credits at the end.
Johnson also wrote and directed Brick, a lovely little film noir gem set in a high school with a teenage loner, (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Third Rock from The Sun) investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Brick is a personal favorite and now I can add Knives Out to my list.
In Knives Out, Christopher Plummer, plays Harlan Thrombey, the super-wealthy patriarch of a highly dysfunctional, greedy, and thoroughly corrupt family. Harlan intends to cut them all out of his will.
Famed Southern detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a sort of grits ‘n collard greens version of Hercule Poirot is hired to investigate the suspicious circumstances of Thrombey’s suicide, to invalidate Marta’s inheritance, claim to the family fortune.
Johnson’s plot, in Knives Out, has more twists and turns than a pretzel caught up in a Kansas tornado. But an examination of the subtext of the storyline, offers some interesting meditations on current Latino cultural and political issues.
“They All Look Alike”
No one seems to know exactly where Marta is from. At various points in the film, Marta is thought to be from Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. This hints at Anglo America’s tendency to lump all Latino communities into one, all-encompassing, monolithic burrito. The fact that no one in the Thrombey family has no idea where Marta is from underscores White America’s ignorance of the rich diversity in food, customs and music that exists within the larger, extended Latino community.
That ethnic ignorance is evident in Stephen Miller’s (Senior Advisor to the President for Policy) barbaric, no tolerance immigration policy along the Tex-Mex border. Safe to say, no one in the Trump administration knows the difference between a mariachi and a margarita. Their loss.
The Noble Innocent
In films like Knives Out, where a wealthy Anglo family has a Latina housekeeper, nanny, maid, or in this case, a caregiver, they are always portrayed as humble, grateful, hard-working servants whose only purpose in life is to serve their gringo overlords. Salma Hayek, in Beatriz at Dinner, comes to mind.
de Armas, as Marta, is indeed humble, trustworthy and honest; honest to a fault. Marta is so averse to lying, whenever an untruth slips out from her lips, she has a severe physiological reaction: she pukes. But it’s Marta’s innate goodness and honesty that is the central plot element that drives the narrative. Marta is the connective tissue in Knives Out.
Everyone in Knives Out reacts to Marta in one way or another. Marta, the noble innocent, is the locus of the mystery.
The New Working Class and the Power of women
America’s working-class hero is no longer a Joe Schmo, with a lunch pail, going off to toil in some assembly line. It’s a thing of the past. It’s a thing now only wistfully spoken about by old white guys gathered in diners in the Midwest.
Johnson’s script illustrates the present reality: the new working-class is women, women of color, and most especially, Latina women working in menial, thankless minimum wage jobs. Johnson could have cast an Eastern European or Southeast Asian immigrant in the role of the caregiver. But he smartly and rightly recognizes the emerging Latino demographics in 21st century America.
In Sergio Arau’s whimsical film fantasy, A Day Without a Mexican, posits an apocalyptic future where white America is left to fend for themselves when Mexicans turn in their noble innocent cards and decide not to show up for work.
But Marta is also a testament to the power of women. How is it this young girl from an unknown Latin American country has such a profound effect on the rich and powerful Thrombey family?
Certainly writer/director, Johnson, through Marta, is channeling the all-too-obvious evidence of powerful women in the world today: 16-year old Greta Thunberg, the Joan of Arc of the Climate Change Movement, speaks truth to power as she challenges the fossil fuel dinosaurs, 79-year old Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has Trump by the short hairs and has him squealing like a stuck pig, and for the first time in recorded history, beautiful black women, this year, won every major beauty pageant. On the political spectrum, women won a record number of congressional seats in the 2018 midterm election, many of them Latinas.
A View from the Balcony
The final shot, in Knives Out is a perfect metaphor for the cultural, sociological and demographic changes just over the horizon.
Marta is totally guileless. Her actions throughout the film are guided by a strong, internal moral compass that always steers her in the right direction. Marta wins because she is simply a better person than everyone else in the film
It was that natural integrity that enabled the old, rich patriarch, Harlan Thrombvey, to entrust Marta with his deepest secrets, his life and ultimately, his wealth.
In the final shot, we see Marta high atop the mansion balcony looking down at the ruthless Thrombey clan. That shot with Marta in the superior position and the Thrombey’s in the inferior position below, is cinematic shorthand to show who’s the boss now: a Latina.
From the balcony, Marta is seen sipping coffee from a cup. Uno momento, is that Colombian coffee, Marta? Is Rian Johnson hinting that you are from Bogotá or Cartagena? No matter, we all look alike, right?
Regardless of where Marta or the coffee comes from, Knives Out and de Armas performance is an entertaining, rich, aromatic brew that is good to the very last drop.
Knives Out is written and directed by Rian Johnson and stars: Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis with Marlene Forte playing De Armas’ mother and Raul Castillo (Looking) doing a cameo as a police officer; and Meg (Katherine Langford) and Marta (Ana de Armas)
Knives Out was released by Lionsgate on November 27, 2019 and has so far grossed $185,573,909 worldwide on a budget of $40 million.
Lauded by critics for Oscar nominations for Best Actress for Ana de Armas, Best Supporting Actor, Daniel Craig, Best Original Screenplay, Rian Johnson, and Best Production Design, David Crank. Come January 13, 2020 when the Oscar nominees are announced we will see if the voting body of the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences agrees.