"Deliverance" (1972) - Movie Review

Any trip to dense woods has a mark of silence hidden in shadows of the trees and whiteness of a waterfall. The danger for getting in trouble with the nature is as high to the peace which is gotten out of it. The risk grows exponentially because the reason for escape from the civilization becomes the killing factor of not having it. But along being challenged by nature if there is adverse attack from personalities ravishing for their barbarism it is hell being helpless and dying alone. Four city personalities go through that ordeal in “Deliverance”, a chilling exploration on a human’s limit and capacity.

Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beaty) and Drew (Ronny Cox) get to the south on a river which is going to be demolished into a stagnant lake by dam construction. Lewis is strong and a commanding personality leads his mates which has his good friend Ed. Ed is a level headed calm one who enjoy and get scare by these daring drags of Lewis. Clearly Bobby and Drew are new to this party. Drew a guitar player appreciates the nature and communicates with music and rhythm.

They land in a small settlement where people see them as aliens. They get terse answers with dislike in its tone. That does not stop Lewis to be hard man with them on asking them to drive their cars to a place Aintry where they would come by in their canoe through the river. Paddling begins as in two canoe these four city men find their limits on nature. The rush is good when Lewis drives them into rapids and come out unharmed. But the real terror happens during a stop by the shore for Bobby and Ed. Two mountain men (Bill McKinney and Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward) tie Ed up while one of them rapes Bobby. From that moment on, “Deliverance” tests the limits of these people having to question their strength, endurance, trust, death and conscience.

There are no overpowering back ground score. The score is the sound of the woods. “Deliverance” is not scary but psychologically impacts on what if scenarios put on to us in the character’s shoes. Where is law or what is right on a ground present of soil, leaves and insects but absent of human existence and the one who are have devious plans. Predicting the consequence slides the scale enough to change any views and judgments to put in to ashes. The film though has the undeniable fear of sourly things happening to them putting scare on us; it needed more of the past from these people. While Reynolds, Voight, Beaty and Coxx do an incredible job on letting their character represent for what they are, the view on what exactly is on stake would have been able to empathize with them more thoroughly. Maybe director John Boorman did not want that to be revealed to deviate from the point of thought but an emotional attachment does not ring out on them as individuals.

Despite that, “Deliverance” is a terror flick putting shame on to the horror sick fest produced with high budget and human carnage now a day. We are on this trip and how wonderful the places they go on. It is filled with solitude and thrill of diving into a momentary death are the adrenaline forces city people would not have even dreamt of. In city life every one is shelled in and the immune system has been weakened and acquainted to the surroundings of comfort and essentially safety. Nature as such has lost its presence in that where the beauty and fierceness of it is unknown. Human dangers dominate the urban life than the nature. Here we get both of the bad side to put these men in excruciating physical and psychological strain.

The crew and the actors take immense risk while producing this film since they were not able to get insurance. Hence not alone their lives were in danger; financially they would have been in dire situations. The commitments of these four actors are unimaginable and as one would judge an extreme sports junkie on the looks, some times gives a feeling of whether they are stupid. But no, they have taken this journey seriously and carefully for a dedicated effort from their side. I had been informed of the infamous rape scene when I said “Deliverance” is the queue. Did it steal the horror of that scene? It definitely did downplay it as I was expecting it any moment to get it over with.

In spite of the film doing everything perfect, I was not extremely affected or moved. That is basically the detachment with the characters. The real friend never forms or at least not known to us. Lewis and Ed have some conversations on their friendship and the game Lewis thinks of it in for survival but what is the chemistry in terms of relationship bounds does not get exposed. They are neither strangers nor friends. Does it get altered in the pains they go through? Again they remain as they were. In fact Bobby says to Ed in the end that he would not be seeing him for a while, quite understandably. May be those are not the worrisome issues in a film stomping on minds of respecting the comfort and the nature have on us. Either way, watching “Deliverance” is a peek on how would one behave when they are in the wrong side of Mother Nature with devils to torture?