Film Noir Men: Living On The Dangerous Edge of Life
In the 2014 Norwegian Noir In Order of Disappearance, a commercial snow plower and local mountain town man of the year Nils Dickman discovers his only son was murdered simply for being in the wrong place at the just the right time. The young man wasn't supposed to be killed, but by association, by simply knowing the wrong people, he meets his fate. Stellan Skarsgård, who plays Dickman (masterfully, as always) then spends the rest of the movie deductively figuring out who is responsible for his child's death and quickly goes from man of the year to a paternal vigilante, who won't rest until he confronts the last of those associated with the crime.
It's a White Noir, with most of the film taking place in the endlessly bleached Scandinavian winter. (Of course, those of us trained on cinematic tropes know, where there's white, there will be blood.)
In Cleveland City, we meet Sean. Irish, Catholic, raised on the West side of the Cuyahoga River, Sean grew up in various relatives home but never quite knew what happened to his parents. He heard the stories. "You mom was sent away to a convent." "Your mom gave birth to you and bailed." "Your mom gave you up for adoption." "Your mom died." While the stories stretched, the fact remained: Sean grew up without ever knowing the love of his mother.
No one knew who his father was. No one talked about him. No one asked answered any questions.
And while he did get to live with "aunts and uncles" - who even knows which were by blood and which were by association - for all practical purposes, Sean was an orphan. He also had no siblings and had a hard time making friends at school. He was bullied by kids and adults alike. Then one day, as a kid in the schoolyard called him, "a bastard" out of nowhere he turned around to face his accuser and punched him so hard that the kid fell to the ground, with blood dripping out of his nose. The nuns sent Sean to the principal's office. However the very next day, he earned the respect of the boys around him and quickly became the gang leader. Other boys looked up to him. Girls let him kiss them. Girls let him do whatever he wanted. Girls even competed against each other to be with him. He practiced on each and made himself better and better at delivering pleasure, before moving onto the next girl and even approaching college girls at the bar. They came from good homes. He was their temptation.
Sean quickly realized his physical strength and also immediately assessed that physical strength will get you a lot in life. So he began to train at the local boxing gym. His trainer saw promise in him and each day after school, unless he was in detention hall for yet another fight, Sean could be found at that gym. By age 17 he had a major growth spurt and at 6'2" and 230 pounds, mostly muscle, no one again touched him.
That same year, while still a minor, he started to box for money. In the back alleys of Cleveland, in the small clubs no one decent ever heard of, and even for entertainment by the rich East Side elite that would host boxing matches in their private homes. Oh, the thrill the women would get watching this young man in action. His youthful, strong, perfect body was a far cry from the old, fat men these women were trapped in marriage with. Not a stranger to the pleasure of women, Sean would make himself available to some of these suburban wives of wealthy men. Sometimes the husbands would pay Sean to have sex with their wives so that they didn't have to. Or so that they could watch. The rich want they want. No price too high.
At 20 Sean was finally ready for his first real, big match. It was going to be televised. The purse? Worth $5,000. A fortune for an orphan. Sean was going to be the next Johnny Kilbane.
But the night before, as Sean made another East side house call, with the husband sitting in the usual corner chair, something came over the Jewish steel mill owner. Watching Sean make love to his wife - the man suddenly stood up, took off his clothes and joined them in bed. The second he put his hand on Sean's shoulder and tried to kiss him on the mouth, Sean's boxer instincts took over and he punched the man in the face. He was willing to do many things for cash, but he drew the line at sleeping with other men. This wasn't who he was. Something he learned as a child left alone with a priest.
The man, shocked at the reaction got off the bed, calmly opened his nightstand and shot Sean. Luckily the man had bad aim - he missed the heart. But he did shoot Sean in his left shoulder.
And so on that night, the night before the fight that would make him a big star, Sean's boxing career ended. In the bedroom of a rich east side Jewish couple who paid him to have sex with the woman of the house, for both of their amusements.
In the decade since, Sean found his life on the path more traveled. He began working for a relative who was on the lighter side of mafia - of whatever was left in Cleveland in the new Millennium. Sean also married the relative's daughter, which is how he knew this man he called Uncle for decades wasn't really his own DNA. He managed the construction arm of the family business. And while his projects took him all over the city, more than anything he wanted to work on a big construction plan. Something for the city. Something with the government.
Because when kids grow up without supportive parents, or any parents at all, the only motivation they have is the validation of others. And no matter how many women Sean has pleasured or how much money he's made, or how much his wife and the family he created love him, it's all never enough. Life's only as good as the sharpest edge.
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