Oh, how delightful; Clint Eastwood is ready to preach some more. As Eastwood has aged, his filmmaking has become so intertwined with his Republican political outlook that it is impossible to take his films seriously. Take, for instance, The Mule, in which his heroes are a white altruistic unflinching eightysomething and a white DEA agent while over 90% of the many Hispanics in the film are involved in organized crime. Yeah, that’s fair … and subtle. Next time, have Clint wear a freaking MAGA hat in the film.
Earl Stone (Eastwood) is out of money. His once thriving horticulture business is victim to the internet. Now, nobody buys his flowers and he can’t afford a place to live, much less all the wonderful things he’s promised his ex-wife (Dianne Wiest), daughter (literal, in this case, Alison Eastwood), and granddaughter (Taissa Farmiga). The film never explains why Stone has no social security coming in to live on. Did he never pay taxes when he ran a business? Perhaps this is based on the Paul Ryan Republican vision where that horrible scourge of social security is a thing of the past. Bottom line is you can’t bleed old man Stone.
Getting a tip on how he can score some dough, Stone takes to drug running for the Mexican cartel. (The purpose, of course, is all for good causes, like funding his granddaughter’s wedding and education and the local VWA rec center) The drug running itself fits perfectly with Stone’s nomadic lifestyle and uncurious manner. And, hey, you drive 1,000 miles to a motel parking lot, you step out for an hour and when you return, there’s a big fat payday in your glove box. Woo! Sure, it’s illegal, but hey, it’s more illegal for Mexicans than me, amIright?
The cartel itself is of a mixed mind about Earl. Earl doesn’t follow the cartel playbook, often making random stops or not following directions at all. Head honcho Andy García, however, loves the results and, hence, is willing to live with Earl’s eccentricities. Where else is he gonna find a more perfect drug mule, anyway?
The Mule is replete with scenes in which we paint Earl in sympathetic light without asking whether he’s earned it. Like the scene where his daughter kicks him out of his granddaughter’s wedding shower –she has perfect right to be angry with him, but the women in the scene come off as unhinged and out-of-control, while Earl remains steady. Then there’s the scene where he helps a stranded black family on the road. First, the film makes no bones about how the internet generation don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout useful stuff like changing tires, and then the word “Negro” slips from Earl’s lips. Don’t mind. He don’t mean nuthin’ by it. Oh. Hmmm, I see. He’s an incidental bigot. His bigotry has no basis in actual evil or policy, is that it? Yeah, please go sell that somewhere else.
Anyway, the lesson of The Mule is family. Don’t spend your lives attending to flowers when family is where your attention should be, gang. Yay. “Family is the most important thing?” That’s what you’re trying to tell us, is it, Clint? So are you going to be voting Democrat from now on? Lemme put it another way: this “family” you speak of, how important is it when your uncle comes out of the closet? Or when your daughter brings home a black guy? Is it important enough that your aunt’s pre-existing condition is covered even though you can’t afford standard health care? Lemme go straight to the key moments in the film itself: What if, God forbid! there were some sort of “safety net” to keep Earl from resorting to drug running in his 80s? What if his family could afford to keep grandma alive a little longer? This film is like Ivanka Trump’s disingenuous prattle at the 2016 RNC – wow, this stuff would be great if you or anybody in your audience believed it. As is, it comes off a disturbing contrast between who current Republicans think they are and the contradictory policies they end up supporting. You can’t have it both ways. Yeah, family is extremely important; but from the MAGA POV, only white family is important … and only if they toe the line and don’t do anything like have opinions or get sick.
As for the film, it was tense if a little empty. I can’t say I found Eastwood likable, and his character’s forced naiveté is embarrassing. Hence, I didn’t quite care how his drug running career would end. However, The Mule is sure to be a hit with older crowds who live, breathe, and vote paranoia.
For some, America is a dream
Yet though it runs a nightmarish scheme
If Trump gets his way
And MAGA rules the day
Get used to the “Grandpa Mule” theme
Rated R, 116 Minutes
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Nick Schenk
Genre: Grandpa’s in over his head
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Uncle MAGA, imagining his motives are altruistic and his politics are not racist
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “If you weren’t so hot and bothered to strip welfare programs and bolster ineffective law enforcement, there would be no need for this film.”
