The biggest tragedy in America continues to be “innocent person in jail.” Our notions of freedom –both Left and Right- are centered about injustice and inequality. Nobody besides the politically or morally depraved wants to see innocent people in jail, and this seems to go double for most Americans; we have defined an entire value system around the purpose of prison and who deserves to be there. It is only natural that we sympathize with the innocently incarcerated – even if jail ain’t so bad in France.
Bill (Matt Damon) is a good ol’ boy: Deliberately rough, handy with tools, shy on education, polite, respectful, if a bit sheltered. He probably never saw reason to learn a foreign language or travel abroad … that is until his college-aged daughter (Abigail Breslin) went up on a murder charge in Marseilles. Now, Bill travels to France regularly – which, I imagine, is quite the burden for a part-time oil driller.
The murder case is sordid. Allison (Breslin) lost her lesbian lover in the deal; hence we would sympathize with her even if she didn’t insist upon her innocence. Allison has been in prison for five years already when we see Bill visit; he’s a regular at this facility, but this seems the first time Allison wants to get a note to her lawyer. The letter essentially points out a possible lead on the genuine murderer; finding this guy becomes the plot of Stillwater. The lawyer says, “non,” but Bill isn’t satisfied until he has the letter translated , which he does with the help of his hotel neighbor (Camille Cottin) and her nine-year-old daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud).
The best part of the film is the relationship between Bill and the nine-year-old French girl. This relationship makes Stillwater worth seeing on its own. They both fill a missing piece in the life of the other. Maya doesn’t have a father; Bill was an absentee parent for Allison. And their interactions are painfully sweet as she teaches him French and he teachers her good ol’ boy.
The Trump question comes up once in the film and Stillwater takes a painfully neutral POV. It’s obvious that the Trump question should come up – do we feel less for Trump voters? You’re damn right we do; they’ve fully demonstrated (and firmly I might add) that morals, laws, truth, values, ethics, standards, civility, accountability, and just plain humanity have no place at their table — at least not when anything political comes up … so whether or not Bill is a Trump voter goes a long way towards deciding whether we are in his corner or not. Being from Oklahoma, relatively uneducated, with financial insecurity 
and deep connections to fossil fuel industry, Bill is likely among those susceptible to Trump’s mountain of lies. The film points out Bill didn’t vote for Trump because he couldn’t vote due to having that right taken away from him. He’s a convicted felon. Oh, well, that was a bit of a cop out. I think writer/director Tom McCarthy would have been better off telling us Bill DID vote for Trump and then showing us how Bill bought into Trump lies as if to say Bill isn’t a heartless Trump supporter, just another very disillusioned one. We can root for benevolent-but-disillusioned.
The problem then morphs to an unasked/unanswered question: “How did Bill get to stay and work indefinitely in France?” I am quite certain that French are no happier than Americans about foreigners who overstay visas and work without written governmental permission, especially ones with criminal records. We’re just not going to go there, movie? Um, ok.
In several ways, Stillwater is a deeper and more moving film than Spotlight, the film that garnered McCarthy the Oscar. Stillwater is more precise character study with regards to a societal problem rather than the other way around. Even if you suspected Bill was a Trump guy, it is Stillwater difficult to root against him—he’s just a guy who wants to bring his daughter home, is that so bad? And yet, in the process, he transforms into a guy with a healthy respect for all things human, not just all things American. This all makes it more painful to report how the film completely falls apart in retrospect. Watch the entirety of Stillwater and tell me the plot makes sense. It doesn’t. It caves completely. And if the plot falls apart, the entire reality here is contrived. My love of this film and its characters required a belief in the circumstances. Stillwater does indeed run deep; these are complex portrayals of complex people … but our ability to love them wasn’t unconditional. When that circumstance is false, the illusion breaks. Stillwater is both a wonderful film and huge disappointment at the same time.
An Oklahoman makes Marseilles his new milieu
His girl, you see, is up on murder two
Is this a Gallic frame?`
Matters not who’s to blame
In the Bible Belt, “tragic” is voting blue
Rated R, 139 Minutes
Director: Tom McCarthy
Writer: Tom McCarthy, Marcus Hinchey, Thomas Bidegain
Genre: The ugly, righteous American abroad
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Those overly sympathetic to the American redneck
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Realists
