Chinatown

Directed by Roman Polanski

Cast:
Jack Nicholson
Faye Dunaway
John Huston

John Hillerman
Burt Young
Perry Lopez
Diane Ladd

Cameo Roman Polanski
Screenwriter Robert Towne
Director of Photography John.A Alonzo
Composer Jerry Goldsmith

Chinatown is reminiscent of an exceptionally intricate puzzle box; when turned one way searching for its secret you find yourself lost again. It is one of the greatest film noir mysteries in Cinema History. Its compelling, multifaceted plot pulls you in and leads you to a sinister place where the struggle between morality and corruption ends, and optimism is destroyed.

The story centres around two central characters, Jake Gittes, played by Jake Nicholson, and Mrs Mulwray, played, Faye Dunaway.

Jake is a private detective who specializes in infidelity cases, and he is tired of this work. People commission Jake to get photographic evidence of their partner's affairs - they already know the truth but refuse to face it until they see it placed in front of them. Jake himself is cold and distant, a man who gives the impression that he has witnessed the darker aspects of human nature to a great extent and is no longer surprised by anything people are capable of.

A woman visits Jake at his office and asks him to investigate her husband; Jake does not want the case. However when the woman in question tells him that her husband is Mr Hollis Mulwray, the affluent and well-known chief engineer of the local Water and Power Company, Jake changes his mind.

On the trail of Mr Mulwray he listens to public hearings regarding the Water Company's latest proposal, the Alto Vallejo Dam and Reservoir. Mr Mulwray stands up against the new proposal and refuses to build it, as he believes that its construction would cause a disaster in the future. Such a disaster happened when the St. Francis dam burst and hundreds of people died. Mulwray's opinions, although based on an educated and intelligent evaluation as an engineer, are not popular with the local farmers as it denies the area much needed water; Los Angeles is experiencing a severe drought. Also the farmers themselves accuse the Water Company of stealing water from the valley and starving the livestock.

Whilst following Mr Mulwray late into the evening Jake only witnesses the puzzling behaviour of the man visiting all the Cities water supplies on his own. Eventually he does find Mr Mulwray with a girl and proceeds to take pictures of them together which make front-page news, but all is not as it seems in Chinatown. Gittes arrives at his office to be confronted by the real Mrs Evelyn Mulwray, an attractive, intelligent and sophisticated woman who has not hired the detective to follow her husband. In other words the previous woman was paid to pose as her in order to get him to investigate. At this point Jake is absolutely stuck for words for the first time, and he is now curious about the complicated chain of events that are beginning to unfold in front of him, as well as being embarrassed and angry that someone has made a fool of him.

He begins to investigate further as Mrs Mulwray's husband is found dead in suspicious circumstances. It is apparent that Mrs Mulwray is hiding something that terrifies her. Soon it becomes clear that Evelyn's father is Noah Cross, one of the most influential and powerful men of the city. Evelyn's fear for this man is transparent.

On meeting Noah Cross, played by, John Huston, we see a man who enjoys eating dead birds with the head still intact on the plate. Noah Cross is old and authoritative and there is an undertone of callousness in his manner. Jake is hired by him to find the young girl who was last seen with Mr Mulwray.

The deeper Jake delves, the more disconcerting are the answers he finds. Soon it becomes apparent why the farmers are so angry. Water officials have diverted the water to cause a drought in some parts of the valley to force the farmers out. Jake becomes involved in a nasty fight whilst investigating which results in a badly cut nose, for the rest of the movie his face will be covered in dressing. On one of these occasions Mrs Mulwray rescues him and eventually they kiss and go to bed. He tells Mrs Mulwray that he has visited her father but does not divulge the fact that her father hired him to find the girl last seen with her husband.

Mrs Mulwray tells Jake that her father is very dangerous and also crazy, she asks him to wait at the house until she gets back. Perhaps it is desperation on her part, possibly deep down she can sense that Jake can be trusted and will help her and she needs help desperately, in many ways Jake has already let his cold unemotional guard down. This woman has affected him in a way that does not usually happen. Jake is a man who is haunted by an incident, which he experienced whilst in the Police Force involving an innocent woman whom he tried to help, unsuccessfully. Mrs Mulwray is haunted by a past that is casting a black and ominous shadow over her future.

The tension in this film is felt through the characters, the stress and anxiousness displayed by Evelyn is very tangible. Chinatown focuses on political corruption and greed, and the play written by Robert Towne was in fact based loosely on the Los Angeles scandal The 1908 Owens Valley Rape (also here). However the plot of Chinatown has numerous layers, this is also a film that illustrates the dark side of human nature, where innocence cannot prevail. If there are good intentions in the hearts of any of the characters in this film they are destroyed by the corrupt and malicious people that surround them.

Robert Towne actually wrote the play with a more hopeful ending, however Roman Polanski decided that he wanted a disturbing and tragic end to the film, which is very fitting and also helps to make this the marvellous film that it is. The films mastery lies not in the setting or scenery but in the dialog and the characters themselves and also in the pace of the narrative.

One final turn on the puzzle box is Evelyn's secret; the darkest place of all. At the explosive and shattering end we finally reach a desolate destination, where only the brutal survive.

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