By Jeremy Hannaford (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: February 27, 2013
Before the credits roll, a note appears on screen stating that penalties associated with drug related crimes are more severe than that of bank robbery, rape or child molestation. Such is Snitch’s blatant underlying message – the superfluous imagery and story really hammer down that drugs are indeed bad for you.
In a role where his size and stature are hidden, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson takes on probably the most endearing role of his career. His stubborn demeanour and relenting want for his son’s release from incarceration are the driving factors of the film. He enters into the drug trade syndicate in order to name key figures and help make arrests in order to save his son.
Making sure to wear long sleeved shirts the entire film to hide his body size, he tries to portray himself as a normal civilian and his believability is strong for the most part. The film shows many moments in which Johnson isn’t an action hero in this film. He is a scared father putting himself into a situation much bigger than anything he could have imagined.
While the story follows Johnson’s actions, the additional stories focus on the importance of family. While hammering the message that drugs are not good once again, Snitch introduces The Walking Dead’s, Jon Bernthal, in a supporting role as the ex-con who tries to make it clean after his previous sentence but is pulled back in the hope to support his family. The counter argument that is displayed in Snitch is that while some may believe that money can help their families, it only tears them apart and puts them into a state of fear. Bernthal displays a good range of emotion and reminds the audience why he was one of the best characters on The Walking Dead. His devotion for his family is as equal as Johnson’s love for his son.
While Snitch does do a decent job of displaying the importance of family and the severity of drug crime, it also is horribly stereotypical with its criminal characters. The film does take place in Missouri and areas around the Mexican Border but never in the entire film do you see one Caucasian drug dealer. The African American and Latino population take an underhanded blow in this movie. While it was interesting to see The Wire’s, Michael Kenneth Williams, playing a similar character to that of Omar from the show, his performance doesn’t hide this rather insulting factor. Benjamin Bratt has a brief role as the leader of the Mexican drug cartel and his performance is laughable. Never does he display any real character traits that have not been seen hundreds of times before in which Latinos are associated with drug trafficking.
Snitch was inspired by events from the documentary Frontline, a production that talked about the changes in the federal drug policy system and how it was constructed to encourage criminals to snitch on their fellow accomplices. This aspect is exhibited at the beginning of the film but it later turns into a completely fictional story.
While it does a decent job of displaying the tension and fear one goes through when extreme measures are presented to save one’s family, the film does dip into disbelief with an exaggerated action sequence and certain ludicrous actions the characters partake in. While Snitch means well, it presents itself too aggressively and keeps the film mildly entertaining rather than something truly remarkable.
