Sunday, 15 March 2015

Bewitched by Brilliance of Capote

When is the professional aspect of life ended and the personal one started? Sometimes they can be so intimately tangled and messily knotted. Sometimes, the line that separates them is blurry or worse, non-existent.
That is the message I think Capote conveys. Capote is based on more or less true story, set during the period Truman Capote did his research for his revolutionary novel that propelled him to a higher level of fame, In Cold Blood. It is dubbed as 'the first real crime novel.' Capote alone wouldn't be able to approach many different types of people - his spectrum is quite narrow, actually. Judging from his way of talking and the preferred content of his conversations, that doesn't come as a surprise. For his aid, his longtime friend, Nelle Harper Lee, came to his side. 
They tried to get as much information as subtly as they can. They played nice, tried to befriend the townspeople whom just got the biggest shock of their lives - senseless massacre of the Clutters. They socialized with the investigators, visited the house of one of the investigators - all while trying to get worthwhile data for novel material. 
Weeks flew by without any decent improvement.
Then, a break came. Two young men were caught for trying to cash bad cheques.

Meet Perry and Dick. Capote's relationship with the former will be further explored in this movie - in fact, it is the dominating theme. Capote heavily explores the relationship between the writer and his inner circle of people - which evolves during the movie. In the beginning, his inner circle are Harper Lee, his editor, and his lover, Jack Dunphy. As his research went, it slowly expanded to include Perry. Capote heavily identified himself with Perry - as he said in the movie

It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front. - Truman Capote - Capote
The two convicts cannot be more different. Dick showed more acceptance to his fate - it's "pasrah" in Bahasa Indonesia, "しょがない” in Japanese - everything is, in the end, decided by God/ fate. It doesn't mean that he didn't try to save his neck - he tried. But he simply showed less emotion, less melancholism than Perry.
Perry, on the other hand, refused to eat at all when he was caught. Only because of Capote's direct intervention then he was willing to eat. 
Then he shone.
He showed his intelligence - something surprising for a half-Indian for that time - by recognizing and incorporating difficult words in his conversations and correspondence. Then he and Capote started to befriend each other. He showed his trust and gave a lot of information to Truman, and in turn, Capote gave both Perry and Dick books and legal aid. For some time, this arrangement worked well. And the time spent was enough to make the friendship evolved into something else deeper and more meaningful.

It was enough to make Dunphy give an ultimatum - go to Spain, write with me, or else. Capote obeyed. During their stay in Spain, he didn't reply any of Perry's letter. While I understand his reason, I am still furious, because their relationship was skewed from the beginning. It was already unbalanced, and it makes me immensely sad. Capote frequently lied to Perry - from haven't started his novel at all, haven't titled it (in reality? gruesomely titled In Cold Blood). And Perry, in contrast to the horrific crime he was a part of, was extremely innocent and trusting it was difficult to bear! He actually believed and hoped that Capote will write a novel that put him and Dick in better light, which of course he didn't do. Surprising, surprising.
Towards the end, came a huge shock. Dick and Perry will be hung. Their appeal was rejected. Capote was clearly torn. He was in difficult position. Perry hadn't told him about what actually transpired on that night. But, Perry obviously had something bigger, more important in his mind. His nearing death sentence - a date with the gallows. 
A friend will console. A friend will not act cold and ask you to tell the details of your crime for his book. Guess which path Capote took? It broke my heart seeing Perry's expression as the words came out from Capote's mouth. Capote betrayed Perry severely, awfully. Unforgivably. 
Then Perry told him. And in yet another heart-breakingly scene, he said

He was just looking at me. Looking into my eyes. Like he expected me to kill him. Like he expected me to be the kind of person who would kill him. I was thinking, this nice man is scared of me. I was so ashamed. I mean, I thought he was a ... very nice...gentle man. And I thought so right up till I slit his throat. ... I didn't know what I did till I heard the sound. (refers to Herb Clutter)
He is a so fucked-up boy that, given chance, can be a productive member of community. But he never got any. And on the day of their execution, Perry sent Capote a telegram, asking him to come. Capote, unable to bear the emotional pressure, refused to open any correspondence from Perry. Only the combined persistence of Harper Lee and his editor succeeded in making him read the telegram, dragging him out of bed, stopping him from drinking, and coming. 
Perry told him that he is afraid because it will feel lonely and he wants Capote to present as moral support. Capote refused because he knew that the emotional pressure is too huge to handle. Perry died believing he was alone all along, while in reality, Capote came when he was about to hung.
People can infer so many underlying themes from this movie, I think. But for me, the most attractive and distinguished aspect is the blurred line between a source and a friend. When does your colleague stop being a mere work colleague and become a friend? What kind of lines should you draw? do you have to pay attention, really befriend your co-workers? 
The second theme I get is a view of a relationship where you know, at some point, you will be separated from the other. In Capote and Perry's case, the separation is permanent, inexorable, and gradually becomes imminent. Both of them knew. But they chose to enjoy each other's company. They let their feelings to each other grow. It made the separation unbearable, but on the other hand, there was a time when they were truly happy. And it is a beautiful thing.

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