By Doug Cummings
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The problem with "Dead Presidents," the new film from the Hughes brothers ("Menace 2 Society") is that it's magnificently filmed, well-acted, and generally well-wrought, but it breezes over its emotional logic while trying to make a statement about the social hardships Vietnam veterans, specifically black soldiers, faced when they returned home from the war.
Its protagonist is a reasonably bright but naive high school graduate, Anthony Curtis, who decides to join the Marines with some friends in 1969. While on his tour of duty, Anthony experiences the horrible violence and ethically confusing military maneuvers that are well-associated with the war in Vietnam, and returns a psychologically scarred veteran.
In the Bronx, Anthony finds that his girlfriend and their daughter are eking out a living in a rundown apartment and the path to prosperity looks unlikely. He suffers from intense nightmares that combine the horrors of Vietnam with his current job as a butcher's apprentice, and his loving family struggles to identify with the personality changes his harrowing experience has brought on him.
Anthony and his veteran pals grow in anger against a society that doesn't reward them for their service and rejects anyone associated with the war, and as their lives become increasingly more despondent, they plan a violent heist.
While "Dead Presidents" tries hard to justify Anthony's violent response, it never makes its social pressures dramatically outweigh the sincere, albeit misdirected, support his family offers and the idea that every individual is morally responsible for him- or herself. The film seems to take for granted the fact that Anthony's environment dictates his actions without conveying his emotional experience in a very convincing manner. The filmmakers show his character in stages: the naive patriot, the overwhelmed soldier, the bitter veteran, the violent reactionary, but they don't concentrate on the emotional transitions between each stage. Anthony functions as a character who simply enacts a social agenda for the filmmakers, falling out of empathy with the audience, and never seems emotionally complex or psychologically independent.
Part of the film's simplicity might be attributed to the fact that its makers, Allen and Albert Hughes, are only 22 years old. They were born when the movie ends, and the social environment of the time, as well as the emotions of its central protagonist, are experiences that they are probably not too familiar with.
But the brothers are fine visual storytellers. The Vietnam scenes combine the savage beauty of "Apocalypse Now" with the chaotic terror of Oliver Stone's war sagas, and the movie recreates its Bronx settings with intense lighting colors and detailed textures. But the movie never lifts itself from its depiction of the now-familiar, difficult re-acclamation Vietnam veterans faced, and it never forces the audience to confront Anthony's confusion by developing a strong emotional connection.
The film contains many well-presented scenes, however, and despite its annoying simplicity, "Dead Presidents" is a well-produced film that again signals the Hughes brothers as filmmakers to keep an eye on. The film is thoughtfully presented with a strong visual flair, recreating its era with undeniable skill. But it fails to be very moving, choosing instead to depict the result of its drama without conveying the process leading to it.