Netflix Pick – The Beaver
The Beaver is a clever way of dealing with the troubles Mel Gibson had when the world turned on him. After his drunken escapades were caught on tape as he brutally badmouthed large sections of the American population and target his hate filled rant at an innocent police officer the world fell out of love with one of the largest actors on the planet.
By now Gibson is something we all keep shut away. Lethal Weapon, Braveheart, and Mad Max are still fantastic but not much is said about the man. This was even more true in 2011 when Jodie Foster produced and directed this quirky movie as a way for Gibson to apologize to the people.
Of course Gibson had publically apologized many times but a movie star, and that’s what he is, belongs in front of a camera that isn’t streaming to a website or a news outlet.
The Beaver follows Walter Black (Mel Gibson). After an unseen family tragedy Walter falls into despair and alcoholism. On the verge of losing his family along with his sanity his wife, Meredith (Jodie Foster) kicks him out for the sake of their children. Porter (Anton Yelchin) is a high school kid determined not to become his father, though he is well on his way to being just that. Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) is too young to hold a grudge.
After a particularly bad bender and a tube tv crushing him, literally and figuratively, Walter wakes up next to a stuffed Beaver puppet. The puppet talks to him, though Walter’s own voice, in Gibson’s own original accent.
The puppet is a coping mechanism. Walter fakes a doctor’s order to get people to go along with it and through the puppet he’s able to reconnect with his family. His young son is the way in but there is nothing conniving about Walter’s actions. He is a broken man who doesn’t know how to fix himself.
The story of The Beaver actually isn’t anything we haven’t seen in Hollywood before. A man at the end of his rope makes amends through means that would be concerning in the real world but the world of movie making makes it charming. The family drama with a twist is well told but the deeper meaning for Gibson is where The Beaver shines.
While The Beaver is now pushing six years old the recent revival of Gibson as an expert director with 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge makes his apology and humble performance very note worthy. Even in the early promos for Ridge Gibson wasn’t mentioned by name, but just ‘the director of…’ Clearly, people haven’t accepted his numerous apologies.
Every scene Gibson is in show the pain and heartache behind the actor. Every time Walter’s beaver tells himself he doesn’t need ‘them,’ being his family, it seems it’s Gibson’s anger telling the real life man that he doesn’t need his fans. As Walter tells his family he does need them. He wants back in. He fights for them and goes to a crazy drastic route to prove it, mostly to himself. Gibson is the one telling the audience all the same sentiments.
Along with Gibson’s powerful performance with pain and regret packed behind every glassy-eyed look the rest of the cast knocks their supporting roles out of the park. The tragically late Anton Yelchin was just coming into his own as a skilled actor. It was nice seeing him in a non-franchise film playing a character with some real confidence. Further more Jennifer Lawrence as Yelchin’s character’s love interest before she really took off with The Hunger Games and made it big in the dramatic world working with David O Russell was a treat.
The Beaver is a well told story that doubles as a better apology. Why it took me so long to give this film a shot is an utter mystery. Better late than never and that’s what the Netflix Pick is all about.
