On Desperation and Out of the Furnace

Out of the Furnace could be a visual accompaniment to the music of Bruce Springsteen whose music has its roots in the struggles of working class Americans. Set in mining community, evocative of The Deer Hunter (1978), Out of the Furnace explores the severe effects of a country in deep recession and replete with inequality.

Unemployment for the film’s protagonists is a constant threat and where these characters may have at one time been perceived as lazy, here they are hardworking, but desperate, reflecting the terrifying statistic that for every job place in America, there are four Americans vying for it. The platitude of dead or in jail couldn’t be more apt than here, but again the characters are sympathetic, with the exception of Woody Harrelson’s cartoonish villain. The brother’s whose story Out of the Furnace follows want to work, yet for one crime and eventually death beckons and for the other, with the closure of the mining plant, an uncertain future awaits, but jail is not a stretch. Yet these are good people and the film posits their fate is the responsibility of a poorly managed economy.

Neither does the war escape criticism as Casey Affleck’s returning soldier finds his future bleak outside of the army. As he stresses in one of the film’s most powerful scenes, he offered his life for his country and has now been casually cast aside. The soldier welcomes death as the only release from the horrors he has seen as a country unwilling to acknowledge his service.

In these ways, Out of the Furnace is symbolic of America, specifically the Bush administration, but sadly also the administration of change unfulfilled that Obama is becoming associated with. The film is powerfully acted and opens with a quiet assertiveness that disappears as the inevitable ending approaches. Still, this is an important, well made film with a message not to be ignored.