I wasn’t sure what to make of Reds before I watched it, but what little I know of Warren Beatty’s politics told me it was probably a reflection on what it means to be leftwing in America. That was more or less true, but given the setting for the last third of the movie as the newly formed Soviet Union, there was a good chance some of it will be about the general disillusionment of seeing the idealistic Communists seeing their dream state turn into a brutal dictatorship. And, that was about all I expected of this movie.
I didn’t know it was based on real people.
Interspersed with interviews of people referred to as “The Witnesses”–apparently, people who actually knew the individuals played by the actors in the movie–Reds is the story of Jack Reed (Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). The pair of them were leftists in America, both from well-off backgrounds who desired to see a revolution take place to elevate the workers to a higher station than what they already had. Both worked as writers initially, Reed as a journalist, and upon his encouragement after a single meeting, Bryant moved to New York City and into Reed’s apartment to pursue her own journalism career. The two had a sometimes rocky relationship, splitting apart at one point over the question of Reed’s fidelity, before finally reconnecting and moving from simply writing about events to, in Reed’s case, helping to organize them. In the first act or two of this three hour movie, the pair spend a lot of time hobnobbing with artistic types that include Jack Nicholson’s scene-stealing portrayal of playwright Eugene O’Neill.
And then the Russian Revolution happens, a dream come true for these idealistic people. Reed eventually temporarily moves to Russia to get his branch of the American Communist Party’s endorsement of the Soviet government. However, what he finds over there isn’t entirely to his liking, and his health is already not in the best of shape following a beating he took during a protest that ruined one of his kidneys. Reed may believe deeply in his political convictions, but he also thinks he should have a life outside of politics because that is what makes fighting for something worth the fight. Meanwhile, Bryant would like to know where her husband is and how to get to him when he needs her the most.
I didn’t expect to like this movie. But then a funny thing happened: I ended up not just liking this movie, but largely loving it. Beatty, as writer and director and not just the lead actor, seemed to understand that there was a high degree of difference between these well-off American leftists and the workers they claim to support. Sure, Reed will let himself get beaten during a labor strike, but he and his friends are spending time putting on plays and the like. These are people who mean well without really having much stakes in the game when they’re trying to create art as much as anything else.
That’s actually one of the big reasons, I think, that I appreciated Nicholson’s O’Neill. He doesn’t seem to share the political perspectives of his friend group, and he’s something of a cynical bastard of a man. But really, Beatty did a good job putting this together, showing two people who found love and revolution, did big things, and are largely forgotten today. Granted, they were communists, so maybe it isn’t that surprising they’ve been forgotten today. Beatty doesn’t present either Reed or Bryant as saints or anything. Both have their flaws, and the film ends with the pair needing to square their idealism with the reality of the Russian Revolution in ways that it is doubtful either of them anticipated. Whether they were being hassled by the American government or more or less held captive by the Soviets or even imprisoned by the Finns, these were two people who went up against the world regardless of how hard the world was going to hit back.
Grade: A
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