An Ordinary Man is a 2018 drama about a war criminal in hiding who forms a relationship with his only connection to the outside world – his maid.
Beginning with a text crawl that reduces the tragedy of the fall of communism in the former Yugoslavia and the terrifying aftermath of genocide and human atrocities to its bullet points, writer/director Brad Silberling‘s latest film An Ordinary Man looks to establish that very bad things surround everything that will follow. Indeed, we meet a man shuddered by that past, and a performance that brings great and terrible emotion to it in an equally shuddered film that unfortunately takes us nowhere, even as it raises plenty of questions.
The General (Ben Kingsley) is a war criminal. That’s made clear from the start. In hiding, he lives in the former Yugoslavia with the help of those wanting to keep him free of the courts. As such, he’s forced to move around a lot and has no one to spend time with. His latest shift, made by handler Miro (Peter Serafinowicz), plops him the middle of a mostly rundown concrete apartment complex, riddled with graffiti and nearly devoid of tenants. It’s no palace. In this isolation comes Tanja (Hera Hilmar), a former maid to the previous owner, and she offers her services to The General, who is naturally distrustful of anyone and anything. He accepts, and with her, old habits resurface as he takes control of the young woman. But there are secrets about her that mean all is not what it seems.
Admittedly, the start of An Ordinary Man is intriguing, The General a dark and menacing figure who shops for vegetables, stopping a crime, and getting transferred to a new location. This new home becomes base for a large part of the story, and the entrance of Tanja offers some glimpses into what and who The General is, forcing her to strip nude and interrogating her at gunpoint. It’s a troubling scene and easily the film’s most potent, establishing much about The General and his tactics. However, strangely, we sense far more reaching questions than he does, and already there are notable cracks that begin to leak.
READ MORE: Review of the Sports Drama Borg vs McEnroe
Then begins a tonal shift into all new territory where Siberling opts to abandon much of that early drama and take to a bit of light comedy mixed with antagonism as The General likens to the role of ruler over the girl, their relationship one of extended conversations where he presses her for intimate details about her life. She seems hardly a happy person, and he takes advantage of that, manipulating her for his amusement. This has great effect on the girl, who knows who he is, as most everyone they see on the streets does. Their exchanges run deep and the game between them is one that feels on even ground in some ways, she a hermit of sorts with no family and no boyfriends. As such, he revels in exposing more.
It’s a little hard to know how to take the whole experience, as Kingsley fires up the screen once again, swinging the pendulum far, from humor to rage and it’s often very compelling. However, the movie meanders and runs in circles, feeling very much like filmed stage play, and it’s hard to take any of it seriously even as themes pop up of great consequence. Very important issues arise as well as a bit of Balkan history, Siberling introducing much that feels ready to be explored, yet fails to really reign them in with any impact. Fans of Kingsley will surely enjoy a film that gives him such free range, but An Ordinary Man is just that. Ordinary.