Public Enemies: Gangster Paradise

Because I live in the digital age, the idea of robbing banks baffles me. Most banks I've been in are relatively mundane, and very few of them have vaults as prominent as the banks in Public Enemies. I think the first time I even saw a bank vault was when I was in college. Money, like most things today, has gone digital. Banking can now be done over a computer and funds can change hands without either party actually physically touching a single banknote or coin. I know that bank robbery still occurs in both real life and the movies (last summer, The Dark Knight opened with a fantastic bank robbery scene that payed homage to Heat, a movie directed by Michael Mann, just like Public Enemies), but I can't imagine it's anything like how John Dillinger used to do it.

Dillinger robbed banks during the Great Depression, and to many Americans, he was a spectacular anti-hero. His exploits were almost like entertainment to an audience that needed escapism. This status suited Dillinger well; when one of his fellow gangsters sarcastically mused that none of them should care what the public thinks of them, Dillinger responded that because they hide out among the public (both generally and specifically, when they have to lay low in people's houses after a bank job), they should care very much what the public thinks of them.

Unfortunately, I'm not a historian, so some of the things I gleaned from the film may not be historically accurate, but I felt as if Dillinger's favorable public image was helped by the disdain that some people had for the government at the time. Or at least certain branches of it. J. Edgar Hoover was attempting to nationalize what would become the FBI, and he appeared to be willing to do anything to do it. Hoover was a shady person in reality, but Billy Crudup played him as a total creep and hypocrite, someone who was willing to break some laws to uphold others. The cops weren't much better; Mann showed us that the biggest difference between the cops and robbers was a badge. Many of the cops and Bureau agents, including Special Agent Melvin Purvis (the man hand-picked by Hoover to apprehend Dillinger) are just as willing to kill their targets as they are to take them alive, even if the situation may not call for it. A particularly brutal scene involves a cop violently interrogating one of Dillinger's known associates... his girlfriend.

I mentioned modern banking at the beginning of this post because part of the story of Public Enemies involves the changing criminal activity in America in the 30s. A few scenes in Chicago contrast Dillinger, who commits his crimes in the open and with an audience, with Al Capone and his men, who help create organized crime, which occurs in the shadows. One scene shows Dillinger's reaction to a roomful of men under Capone's employ; they are bookies, earning money through their number skills.

The film is a tad uneven at points, but it is still a great experience.

Up next: Summer lovin'...