What will make a man snap, go out of control, and want to kill the President, by flying an airplane right into the White House? While the setting of this tale is pre-911, watching it in a post-911 era does send some unnerving chills down your spine.
Life is bad for Sam Bicke. His American Dream is falling apart, starting with his family. He is separated from his wife, and she has custody of their 3 children. She has obviously moved on, and is unhappy whenever Sam visits her and the children, and even more angry when he sees her at her workplace.
His moral values clashes with company culture - as a salesman he is expected to make the occassional white lie to sell products. But he subscribes to the moral belief that one should tell the truth, even in business. Needless to say, his quota is always at the bottom rung, and gets chided and belittled by fellow colleagues and his boss.
He tries to start his own business, but is stuck with insane bureaucracy and suspected racism. At one stage he steals from his brother, who's also in the same line of business (rubber tyres), and that plunged their blood relations even further down the gutter.
Heck, even his political ideology he identifies with the Black Panthers also turn inconsequential, as the group gets clamped down.
Frustrated by the current state of his being, he finally puts the blame on the "system", as we see Richard Nixon on tv screens, giving his political speeches in his scandal laden presidency. Sam finally decides to take matters into his own hand to not just be a grain of sand on the beach, and this leads to an explosive ending where the pace of the film quickens.
Sean Penn is absolutely brilliant, and is able to carry the entire weight of this film on his own shoulders. Playing a man with many facades and moods, he brings Sam Bicke to life with ease with his repetoire of acting skills. His co-stars put up commendable performances, albeit short ones . (Can't get enough of Don Cheadle after his excellent Hotel Rwanda).
I checked out this show in preparation of his other film The Interpreter, with yet another Australian actress (His 21 Grams co-star Naomi Watts in this one, and Nicole Kidman in the other... lucky fella!), so if you want to watch Sean showcase his acting ability in a recent non-mainstream film, you can consider this.
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