The Savages (2007)

This film, starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, examines the behaviour of a brother and sister who have to make arrangements to care for their senile father.

It forces the audience to ask ‘what would I do in their shoes?’ and also reminds us that we ourselves might become helpless and dependent one day. All the characters’ relationships are loveless, and much of the action takes place in a bleak wintery Buffalo, NY. But don’t be put off by all this, because there are many moments of wit and humour throughout.

Presumably the family surname ‘Savage’ was chosen by the writer as a label to describe their self-centred personalities and the violent parenting by the father which is hinted at towards the end of the movie. Surely savage is too strong? There might be another reason for using the word; the film’s subtext is about race. Historically, native Africans would have been described as ‘savages’ – a dehumanising term which helped to justify Christian missionary work and colonial atrocities including the slave trade.

In this film, all the white characters are pretty unsympathetic and cold, whereas the black characters are carers. The only mention of ‘love’ is by Gbenga Akinnagbe’s character Jimmy who works in the care home. The contrast between black and white is further strengthened because the white characters have American accents whereas the black characters have either Caribbean or African accents. So they are relative newcomers to the United States, and we see white American behaviour from their perspective. It’s not an attractive sight.