Deliverance

A disturbing tale of city meets country, ‘Deliverance’ presents the viewer with a series of disturbing assaults on the senses – and a desire never to venture where you don’t belong.

Four city men venture to the recesses of the Appalachians to camp and enjoy the rivers before they are dammed. However, on leaving the comfort of the urban areas for the wilderness, they find that their idea of wilderness leaves much to the imagination, and they soon have to become far more like the people they encounter than they might have wanted to be.

John Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty ably portray the four city men venturing into the country, whilst the supporting cast of rednecks (some real, some actors) add a sense of reality to the disturbing nature of the narrative. The two leads represent the varying presentations of the city man – Voight’s Ed is the meek man forced to get in touch with his strong side, whilst Reynolds’ Lewis is the experienced traveller; the others look to him for guidance and advice. Voight and Reynolds appear to almost switch roles throughout, but both are believable as their respective characters.

Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty present the other sides to Reynolds and Voight – Cox’s Drew is a guitar-playing nerd, whose sense of right and wrong comes into clear focus at times, whilst Beatty’s brash Bobby pays the price of his cynicism toward the rednecks. Ably supporting the two leads, these two actors are more morally and socially complex, presenting the other aspects of the urbane man.

The redneck characters are largely played by men from the deeper recesses of the wilderness – the two that the men encounter in the infamous ‘Piggy’ scene are prime examples of the realism Boorman sought, and they, along with the bizarre banjo-playing kid give the film that extra edge – these, after all, are the people Boorman is saying are perpetrating the wrongs upon the four men, and yet they’re happy to portray this on-screen in a chillingly real way.

John Boorman achieves a sense of wilderness and isolation that few directors seem able to here – the oppressive silence, coupled with the sparse dialogue and starkly beautiful natural surroundings provide the movie with an unescapable feeling of tension and horror. Boorman evokes the mysterious nature of the American countryside, forcing city man against rural man and presenting the outcomes. Skilfully presenting the conflicts and disturbing aspects of this meeting, the British director achieves in ‘Deliverance’ a sense of evil and mystery that is tangible and not supernatural – a more effectively frightening film is the result.

In terms of dialogue, it’s fair to say you’ll not hear “Squeal like a piggy” without thinking of this film – other than that however, the script is sparse, reflecting the detached nature of the film at large. “Dueling Banjos” is the one piece of music that most permeates the film – its use at the start is perhaps one of the more memorable uses of music in a film, and the improvised, fresh style of it reflects quite starkly the backwards nature of the people – the kid playing the banjo is clearly a testament to this. It’s fair to say you won’t forget this piece of music after watching. The wildernesses and natural beauty of the setting provide a vivid backdrop, and in the scenes involving the canoes and the rapids, it’s clear that the actors actually rode the canoes – the sense that the film was made with as little film intrusion as possible adds to the themes of isolation concurrent throughout.

Disturbingly graphic, sinister from start to finish and a distinctly human drama – Deliverance may put you off camping in the wild for life.

9/10