"Deliverance" takes up the classic struggles of man vs. nature and man vs. man. In a film festival whose theme is "Wet," "Deliverance" (1972) is a fitting addition. Set almost entirely on the Cahulawassee River in north Georgia, the near constant presence of the rushing river is a reminder of the unknown into which the four main characters are traveling.
These characters are all suburban businessmen, led by Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds), known for his outdoor skills and dislike for "the system." The other three are Bobby Trippe (Ned Beatty), a slightly chubby insurance salesman; Drew Ballinger (Ronnie Cox), who spends much of the movie's beginning picking his guitar; and Ed Gentry (Jon Voight), Lewis' closest friend and another competent outdoorsman.
These three are talked into the venture by Lewis, who wants to canoe down the river before it's dammed up, saying, "They're drownin' the river ... just about the last wild, untamed, unpolluted, unf---ed up river in the South."
So the guys drive up into the backwoods looking for a spot to launch their canoes, and for some fellows to drive their cars down to Aintry, where they'll be pulling out. At a little collection of ramshackle houses, they meet up with some hillbillies, two of which agree to transport their cars for them.
This is also where one of the greatest movie scenes of all time occurs, the famous "Dueling Banjos." Drew, starts playing his guitar and is answered by a young, deformed, retarded child on a banjo. The two play through, with the young boy getting the best of him.
Finally the men find a place to put in their canoes and are on their way. Everything goes uneventfully until a sudden confrontation by two mountain men. Holding the four main characters at gunpoint, the sexual perversions of the mountain men are made apparent. From here, the trip spins out of control, degenerating into an all-out fight for survival.
There is not a weak link in this movie. From the script to the acting to the cinematography, its every aspect is superior. The way the camera follows the characters down the river, rarely showing the full picture, opting instead to pull the viewer in close lends to the suspense and nervousness the viewer feels for the entire length of the movie.
The script is incredible, based on James Dickey's best-selling novel by the same name. The conflict between man and nature is brought out immediately, when Lewis explains to his friends that they should take this trip before man rapes nature of all her beauty. The men's attitudes toward nature then change, understandably, as their terrifying experiences cause them to fear their every surrounding.
The acting, however, is what really drives this movie. Reynolds turns in one of his best performances as a believable and likable hardcore, wannabe survivalist. Voight justifies his headliner status in his portrayal of a complex man tortured with inner conflict. His is the character that grows most during the film, discovering things about himself that he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Cox plays a pretty good guitar, but also turns in a very good performance as the quiet, timid man of the group, the one who's trying always to do the right thing. And Beatty is the joker of the group, a real city slicker; he has the cheeriest disposition until the trip's events begin to crack him.
"Deliverance" is about venturing into the unknown, and its cinematography lets the viewer share in this feeling with the four men. One never knows what the next bend in the river will bring, or who or what is behind the next tree.
One of darkest and most raw, visceral movies ever made, "Deliverance" will leave the viewer physically and mentally shaken, at odds with nature and his relationship to it.
"Deliverance" will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturday in Culbreth Theater.
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