Reading Of The Will/Lee’s Past – Manchester by the Sea (2016)
No film has ever engulfed me with its precise realism the way Manchester by the Sea has. To put it simply, Lonergan’s movie looks and feels like life. And led by an Oscar-winning performance by Casey Affleck and an impressive showing by young star, Lucas Hedges, the film will more than likely be used as a learning tool for aspiring actors and should eventually reach a level of legendary status.
The story follows Lee Chandler (Affleck), a poor Boston janitor who, after suffering a family tragedy, exhibits emotional paralysis. For the first third of the movie, Lee seems almost invisible, going through the motions in his life and not caring either way about anything. But when his brother dies, Lee is forced back into a familial role as he goes back to his home town, Manchester, to care for his nephew, Patrick (Hedges).
During that first part, the audience isn’t sure how to feel about Lee, whether to like him or not. But when he goes to read Joe’s (Kyle Chandler) will, we understand the reasoning behind his monotone personality. When the lawyer tells Lee he’s been appointed guardianship of Patrick, a flashback of the janitor’s horrific past goes through his head.
Lee used to be a father; he and his wife, Randi (Michelle Williams), had three kids and lived a good life. However, after a long night of partying, Lee goes out to the store and comes back to find his home on fire, Randi on the lawn, but no kids. Standing helpless, he watches as the flames engulf what used to be his responsibility. The next morning, with Joe by his side, he nearly faints as one of the firefighters picks up what’s left of the children’s bodies. Lee explains to the police that, in an intoxicated state, he left the screen on the fireplace open. The guilt moves over the father’s face, and we recognize Lee as he’s later in Boston.
The cops tell Lee that he made a horrible mistake, but he’s free to go because it’s not a crime to forget closing the fireplace. With Joe and his father out in the lobby, Lee begins to leave. But as an officer walks past him, Lee grabs the man’s gun and puts it to his head; it misfires, and the other cops tackle him.
What we’re watching here is a man literally breaking; the situation he’s been put in is one that we never want to even think of, let alone see. And what makes it worse is that this horrific flashback is sparked when Lee is appointed as Patrick’s guardian. The man is obviously not ready to take care of another person; he has a difficult time just taking care of himself. Though Patrick will have a hard time understanding why his uncle is so hesitant to stay with him in Manchester, the audience gets it: he’s scared he’s going to mess up again, and for any of us who have ever made a mistake at any point in our lives, you can’t blame him.
