Lawless

The Book

The novel is a fictionalised account of the author's grandfather and his brothers, "The Bondurant Boys", who ran a bootlegging operation during the prohibition era in Franklin County. It doesn't shy away from portraying his ancestors as a criminal gang, but as so much of the population were involved in the production, selling or running of distilled liquor, this is nothing extraordinary. They do have integrity of a sort, however, and refuse to bend to the intimidation of locals and the law looking to make a piece for themselves, which sets them up for conflict and revenge.
The description is unflinching and gritty in its portrait of the 1930s - this was not a glamourous time. It is brought vividly to life and it does seem shocking that this was only two generations past.
I also enjoyed the additional side story involving the writer Sherwood Anderson researching some of the local news. Having read Winesburg, Ohio it was nice to find that link and also discover his bizarre death.

Lawless Film website 

The Film

The acting, cinematography and soundtrack were all really memorable for this adaptation. The film alters some of the storyline, presumably to make more of an emotional impact than the truth. The revenge killing of Guy Pearce's psychopathic character in a showdown leaves Forrest's demise by pneumonia just a stupid drunk accident, rather than the result of making the revenge by drowning later on, aiming for it to look like an accident and therefore avoid a murder charge.




The screenplay also ditches the sub plot of Sherwood Anderson's journalism, but I can see that this doesn't tie in well with the action. The game of cat and mouse between law and bootlicker was the more exciting and dramatic story. It made an interesting change from the usual prohibition gangster style movies set in Chicago, however, taking the action out to the country where the source of all the trouble stems.