David Wellington's "I Love a Man in Uniform" is about Henry Adler, a bank clerk/aspiring actor who wins a lead role on a cop show. Wanting to get in touch with his character, Henry begins to wear his cop costume in public. Before long Henry begins to confuse the role he is playing with real life. In addition to this, he also falls in love with a pretty actress who plays a prostitute on the show. Before long he becomes obsessed with her too. Listening to a description of the plot, it is easy to see how people would mistake it as a knock off of "Taxi Driver". I think however that the similarities are intentional. Wellington's film is a comment on the destructive influence that American pop culture (not necessarily bad pop culture mind you) has on us. The uniform that Henry wears makes him feel important. Yet every time he gets into an altercation while wearing the uniform, he gets more disrespect than when he doesn't wear it. When he's in civilian clothes, he's simply ignored, but when he dresses as the cop he gets yelled at by the parking violator, pushed by the noisy neighbor, and laughed at by the junkie. The only time he gets respect in the suit is when he is literally playing the role of the cop on the show. Even then the respect is phony, everyone is acting.
In the 1994 edition of The International Film Guide, Canadian critic Gerald Pratley said that Wellington's film "lacked the courage to look and feel Canadian." While it's true that the film seems to be set in a generic city, this is Wellington's intention. When Henry, dressed as the cop, assists a real cop in an arrest, he repeats a line from his TV show: "you want me to read him his rights?" "You watch too much TV kid" is the cop's reply. An American audience would think that the cop was suggesting that he ignore the Miranda rule because a lowly street criminal is not worth it. A Canadian audience however would understand however, that there is no Miranda law in Canada. Was Wellington being careless or trying to please a mass audience? I say neither. It is important to know that most Canadian produced TV shows are made for the American syndicated market. Henry's mind is so ingrained in his character that he forgets this. Wellington is giving us Canadians a subtle wink that he knows the Americans will not pick up upon.
The Taxi Driver comparisons come most when Henry falls in love with the woman who plays the prostitute. Yet again this is a clever device by Wellington. Who Henry really falls in love with is the character of the prostitute. Because she is not real, Henry must manifest his love into a desire for the woman who plays her. This of course can only lead to disaster. "I don't love you for who you are," he tells her near the end, "I love you for who I think you can become." Likewise, the scene where Henry finally kills a man is not presented as a cathartic, climactic shootout as it is in "Taxi Diver". Rather, it is a horrifying moment when Henry realizes just how far things have gotten out of control.
Though the film is powerful throughout, the most effective scene is right at the end, when Henry dies watching his character die on television, solidifying the connection between real and reel. Importantly, Wellington does not show Henry pulling the trigger, leaving it ambiguous as to whether it was suicide or an accident. When Henry's body is discovered by a cop the next day , the cop mistakes Henry for a real cop and shouts into the radio "officer down!" Ironically this is the only moment when Henry is given any respect while in uniform. It's almost as if Wellington is saying that this is the what would happen if someone tried to live out "Taxi Driver" in real life.
5 out of 7 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
