L.A. Confidential
released 1997
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“L.A. Confidential” is an American, neo noir, crime, drama produced by Amon Milchan, Curtis Hanson, Michael Nathanson and David L. Wolper. It was directed by Curtis Hanson and is based on the 1990s novel of the same name written by James Ellroy. The screenplay was written by Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland. It stars Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny Devito, David Strathairn, Ron Rifkin, Matt McCoy, Paul Guilfoyle, Paolo Seganti, Elisabeth Granli, Sandra Taylor, Precious Chong, Symba, Amber Smith, Simon Baker, Michael McCleery, Robert Barry Fleming, Jeremiah Birkett, Salim Grant, Jack Conley and many others.

L.A. Confidential IMDb webpage

“L.A. Confidential” takes place in the police world of Los Angeles in the 1950s with all of its social problems and injustices. It´s the story of three police officers one is staight laced the other is brutal, psychopath and the third is just sleazy. The main character is Ed Exley, played by Guy Pearce, who is a straight arrow and tries to do everything by the book but h soon realizes just how strong the force of corruption is in L.A. The three officers are investigating a series of murders that leads Ed Exley to a far bigger and more dangerous menace in the city of L.A.

“L.A. Confidential” is the story about how deeply the infestation of corruption runs in a city via the police department. Now of course you can have corruption in politics, the financial, business and technical industries but this movie does not focus on that. It´s about police corruption and the devastating path that corruption burns through a city or society. When I saw that movie it was a little disquieting for me. I thought of how the corruption of one person with authority gets multiplied by an organisation and becomes a fully fledged virus in a community leaving a path of destruction in its wake. We´ve all seen this affect in the real world whether it´s on the job or being in a foreign country and witnessing bad behavior by groups of people.

After talking to several people from L.A. they told me that L.A. Confidential is also the story of a famous prostitution ring in Hollywood that still exists today. This is an illegal enterprise were actors, both male and female, sell themselves for extra cash because most do not make enough money to live in L.A. and that is truly disturbing and goes against the stereotypes people have of a rich and prosperous part of the U.S. They also told me about how some people how resemble famous actors, both male and female, are in high demand when they pose as those famous performers and sell their bodies. That is both strange and disturbing. So this film is a kind of somewhat subtle revelation of these kind of crimes without naming names or pointing the finger at anyone.

This is a well done movie that does a good job to expose the nature of corruption. For most people, the uncomfortable definition of corruption is `to go along when something bad is being done´. This film is also a good criticism of society today because a lot of the problems plaguing the city of 1950s L.A. are still with us in the world of today. Time did not seemed to wash it away.

“L.A. Confidential” is an old gem folks. Go check it out.

Written by John Ink2Quill

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