Strange how the truth unfolds…

Those unfamiliar with the term “walker,” stick around. Now, a “walker” is an elegantly poised, openly – but discreetly - gay, polite and prudent individual who escorts wives and lovers of the rich and affluent to all sorts of social gatherings where being seen alone is a crime in itself. The wives and lovers get arm candy with whom they can share their childish gossip on anyone and everyone, and he is safe from public scrutiny. In fact, the “walker” can become as high profile as the arm which he gracefully adorns – if he plays his cards right.

In this, a rather dull effort by Paul Schrader, Carter Page (Woody Harrelson) is such a man – the favourite of the few, the upper crust of Washington. He gathers with his lady friends, Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas), Natalie Van Miter (Lauren Bacall), Chrissie Morgan (Mary Beth Hurt) and Abigail Delorean (Lily Tomlin), all married to rich, powerful men, all overflowing with “Washingon Wisdom” and all leading glamorous but unfulfilling lives – so they spend their time divulging gossip and secrets – and would like to believe they know everything. He knows his duty is to entertain and charm and never steal the limelight – he understands the role he plays and he plays it with pride and self-respect.

When he, unknowingly, crosses the line of where his duties as a walker should stop – everything unravels. This such duty involved Carter chauffeuring Lynn, whose husband (Willem Dafoe) has political ambitions, to her lover’s house, and finds him dead, leaving Carter with the decision of calling it in to the police. She knows she cannot do it because of the media attention it will bring to her and her husband – who will never become president, as he desires, if the truth is revealed. Would calling the murder in to try to protect Lynn from the media be a gracious act on Carter’s behalf? Undoubtedly. Naïve? To the point of altering his comfortable life, yes. In a cut throat game of power and betrayal, his “allies” in the social world flee from his well tailored side and he is left to face demons of his very own – both to do with the case and more personal psychological issues he has with his late father. Now placed dead centre of a criminal case, it will take every shred of self-dignity he has to make it to the other side unscathed.

As a man who is no more acknowledged than he is merely tolerated, Carter’s life is a lonely one. He adorns the garments befitting a social “prostitute” – not one who sells his body for money but one who uses it to place himself in a highly dangerous and trepid world where even the slightest scandal can cast you as an outsider – exactly what Carter is when he takes those very garments, including a wig, off, no matter how often he is told otherwise.

The homes and establishments these greedy social climbers find themselves in are marvellously decorated and mostly superficial. This is a world where only a select group are allowed to enter, mostly given access because of their breeding and social status, but it is also a world where the sheer viciousness is masked and concealed within a inch of becoming pitiful. Paul Schrader takes us into this glamorously fake world, where the lives of the equally fake are dissected and astutely observed by the brutality that concealing the truth brings.

Woody Harrelson gives a perceptive, subdued performance that could have easily become flashy and off-putting – but the cost is that he often comes across as one-tone and tedious. His character is supposed to be the fine-silk thread that holds the lies and truth together, and instead of marvelling at his performance as the world around him unravels, instead you wish it would end sooner. However, one thing he does well is not resort to portraying a full fledged stereotype. Sure, Carter is well-groomed, polite and dignified – it is only because he has had to become like that in order to fit in more. He thinks himself a “black sheep” and in order to counteract that, he attempt must blend. Often his character is too keen on keeping up appearances than dealing with the sheer amount of reality slapped into him, and Harrelson portrays this internal struggle as well as can be expected.

Schrader, whose screenplay is not his best but far from his worst, is blessed with a tremendously talented cast that give the film an edge over becoming a caricature of the high-life and the lows that come with it. The “walker” in this film is a wrongfully accused man, being questioned for a crime he most certainly not commit – but the film is not a murder mystery. It is a slow moving – perhaps a little too heavily calculated – character study of a man finding himself beneath the opulence so many of us admire and know almost nothing about. It is a shame the film is not a little more revealing and enthralling, it is an admirable effort by the once maverick, Schrader, but an overall disappointment.

Fatac Rating: **½

The Walker. Written and Directed by Paul Schrader. Music by Anne Dudley. Costumes by Nic Ede. Cinematography by Chris Eager. Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Willem Dafoe. Running Time: 108 minutes. Age Restriction: 13 V. Rating out of five stars.

Released in South Africa on the 1st of May 2008.
Viewed at a public screening with an audience of ordinary moviegoers.