Something needs fixing

 
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Warning: This article contains plot spoilers

Who is Michael Clayton, and why should you want to watch a film about him? The first things that might attract your attention are the film’s numerous award nominations and the Best Supporting Actress Oscar it has earned for Tilda Swinton. On starting to watch Michael Clayton, however, you may find that the talented cast fades into the background, giving carefully understated performances which enhance the unsettling believability and recognisability of the characters and situations in this compelling film. The question of Michael Clayton’s identity is one which runs through the heart of the film, as the eponymous hero struggles to work out who he is and where his priorities ought to lie.

As the film begins, Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a mysterious figure. We do not see him immediately; instead we hear him being spoken to, but neither his face nor the speaker’s are revealed at this point. When we do meet Clayton, he is inconspicuous and not a particularly inspirational figure. We discover that he is the ‘fixer’ for an eminent law firm, doing whatever it takes to save the firm from problems while remaining firmly in the background. Clayton is described as a ‘miracle-worker’, but he describes himself as a ‘janitor’, and we see little evidence of miracles in the wearied way in which he approaches the problem he is set. However, as the film progresses, we come to understand a bit more about this enigmatic man, and the circumstances which shape the way he behaves and the way he perceives himself.

One of the firm’s lawyers is the eloquent, but slightly unhinged, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) who refers to Clayton as, ‘Nurse Michael, the secret hero, the keeper of the hidden sins.’ Although he suffers from bipolar disorder, Edens is a brilliant lawyer and has been assigned to a high-profile case for agrichemical company U/North. But when he discovers some damaging evidence, Edens begins to question his part in defending this corrupt corporation. It is Edens’ identity crisis, brought on in part by his mental illness, which provides the plot of the film and gets Clayton wondering about his own place in the world.

When Edens begins to cause for the law firm and its client, Clayton is assigned to fix the problems. He is adamant that ‘I’m not the enemy,’ but Edens forces him to look deeper, asking, ‘Then who are you?’ In an impassioned rant, Edens pours out his concerns about the work to which his life has been devoted: ‘Is this me? Am I this freak organism that’s been sent here to sleep and eat and defend this one horrific chain of carcinogenic molecules? Is that my destiny? . . . Is that the answer to the multiple choice of me?’ Although initially dismissing him as ‘a manic-depressive’, Clayton eventually concedes that, ‘You’re right about what we are,’ and starts to see himself in a less than favourable light. Surrounded by people who are desperate to maintain the public image they have built for themselves, whatever the cost, Clayton has become trapped in his ‘niche’ of cleaning up their mess. However, as events escalate, Clayton is forced to make a choice about who he really wants to be: ‘the guy you buy’, ‘the guy you kill’, or someone else entirely.The characters in Michael Clayton seem to try to separate out their work from the rest of their lives. They want to believe that they can do one thing yet be someone else. When they do unpleasant things they are just doing their job. It might be nice to believe that this is the case, but in reality life isn’t divided up into neat boxes: who we are affects the choices we make, and what we do influences the person we become. The driven head of U/North, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), acknowledges that the idea of a work-life balance is not a particularly good way of describing the corporate lifestyle: ‘When you are really enjoying what you do, who needs balance? There’s your balance. When you’re really enjoying what it is you do, there is your balance.’ As Michael Clayton begins to understand who he has become, he too realizes that it is his actions that have defined who he has become: ‘We made decisions. It didn’t happen overnight’. His work cannot be separated from his identity and, by not questioning what he has been asked to do, Clayton has become lost in a world similar to the role-playing environment in which his son immerses himself. His son describes this world where, ‘There’s no borders or landmarks or anything . . . nobody has any alliances. You can’t even say who you are ‘cos you don’t know, maybe the person you’re talking to is your mortal enemy in the wars. So it’s just completely like everybody for themselves.’ Clayton’s response is: ‘sounds familiar’.

Edens advocates a more integrated approach to life, seeing the connections between his actions and their consequences for himself and others. He comes to view his employers as, ‘an organism whose sole function is to excrete the poison, the ammo, the defoliant, necessary for other larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity.’ Edens then asserts that ‘the stench of it and the stain’ of his association with the firm ‘would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undo.’ If we concede that all aspects of our life are linked, then this doesn’t only have implications for our identity. The approach must be expanded to say that our lives, too, are linked with those of the people with whom we come into contact. What we do affects who we are, but it also affects other people. Arthur Edens recognises that, through his actions in defending the sales of a potentially lethal chemical, he is left with blood on his hands. He is in part culpable for the crimes committed by his client, and he has a moral responsibility to do something about that. When Clayton finds out the truth of what his friend learned, he too feels a responsibility to act. While he ignores this responsibility at first, the guilt clearly makes him uncomfortable until he is eventually compelled to make a stand. The film may depict anti-heroes and evoke the morally grey political thrillers of the seventies, but there is no room for moral relativism in the world presented. There is clear right and wrong. The corporations are doing bad things; it is Michael Clayton’s moral responsibility to put a stop to it. The professional thugs employed by U/North put it plainly: ‘We deal in absolutes’. As well as a distinct sense of right and wrong, the idea that truth might be relative is also refuted in the film, despite the tagline claiming that, ‘The truth is what he makes it’. Just as there is no disputing that U/North’s actions are wrong, so there is no doubt that, no matter how hard the characters try to hide or manipulate the truth, it still remains absolutely true and significant.

In its insistence on absolutes, Michael Clayton rejects a popular view of the world which says that nothing is certain, that there are no universal truths or values. Instead the film offers us a story and worldview very reminiscent of those found in John Grisham’s novels. His tense legal thrillers are populated by flawed heroes and no one in the books is perfect. They all have their own problems and have not always acted well in the past; they are very similar to Clayton. The plotlines are characterized by the same corrupt institutions which oppose Clayton. And the novels highlight the importance of the truth and the moral responsibilities of the hero just as Michael Clayton does. Grisham’s worldview is a Christian one, informed by belief in a perfect and true God and the Bible’s assertion that all humans have corrupted hearts. While these beliefs may not lie behind Michael Clayton, it is nonetheless a rare example of ideas which flow from a Christian perspective fashioning the world and characters of a mainstream film.

Ultimately, Michael Clayton escapes from his janitorial role. He chooses to face up to his responsibilities, reasserting his humanity and attempting to forge a new identity for himself. However, as the film ends Clayton still seems unsure of who he really is. He has decided who he doesn’t want to be, but he doesn’t know which way to go next. Just as the flickering Sat-Nav earlier in the film may be symbolic of more than just a bomb hidden in the car, so Clayton’s final words, an instruction to a taxi-driver to ‘just drive’, also reflect his directionless situation at the end of the film. Arthur Edens, in his mental illness, manages to find freedom and a new purpose in life which he refuses to give up: ‘Everything’s significant. The world is a beautiful and radiant place. I’m not trading that for this.’ But the film offers no suggestions as to how its other characters might find this sense of release. Will Michael Clayton become a human rights crusader, or perhaps a devoted father and family man? His fate is left open, but it is somehow difficult to picture him following these options. While accepting the importance of truth and moral behaviour of the Christian worldview, the film makes no mention of God. Thus the world portrayed remains very bleak. Clayton can choose to make a stand, but he cannot atone for his past mistakes and his only hope for transformation is to carve out a new niche for himself. The existence of God necessitates the acceptance that our lives are significant, that there is right and wrong, true and false. On the other hand, the conviction that there is absolute truth and universal morality and responsibility demands belief in a God who can offer forgiveness when we mess up, as we inevitably will, and show us the right way to go.

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