Why FARGO Is My Favorite Film (Part 1)

Last week, prompted by a great question coming from the podcast Assumptions, I asked you what your favorite story is.

Today, I’d like to write about my favorite film story, the Coen brothers masterpiece Fargo (1996). There are plenty of things I love about the film. The performances are memorably done by some of the best character actors in the business. The soundtrack is sweeping and bleak. The atmospherics (bitter cold, icy landscape; snow drifting across the road; the shocking realism and short bursts of violence; the biting dark humor) do a great job of building an idiosyncratic but coherent world. And then there is my familiarity with this portion of the country. I used to live in both Minnesota and rural North Dakota, so the landscape is certainly one in which I spent time. I remember the endless blizzards, the subzero temperatures (it hurt to breathe outside), the bracing wind, the absence of trees. In the rural parts, in the winter there is nothing but endless snow, as far as the eye can see. It’s too cold to take your child outside to play. And the winter lasts about half the year.

But most of all, I recognize the people, in spirit. And that leads me to the first reason this is my favorite film:

The Contrast of the Simple Fool and the Simple Wise Person

One of the most common tropes in Coen brothers films is the contrast between two kinds of simple people–the fool who wrongly thinks himself wise, and the easily underestimated simple (but actually wise) person. The Midwest is full of both of these people. (And I’m sure other settings are as well.)

In Fargo, one of the central characters, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), represents the first category.