Since its release in 2012,Killing Them Softlyhas often gone overlooked as a great mobcrimemovie. While it earned a critics' score of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film grossed just under $40 million and seemed to largely go under the radar.Killing Them Softlystars Brad Pitt as hitman Jackie Cogan, who’s hired by mob boss Driver (Richard Jenkins) to find and kill the guys who robbed his private poker game, stealing about one hundred thousand dollars. At surface level, this is just your typical crime movie, where a gun-for-hire needs to kill some targets.
But there’s actually a much deeper theme at the core of this film.Killing Them Softlydepicts the death of the American Dream, this make-believe notion that here in America, anyone can find a better life – and here’s how the movie captures that.
Killing Them Softly’s Story Reflects the 2008 Economic Crisis
Killing Them Softly
Killing Them Softlyis actually based on George V. Higgins' 1974 novel,Cogan’s Trade.The film’s writer and director, Andrew Dominik,decided to update the story’s setting to the 2008 economic crisis. Known as the Great Recession, this worldwide financial crisis wasthe most severe economic collapse since the Great Depression.
America’s dire financial situation reflects the story itself, albeit on a much smaller scale.The whole plot revolves around money: needing money, stealing money, and getting back lost money. As Dominik said in a 2012 interview withIndiewire:
“As I started adapting it, it was the story of an economic crisis, and it was an economic crisis in an economy that was funded by gambling—and the crisis occurred due to a failure in regulation. It just seemed to have something that you couldn’t ignore.”
Between the story’s setting and its neo-noir feel,Killing Them Softlyvery much holds abitter and negative worldview, the sort of view that’s not often associated with the American Dream.
Jackie Cogan’s “Killing Them Softly” Philosophy as a Reflection
AlthoughBrad Pitt’s character, Jackie Cogan, is a hitman, he adheres to a fairly merciful philosophy. He believes in “killing them softly,” murdering his victims from a distance or in ways that will prevent them from feeling any fear or suffering. He doesn’t want his targets to ever see their deaths coming.
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Cogan’s philosophy parallels how US financial institutions greedily took advantage of low-income home-buyers, setting the stage for the economic collapse. Similarly,it alludes to the US politicians who offer broken promises and dreams to their citizens. In essence, both of these groups, US financial institutions and politicians, are killing Americans softly from a distance – and we rarely see it coming. The only difference is that, in real life, the aftermath often leaves American citizens suffering.
The Film’s Seemingly Random Finale Reflects the Death of the American Dream
This theme, the death of the American Dream, inKilling Them Softlyis most clearly encapsulated in the movie’s final scene. There’s literally a whole conversation about it. Here, Cogan (Pitt) confronts Driver (Jenkins) at a bar, demanding to be paid the agreed upon amounts for taking this latest job. As they argue, the victory speech from the newly elected President, Barack Obama, is playing in the background. We catch a snippet of what he says:
“to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one.”
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Cogan scoffs at this notion of American idealism. In his mind, President Thomas Jefferson’s words that “All men are created equal” are a myth. We arenotone people, and all men arenotcreated equal. The American dream is dead, and the only thing that’s left of it is money. “This guy wants to tell me we’re living in a community,” says Cogan, referring back to President Obama on the TV screen.
“Don’t make me laugh. I’m living in America, and in America, you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business. Now f*cking pay me.”
