Clint Eastwood’s JEdgar is an excellent film that very few people will bother to see. It is a lengthy two-and-a-quarter hours, and it is about crime, the law and politics, but it’s not a thriller. It is an art-house film, not a Hollywood blockbuster. So, if you are looking for a “good night out”, look elsewhere, but if you value great writing, interesting ideas and a slice of revisionist history, JEdgar will hold your attention and send you away pondering how dirty and brutal both politics and the law can be. At the core of the film is the career of JEdgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio). He had a good university education and came from a stern, old-fashioned family, with a mother (Judi Dench) who imposed a strict code of morality on her son. He was opposed to abortion and birth control. He disliked seeing immigrants in American cities, and he was a devout, narrow, right-wing thinker. He got a job in the Justice Department, where he sanctioned brutal action against immigrants and political dissidents.
