Transsiberian Rated R (for some violence, including torture and language) Genre: Thriller Theater release: July 18, 2008 by Filmax Group Directed by: Brad Anderson Runtime: 111 minutes Cast: Emily Mortimer (Jessie), Woody Harrelson (Roy), Ben Kingsley (Grinko), Eduardo Noriega (Carlos), Kate Mara (Abby) Related: • Talk About It/Family Corner • What Others Are Saying

There is something mysterious, deadly, and despairing about the cold. Seeing a bleak, snowy, gray world in a film like Transsiberian evokes something eerily unsettling—and the film's director Brad Anderson knows how to do "eerily unsettling" quite well.

In his films The Machinist and Session 9 (one of my favorite horror movies), Anderson patiently and artfully built suspense with mystery, character depth, and chilling atmosphere. In his simmering drug thriller Transsiberian, Anderson takes the "chilling" part literally by staging his old-fashioned train mystery in Siberia.

Woody Harrelson as Roy, Emily Mortiner as Jessie

Anderson, who also co-wrote the script, combines the feel of classic train films like Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Midnight Express (1978) with a slight Hitchcockian touch and the terror felt by unsuspecting American tourists trapped in a harsh, unforgiving foreign world. The thriller isn't glitzy, tricky, or even wholly unpredictable. There are no M. Night Shyamalan shockers. Instead, it's got more of that classic thriller feel where characters are slowly caught in a mousetrap and they have to find their way out. It's a slow, menacing burn. In Session 9, Anderson slowly snuck the horror up on the viewer in such a way where you didn't even realize you were in a horror movie until it was full-blown terrifying. Here, Anderson's atmospheric, character-driven storytelling creates a constant, nagging feeling that something's about to break badly. But what? And how?

That simmering tension works because of great characters acted to perfection. Jessie (Emily Mortimer) and Roy (Woody Harrelson) are a married couple doing church work in China. When their service is over, they choose to extend the trip with a 7-day trip to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Railway, a system of railroads connecting eastern and western Russia. This trip lends the film beautiful cinematography—and a feeling of claustrophobia. On the packed train, they meet adventurous couple Carlos and Abby (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara), and Russian drug cop Grinko (the always solid Ben Kingsley). The five characters don't match up well—each propelled by their own ghosts, desires, greed, duty, and compassion.

Jessie finds herself in difficult situations

Yes, compassion is a driving theme to Transsiberian. At the final meeting of Jessie and Roy's church group in China, their pastor is used to set the stage for an underlying message of the film: "When you find yourself struggling in the darkness of despair to find God's truth, remember … the lessons of compassion. When you brighten another's path, you also brighten your own." (The film never clarifies exactly what faith or denomination Roy and Jessie belong to, but it seems to imply a mainline Protestant church.)

Roy, a great—though dopey and naïve—character, is the film's beacon of compassion. He's an innocent, excitable Iowan hardware store owner played by Harrelson with the utmost sincerity, personality and normalcy. I'm not a big Woody Harrelson fan, but here he takes his goofy Cheers character and makes him real—simple, loyal and motivated by his love for others.

Kate Mara as Abby, Eduardo Noriega as Carlos

On the other hand, Jessie is the more complicated, divided and dynamic partner in this union. A recovering alcoholic with a very troubled past, Jessie doesn't seem like one you'd pair with Roy. However, it's obvious that he's her rock—a steady and forgiving force that centers her turbulence. Unlike her hubby, she struggles with compassion. She tells one character that this church trip was actually her first effort at actually helping anyone. She also appears unsure about this whole faith thing. She swears, gives in to old vices, and at one point accidentally refers to "Roy's church … I mean, our church."

While compassion is a key element in the story, Jessie's struggle reconciling who she is with who she was sets the stage for Transsiberian's action. One character prods her by suggesting that this Russian trip is a desperate attempt to regain the excitement and adventure of her youth now that she's been tamed by a routine life. Even without the outside temptations, there's a surging internal conflict within Jessie. At one point, she snaps at Roy's attempts to get her to quit smoking by paraphrasing Tennessee Williams: "Kill off my demons, and my angels might die, too."

Ben Kingsley as Grinko

Mortimer, one of the most talented serious actresses today (see Lars and the Real Girl, Dear Frankie), plays Jessie incredibly convincingly—balancing terror and strength, aggression and fear, pride and self-loathing. She holds the thriller together even though it is hard to figure out what to make of Jessie. She's a complicated character who is well accustomed to hiding truths, is easily tempted, and isn't sure who she really is. One of the hardest things about watching the film is seeing her spiral downward when all she needs to do at any point is just tell the truth, to come clean. That's it. It's chillingly fitting that the film's tagline is, "You can't escape your lies."

One of my pet peeves in crime thrillers is that, many times, the film's driving tension would be completely deflated if the main character just went to the police and told them everything. Often, it feels like the only reason the hero can't do this is because, well, the movie would be over. In Transsiberian, I was bugged at first by Jessie's seeming complete reluctance to just tell the truth. But as the movie continued I realized this was no flaw—but purposeful. It's an extension of who Jessie is. Whether what had happened was her fault or not, she is used to hiding; she is only just learning to depend on others. And she is caught in a very ambiguous, gray situation—one where she doesn't know who she can trust or whether her actions were really right or wrong.

This aspect of the film sends interesting shadows back on one of the first lines of the movie. Roy's pastor tells his congregation: "Ours is not a gray world. Under the bright light of truth, it's a world of clear contrasts: black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. There is always a choice."

In the end, does the film negate or affirm this obviously intentional line? Is Anderson using his film to say that the pastor is naïve—that the world is indeed gray? Some viewers and commentators will say so. But I read Transsiberian as subtly arguing that while the world might have clear contrasts (good/evil, right/wrong), those distinctions are lost when not seen, as the pastor says, "under the bright light of truth." Without that, people like Jessie are in a gray, cold world.

Talk About It

Discussion starters

1.Why do you think the filmmakers included the speech about good and evil in the beginning? Is the film depicting the pastor as naïve or wrong? Or is it supporting his statement that "Ours is not a gray world"? 2. The pastor also says that the lessons his service group learned in compassion will help them in their dark times. What does that mean? How do you see that lesson applied in the movie? How would one "brighten your own path" when you show a light onto someone else's? What does that mean? 3. What is your impression of Jessie? Why does she hide the things she does? Do you blame her? Do you think she should have gone to the police right after the scene in the snowy abandoned church? Where do Jessie and Roy go from here?

The Family Corner

For parents to consider

Transsiberian is rated R for some violence, including torture and language. Violence includes bloody beatings, implied sexual violence, shootings and torture involving repeated cuts with a knife. While little of the knife torture is actually shown on camera, the bloody and horrible results of the torture are shown unflinchingly. In fact, the scene of torture is as tense and unnerving as a horror movie. Two dead bodies and a horribly beaten woman are shown extensively. Language includes the major four-letter words and taking the Lord's name in vain (at least twice by a character implied to be a believer). What is not noted in the MPAA rating is sexual content including rear male nudity, an obstructed view of an unmarried couple having sex, and two scenes of heavy and passionate kissing (one involving a married couple and one involving a married woman and another man) that are both interrupted before intercourse.

Photos © Copyright Filmax Group

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