Independent Films, Film Profiles

Arlington Road

Arlington Road is a 1999 film which tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis and is directed by Mark Pellington. Ehren Kruger wrote the script, which won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' (AMPAS) Nicholl Fellowship in 1996. This was to have been originally released by Polygram Filmed Entertainment but was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment before it opened. The eventual release was the first title for Screen Gems while Polygram handled foreign rights.Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) is a college history professor at the George Washington University who has been raising his nine-year-old son, Grant, since the untimely death of his FBI agent wife, who was killed in the line of duty in a scene loosely based on the real-life Ruby Ridge incident. Somewhat of a specialist regarding American terrorism, Michael starts to become suspicious of his new suburban neighbors, Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl Lang (Joan Cusack), whom he's just met after taking their son, Brady, to the emergency room following a reported fireworks accident.At first his suspicions are based on little things such as Oliver's architectural blueprints that seem to be for something other than the shopping mall he claims he's building, as well as pieces of mail that contradict where Oliver said he attended college. Neither his girlfriend and former student, Brooke Wolfe (Hope Davis), nor his wife's former FBI partner, Whit Carver, believe any of his wild theories.Michael continues to uncover what could be possible evidence and becomes even more wary of Oliver and Cheryl. Michael's girlfriend, Brooke, casually spots Oliver and follows his car after witnessing a suspicious package delivery in a garage. Her trail ends up in the headquarters of a mail delivery company from where she decides to call Michael and leave a message, finally accepting his fears as founded; unfortunately, after hanging up, she turns around and stumbles on Cheryl who had obviously heard the whole message - the disturbing mixture of feelings in her expression, denoting both cold resolve and pity at having to murder Brooke, earned Joan Cusack special acclaim from most reviews. Brooke's murder, which happens off-screen, is covered up by making it look like Brooke died in a car crash. Michael realizes this after finding out, a few days later, that at least two voice messages were left in his answering machine and then erased by someone else. Eventually the conspirators use a field trip with a Scouts-style organization to keep Faraday's son Grant as an unknowing hostage. Faraday rents a car the next day and follows the van his son is in, which eventually leads him to the FBI headquarters.Faraday forces his car into a secure parking garage, only to discover that he has followed the wrong van into the parking garage. Attempting to calm Faraday, Whit informs him that he is the only person not cleared to be in the garage. Realizing his mistake too late, Faraday rushes to the trunk of his rental car, opening it to reveal a hidden bomb just seconds before it explodes, killing Faraday, Whit, and 184 others. Posthumously, he is vilified as a terrorist seeking revenge for his wife's death. The Langs get away , and Grant, now orphaned, ends up living with relatives, not knowing of his father's innocence. It becomes obvious that Scobee, another man who was accused of blowing up an IRS building in St. Louis (a thinly veiled version of the Oklahoma City bombing[2]), was set up exactly the same way as Michael.