The central concept I want you to address in this essay is the whole notion of heroes in crime films. Rafter indicates that Bonnie and Clyde are sort of anti-heroes, and one of our reviews discussed a lack of heroes in a film. Who are the heroes in crime films, and why is it important or not important to provide heroes. What makes a hero? Is there a hero in “The Chamber”? Who? Provide examples to strengthen your point.
The hero. In crime and criminal justice films, he (and occasionally she) ferrets out the bad guys, rights wrongs and restores justice. L.B. Jeffries is the official hero in “Rear Window” (1954) because from the confines of his wheelchair, he identifies and solves a murder from the view of his courtyard window. Bonnie and Clyde are anti-heroes in the 1967 film bearing their names because despite their attempt to right what they perceive as wrongs against the common man, their horrific crimes define them as criminals. Examples of the nonhero can be found in “American Psycho” (2000), “Monster” (2003) and “Taxi Driver” (1976), films that present no-good bad guys that lack all possibility of redemption. And in Capturing the Friedmans (2003), there is no hero because none is required to advance the story.
“The Chamber” (1996) offers an unsympathetic hero in Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman). Despite his estrangement from his family, his lifelong bigotry, the likelihood he has committed numerous hate crimes, and the fact that he sits on death row awaiting his execution, Cayhall’s life serves an important purpose, as his death will finally bring to a close a hateful chapter of his town’s history.
It’s not because of his impending death that Cayhill is a hero but because he realizes his death has a larger purpose and eventually surrenders to it. Make no mistake, Cayhall is no martyr. To the very end, he refuses to make comment on his situation and only once (when almost asking his guard not to take his racial remarks personally) comes remotely close to compromising his brutal exterior. He goes to his death with a certain amount of dignity and a hope that his sacrifice will right whatever societal wrongs he may have contributed to.