Bernie is not about Bernie Sanders, Bernie Mac or Bernie Madoff. Bernie is a Richard Linklater movie that adapted a magazine article about the relationship between a small town beloved Texas local, played by Jack Black, and the wealthiest and meanest lady in town, played by Shirley MacLaine. If you are not into Richard Linklater, Jack Black or Shirley Maclaine, I don’t care because you should still watch Bernie. I thought Bernie was a delicious little movie, and I regretted waiting so long to see it because I missed the opportunity to watch it repeatedly.
In Bernie, Linklater captures the conspiratorial and confidential tone of small town America. If King captures the horrors of a small town, Linklater makes the viewer a welcome part of the small town, a former local visiting to catch up on the neighborhood gossip. All we’re missing is the smell and tastes of being in the same room as those interviewed, a mix of actors and real locals. Bernie is a welcome departure from the recreations provided by true crime shows of America’s Most Wanted or Unsolved Mysteries by perfectly blending the brilliant tools of fictional movie making and the intimacy and familiarity of a true crime documentary as it interviews the eyewitnesses and the investigators.
Without being preachy, Bernie examines how communities vilify women and excuse men. On one hand, who wouldn’t prefer a generous, personable and social person like Bernie over a controlling, acerbic and alienating person like MacLaine’s character. On the other hand, there is no doubt about what happened, but the community’s aversion to punishing actual crimes because of a violation of the social contract and gender norms of women being nice is a little bit shocking. She had it coming. Bernie does explicitly emphasize that when punishment does arrive, it is for being different or violating male gender norms, not an actual crime.
If I have not given you enough reasons to see Bernie, here is the ultimate one: pre-Oscar feeling himself Matthew McConaughey is in it.
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Here is what I thought about what happened. I’m sure that Bernie is a great guy, but isn’t that a part of the con? Sure he is a likeable murderer, but he is still a murderer who got off on being a benefactor. So while it was not about greed per se, and there may have been emotional factors that mitigated his guilt, the cover up and lies afterwards means that he is guilty. Bernie was a confidence man, but things got out of hand, and he escalated out of his area of expertise. People forget that criminals are likable.