Edge of Darkness (1985)
Edge of Darkness (1985), directed by Martin Campbell.
It was the time of the preacherin the year of oh-oneNow the preachin' is overand the lesson's begun--Willie Nelson
When a police detective's daughter is murdered in front of him, he goes deep into the rabbit hole to find out "why?" He never really comes out again. The "easy" mysteries are solved: is that a happy ending?
This is the best TV miniseries I know. Mysterious, intelligent and heartfelt, with every act it expands into larger circles of unexpected story, with strong mythical components:
First, the murder mystery. Was Craven the target and did Emma just get in the way?
But it seems she was into something dangerous. When going through her things he finds not only her teddy bear and vibrator, but a pistol and a radiation detector.
Spies begin contacting him. Wheels within wheels, everyone using each other.
Craven becomes aware of a vast secret plutonium economy, which is dangerous knowledge.
The supernatural intrudes, with the ghost of Emma visiting her father, trying to comfort him. Maybe she's just a delusion, but that's ok. And yet: a freshwater spring has appeared at the place where she died.
Hints in the end that the Gaia earth goddess is taking slow, decisive steps to correct the human infestation of the planet.
The largest circle of all: Craven's grief for Emma. From the beginning to the end, it is the foundation of the whole story, the engine driving everything.
I say the story goes in "unexpected" directions, because although it seems to villainize everything the 1980s BBC hates -- industrialists, nuclear power, Thatcher, Reagan, America in general and the CIA in particular -- it also trips up those motifs and surprises us. It must have been hard to admit that left activists could be police informants and Green organizations actually CIA fronts.
The greatest delight is Joe Don Baker, outstanding as Darius Jedburgh, CIA wild man from Texas, bigger than life and twice as complicated. Turns out he is the only one Craven can trust. They make a good team because neither gives a damn about the established order anymore and will pull it all down.
Bob Peck was never a big star, but I always enjoyed seeing him whenever he turned up. Because of him, Craven and his pain stay with us for a long time.
Joanne Whalley, age 24, so beautiful it kind of hurts. Her film career took off just after this.
Score by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton with the latter on mournful blues guitar.
The director did a lot of UK TV before moving on to Zorro and James Bond films. He remade Edge of Darkness as a 2010 feature film with Mel Gibson; I haven't seen it yet.
Available on DVD. I originally imported a PAL edition but it is available on North American NTSC DVD now.
