by Paul Costello
There is a fascination with people who have difficult jobs; the more difficult and high-stress the job, the deeper the fascination with the people who hold them. The TV listings are full of shows about those intense jobs (Ice Road Truckers, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, Vinnie Jones: Russia’s Toughest, etc.), and the movies are no stranger to them either. Mostly, the movies are concerned with the jobs with the highest possibility for gunfire and shouting, so hostage negotiator is generally the go-to for that (The Negotiator, Running Out of Time, Proof of Life, Ransom, Hostage, etc.). However, there is a step in that whole process of escalation that is often overlooked in the rush to get to the gunfire… the emergency services operator.
There is a fascination with people who have difficult jobs; the more difficult and high-stress the job, the deeper the fascination with the people who hold them. The TV listings are full of shows about those intense jobs (Ice Road Truckers, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, Vinnie Jones: Russia’s Toughest, etc.), and the movies are no stranger to them either. Mostly, the movies are concerned with the jobs with the highest possibility for gunfire and shouting, so hostage negotiator is generally the go-to for that (The Negotiator, Running Out of Time, Proof of Life, Ransom, Hostage, etc.). However, there is a step in that whole process of escalation that is often overlooked in the rush to get to the gunfire… the emergency services operator.
The Call is a thriller that sees a veteran 911 operator, Jordan (Halle Berry), taking a call from a teenage girl, Casey (Abigail Breslin), who has just been kidnapped and is trapped in the trunk of a car, travelling somewhere in the city of Los Angeles. Jordan stays on the line to talk the girl through the ordeal and trying to get clues as to where she’s being taken. However, she herself is still raw from a bad decision she once made on another call.
Originally conceived as a TV series, writer Richard D’Ovidio eventually decided to rewrite the project as a feature film when he effectively realised an important aspect of the job of a 911 operator, which is actually addressed in the film. When a relative newbie to “the Hive” (the name given to the centre, after the constant buzzing of calls and talking) is asked what the most difficult part of her job is, she responds that it’s the not knowing how each call turns out. For better or worse, when that call terminates, you don’t know how it ends. You just move on to the next one. These operators are a vital link in the emergency process, but they ultimately remain distanced from the resolution. But this is a point to which I shall return later.
Originally conceived as a TV series, writer Richard D’Ovidio eventually decided to rewrite the project as a feature film when he effectively realised an important aspect of the job of a 911 operator, which is actually addressed in the film. When a relative newbie to “the Hive” (the name given to the centre, after the constant buzzing of calls and talking) is asked what the most difficult part of her job is, she responds that it’s the not knowing how each call turns out. For better or worse, when that call terminates, you don’t know how it ends. You just move on to the next one. These operators are a vital link in the emergency process, but they ultimately remain distanced from the resolution. But this is a point to which I shall return later.
For the bulk of The Call, it remains a fairly well executed, if not particularly inspired piece of filmmaking. In some ways, the film is not structurally dissimilar from Cellular, but where that was comparatively lighter popcorn fare, The Call depends on a more serious tone and sharp pacing to maintain the desired effect. There are problems to be found here and there. The roots of a TV show conceit show itself in the script quite often (you will at times swear you’re watching an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds) and director Brad Anderson gives us a few too many breaks away from the claustrophobic settings to maintain that high intensity and momentum needed to keep us glued.
The real success of the film, though, is achieved thanks to the fine work of the two leads, Berry and Breslin. Each puts in a solid and involving turn in their respective roles, both keeping up their edgy intensity and pulling us along for the ride. It’s thanks to these two that the film works at its best.
The real success of the film, though, is achieved thanks to the fine work of the two leads, Berry and Breslin. Each puts in a solid and involving turn in their respective roles, both keeping up their edgy intensity and pulling us along for the ride. It’s thanks to these two that the film works at its best.
Now, back to my earlier point about resolution. The Call has a very troubling third act. At some point, D’Ovidio’s apparent realisation about the operator not knowing the ending becomes a thorn in the writer’s side; he doesn’t know how to end it. Or perhaps he does, but was forced to change gears to offer a conclusion producers and audiences would find more satisfying. It’s a real shame that The Call ends the way it does, not only because it marks a ridiculous tonal shift that actually strays into some morally uneasy ground. But because it turns potentially one of its great strengths into a cheap and easy source of vengeful wish-fulfilment that contradicts its own earlier notion of resolution.
Ultimately, what begins as an interesting and well-meaning public service announcement about the people who answer the call on probably the worst day of everyone’s lives, and anchored by two damn good lead performances, devolves into a disquietingly unsavoury bit of quasi-exploitation revenge fantasy.
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Ultimately, what begins as an interesting and well-meaning public service announcement about the people who answer the call on probably the worst day of everyone’s lives, and anchored by two damn good lead performances, devolves into a disquietingly unsavoury bit of quasi-exploitation revenge fantasy.
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