Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
For decades, filmmakers have turned toAl Pacinowhen theyve wanted a galvanic leading man a declaimer, a pop-top.
This is Paternos bitter end.
Faced with the allegations against Sandusky, Paterno goes deep into himself.
(He seems insane.)
Pacino has been appended with a suitable schnoz and mostly disappears into the part.
With his face half-shrouded in darkness, he looks gnomish.
Sometimes he opens and closes his mouth like a slowly suffocating fish.
and riot when the coach is fired.
The filmmakers, erring on the side of caution, miss one obvious source of drama.
They keep Sandusky almost entirely out of the movie.
Did Paterno say nothing for fear he would look as if he were sabotaging a rival?
Who knows, really?
Thats the downside to making your protagonist semi-mute and depriving him of a revelatory final scene.
But the upside, I think, is worth it.
The subject ofPaternoisnt venality.
Its something more difficult to capture but maybe more important to reckon with.
The potential crimes of Jerry Sandusky were simply outside Paternos frame of reference.
Its his shrunkenness thats the cautionary tale.
