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Despite the title, 'Gold' doesn’t glitter
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(Eagle Films/File)
L
oosely based on the Bre-X scandal of 1997, Gold follows Kenny Wells, the owner of a dying mining company, who partners with geologist Michael Acosta to find gold in the Indonesian jungles. While the film boasts a talented cast, not all that glitters is Gold.
The dialogue is laughable, and Édgar Ramírez’s character, Acosta, suffers the most. The character speaks as if he’s always writing a poem, and is cheesy to an unbearable degree. Also out of place is the narration Matthew McConaughey’s Wells voices, which never really fits, even after its narrative use is explained.
Unlike its inspiration, Gold is set in the 80s, back when smoking indoors and liquor in the break room was acceptable. It’s never made clear whether this is on purpose, but the film seems almost disconnected from current reality because of it. Watching Wells smoke and dance in celebration as the workers around him hack at dense Indonesian foliage seems almost offensive today, in the time of strip mining in Indonesia and the funding cuts for the EPA in the United States, the two countries in which Gold is set.
Read also: Hollywood turns Indonesia's 'Gold' mining scandal into movie
For a movie that is incredibly lucky to have an actress as talented as Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Wells’ longtime girlfriend, she is sorely underused. Her character is allowed no depth, only serving as McConaughey’s moral compass of sorts, as his tie to the life he once had before hitting it big. She gets to have some moments, but they are few and far between.
McConaughey himself gives a worth-watching performance, not allowing the audience to know if he is a fool or a con until it is time for them to. Still, his character is insufferable and difficult to root for, constantly demanding more, and his glass-flinging alcoholism is never addressed.
The movie also does a disservice to its location. Despite the fact that about a third of the movie is set in the country, only two Indonesian characters get to speak -- one of whom says one word -- totaling about 3 minutes of dialogue in the 121-minute movie. For the most part, they are used as props. Indonesia is a country so rarely represented on Western screens, but by allowing their Indonesian characters to spend the whole movie mute, Gold squanders what could have been a unique opportunity.
What could have been an interesting take on corporate greed, Gold just feels as if it’s doing its best to keep busy, while simultaneously giving the audience nothing of substance. (sul/kes)
