Essay About Right Mix Of Ambition And 153-Minute Film

The Firm – Movie Review
Susanna Ruth A. Gruyal                                                        BA 162 WF 5:30-72013-54033                                                                        March 27, 2016The Firm        Fighting fire with fire.        “The Firm,” a 153-minute film by Sydney Pollack, takes the audience into a legal and moral thrilling maze. With its young lawyer protagonist, Mitch McDeere, the movie touched strong themes of government and corporate corruption as well as the power of law in society. It portrayed the prevailing knowledge of how the law can be your protector and your enemy at the same time. And it only takes the right mix of ambition, prestige, and passion to make you either one or both.        Dream, as defined by dictionaries, is an aspiration, goal or aim; a wild or vain fancy that may involuntarily occur to a person. Ambition, on the other hand, is described as an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment. As one can see from the film, Mitch McDeere was not just a dreamer. He was grounded with practicality and hungry for the attainment of his dream job as a tax lawyer. He was an ambitious man, which can be attributed to his humble origins. But, this ambition, even if it was created for the right reasons, became the first factor that made him a part of a big conspiracy.         Blinded by his own ambition for honor and money, Mitch was surely allured by the lavish offers of a small but wealthy law firm in Memphis. The prestige the firm offered to him was more than enough to make him accept their offer over the many ones he received from various big law firms in the country. Moreover, it is in this respect we get to see how the law can give people the prestige of rank, and thus have the power to take control of those under them. Take for example the role of the FBI in the movie. It is another government agency that is given the authority to fight crimes. It is through them that the law is implemented and to serve justice in society. And yes, in the film we get to see them reaching out to McDeere to help him get out from the sticky mess he got himself into. A very heroic act indeed. But how they actually helped was another thing. Using the prestigious title of “FBI Agents”, McDeere was forced to comply with the FBI’s order to expose his own firm which is connected to the Mafia by compromising his career as a lawyer. With their influence and power, both the firm’s partners and the FBI blackmailed him to become the hero and the enemy of the law.