The Many Voices of Bernie

There is no easy way to categorize the Richard Linklater’s film, Bernie, based off a 1998 newspaper article by Skip Hollandsworth that reported on the events surrounding a murder in Carthage, Texas. At first glance it seems like another Jack Black comedy, but the film’s adoption of documentary elements blurs the line between what’s real and what’s embellished, leaving the viewer with a broad and complex understanding of what happened.

Bernie’s story is largely told through a chorus of town gossips. By telling the story through the townspeople themselves, Linklater brings the audience into the social ecosystem of a small town, where most of the local communication is spread through word of mouth. In an interview with the Daily Texan, Linklater notes:

A lot of those jokes were in the actual transcripts of interviews Skip had done… I thought, “I’ve never seen a movie that told its story through town gossips,” because that’s really strong in a small town. It’s a huge social element and I thought it was appropriate for the storytelling.

Occasionally, though they witnessed the same events, the individual townspeople draw completely different conclusions about what happened. Each speaker has their own spin on the story and on Bernie’s character. Rather than just presenting the historical and impersonal facts of the matter, the film provides a sense of perspective due to its non-typical narrators. Through their words, not only do you get a sense of what happened, you also get a sense of who they are and where they’re coming from, and how that colors their interpretations of what happened.

By featuring real Carthage townspeople, Linklater also brings a more personal connection to what happened. Instead of acting out a “character,” each of the townspeople can draw from their own real experiences and relationships. In an interview with NPR, co-screenwriter Hollandsworth explains:

And there were times when the East Texans who loved Bernie and despised Mrs. Nugent so much would watch Shirley McLaine playing Mrs. Nugent and you could feel the hostility emerge in them. And then when Jack Black…arrived on the set, you could hear some of the older ladies from East Texas actually coo as if Bernie had come back to life for them.

What makes Bernie an unexpected and complex narrative is that everyone involved adds their own voice and interpretation of what happened. Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey, not surprisingly, bring a sense of humor to the film, while Shirley McLaine brings a sense of tenderness that almost make you feel bad for her character…for a few scenes, at least. At the broader level, Linklater’s treatment of the script keeps Bernie firmly between comedy and tragedy, so that you’re left with an ambivalent view of what happened. You can’t quite judge Bernie as being simply a good or bad person, because you’ve seen too many sides of him.

Just like a documentary film gives a comprehensive view of a subject by collecting and presenting proof points from a variety of sources, Bernie gives a comprehensive view of the murder by collecting the interpretations from outsiders of varying degrees. For a story that can’t be told by those who were directly involved (Mrs. Nugent is dead, and Bernie is in prison), the film certainly presents a unique solution.

Have you seen any other films that blend documentary and fiction as seamlessly as Bernie? If so, let us know so we can put them on our list! Tweet us here with your responses and film suggestions.

If you liked Bernie, get excited about Linklater’s next docu-fiction hybrid project, Boyhood, currently still in production, or his original travel-fiction series for Hulu, “Up to Speed.”

-Ali