‘Capote’ finds the the perfect pitch

The new film “Capote” deftly recreates the events in a small Kansas town in the early 1950s that made Truman Capote one of the most famous writers in America. The film gives equal attention to the brutal murders and their aftermath and to the creative process employed by Capote to write his nonfiction book, “In Cold Blood.”

“Capote” is more than a story depicting a man with unusual voice and speech. His love of being the center of attention at cocktail parties, his precise East Coast style of dress and his mannerisms are uncannily realistic.

The film’s faithful eye to resurrecting Truman carries over to the time, place and characters the author meets and works with over the six-year span of the events. Rural Kansas in the ‘50s is peppered with family-owned farms, tight-knit communities and friendly, church-going people. It’s a place where people leave their front doors unlocked and the sheriff’s home has a holding cell in the kitchen.

Capote is like nothing the town folk have ever seen. His effeminate mannerisms, expensive clothes and intrusive questions are met with tacit reserve. Yet Capote has a way of discerning how to break down their reluctance. He gets them to open up and share the intimate details about the brutal murders of members of one of the town’s most respected and loved families. He reaches each person in the only way he or she can be reached. Capote’s ability to get the detective to talk to him is one of the film’s lighter and more enjoyable moments. His ability to get one of the killers to open up is more chilling. Getting people to open up is essential to Capote as a writer.

In the ‘50s, creative artists like Capote believed that to make art, one must suffer. Creating a work of genius comes at a price. The movie incorporates that prevalent myth through Capote’s incorrigible personality. The issue of whom he cares about, and whom he pretends to care about, becomes blurred within him. His drive to get “In Cold Blood” written and published leads to his becoming personally involved in the trial and in the lives of the defendants. He does this all for the sake of his art -- an act that the filmmakers suggest causes the author a great deal of suffering.

“Capote” beautifully weaves the story line between Truman Capote, the townspeople and the killers. It is an insightful story about the price people pay when a murder takes place in their community. It is a somber film, well-acted, well-told and well worth the price of admission.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and documentaries.

Silverman doesn’t pull her punches

Back in grade school, when you threw a paper wad at a classmate, your teacher told you that a joke stops being funny when someone gets hurt. Obviously, your teacher was wrong. When someone gets hurt is when things start getting really funny.

OK, Sarah Silverman isn’t really trying to hurt anyone. She’s not trying to slaughter society’s sacred cows. All she wants to do is milk them for laughs.

Silverman’s new film, “Jesus is Magic,” brings her stand-up comedy routine to the big screen. It showcases her philosophy that anything can be funny if you’re fearless enough to laugh at it.

For example, she tells the audience she was raped by a doctor, which is a bittersweet experience for a Jewish girl. And that’s one of the few jokes that’s tame enough to mention in this review.

Silverman’s relentlessly absurd comedic style is both coy and sociopathic. Her deadpan delivery is what makes this all so funny. Like a playful ax murderer, she feigns not knowing that something she’s saying is terribly wrong.

Unlike like most comics, she never tips her hand to the audience. After clobbering you with something that makes your jaw hit the floor, she doesn’t soften the blow with a comment like “just kidding.” She stays in character and assumes that you’re smart enough to know it’s a joke.

In contrast to most political humor, Silverman’s style is Libertarian. On one hand she’s needling liberals who allow themselves to be emasculated by disrespectful racist language, and on the other she’s calling out conservatives for being stupid enough to say that God gives people AIDS. Lines like, “When God gives you AIDS, make lemonaids,” are so utterly horrifying that you can’t help but laugh.

It’s all positively subversive and hilariously funny. If Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor had a daughter (assuming one of them became a female and then they were sexually attracted to each other), their child would be Sarah Silverman.

Her choice of language is frequently offensive and always carefully calculated. Words are only words and a joke is just a joke. Sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never hurt you -- unless you make the decision to let them.

Despite Silverman’s best efforts to avoid being serious, her message is loud and clear. People who use stereotypes to judge others are idiots and worthy of merciless ridicule. The best way to expose them is to show just how stupid it sounds to talk like them.

The bottom line with this kind of comedy is that it’s good if it’s funny and it stinks if it isn’t. “Jesus is Magic” is better than good. It’s brilliant. People in the theater weren’t just laughing, they were snorting. This is one of those movies that you’ll see again and again, just to catch all the little comments you missed the first and second time you saw it.

People who don’t like to think will no doubt find this film offensive. My advice to them is get over it. This is a celebration of free speech and should make you proud to be an American. At a time when people on both the left and right are trying to control what you say and think, Sarah Silverman is breaking all the rules and daring audiences to think for themselves.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.

20051117h03b38ke(LA)20051117h03bw3ke(LA)