Spir i tu al ity Real-Life Scrooge Maternal love is stronger than greed in Ridley Scott’s new movie: All the Money in the World Scrooge grandfather at their remote hideout. The kid- nappers’ demeanor changes as the Truth be told, grandfather Getty’s months go by without a ransom be- real reason for not paying the ransom ing paid. They begin, as criminals of- was his stinginess. He was a notorious ten do, to argue among themselves, Scrooge, the kind of man who would and become more desperate, threat- wash his shirts in a bathtub rath- ening to dismember their prisoner. er than having them professionally Their movements eventually create laundered. He would have guests to a trail for the ex-CIA man and the his English country mansion pay for Carabinieri to follow. Getty Sr., mean- telephone calls from a public phone time, is unmoved by the publicity sur- booth. Nonetheless he had a soft spot rounding the case. It is only when the for his grandchild “little Paul”: nine kidnappers reduce their demand to years earlier they had strolled, hand $4 million, and cut off their hostage’s in hand, through the ruins of Impe- ear, that he opens negotiations, and rial Rome. It was Getty Sr. who had only then because much of the ran- By Gerard Condon brought the family to Rome in an som can be written off against taxes. effort to reconnect with his estranged MONEY might make the world go son. But John Paul Jr. turned out to Production around but, as a new Ridley Scott be a wastrel. His grandson, too, was M thriller points out, it does not make growing up to be a rebellious teenager The cost of this movie, estimated it a happy place. All the Money in the who courted danger. at $50 million, is evident in its excel- World is based on the true story of Throughout his life, the boy’s lent production qualities. The edgy, John Paul Getty III (played by Charlie Number One advocate was his moth- socially unstable atmosphere of 1970s Plummer). On July 10, 1973, at the er, Gail. It is her steadfast love (as Italy is well captured. Even the sweaty age of 16, he was kidnapped in Rome dramatized by Williams) that gives criminals exude bella figura. Eighty- by the ’Ndrangheta, a branch of the the movie its impetus. At first she, year-old Ridley Scott, applies the for- Italian mafia. Their motive was ran- like the police, wonders if John Paul mula he has previously used in Gladi- som. Their victim was the grandson has just run away or even arranged his ator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), of American oil magnate, John Paul own kidnapping, as a way of extract- and Robin Hood (2010), dramatizing Getty (Christopher Plummer; no rela- ing money from the “old man.” She an historical event with a combina- tion to his screen grandchild), reput- travels to England to plead for help, tion of intelligent dialogue and well- edly the richest man in the history of but Getty Sr. refuses even to meet her. shot action sequences. Even though the world. He refused to pay the $17 He does, however, appoint one of his the audience may already know the million demanded because of the risk oil company troubleshooters, Fletcher outcome, the director still manages to that a similar fate would befall his Chace (Mark Wahlberg) an ex-CIA create a suspenseful atmosphere. thirteen other grandchildren. Besides, operative, to work with her and the Christopher Plummer has been the child had recently been disinher- Carabinieri (Italian military police) to Oscar nominated for his portrayal of ited, following his mother’s (Gail, secure Paul’s release “as quickly and the miserly J. Paul Getty. His per- played by Michelle Williams) decision as inexpensively as possible.” formance is remarkable because the to divorce the boy’s father, John Paul At the outset the teenager sees 82-year-old was given the part after Getty Jr. (Andrew Buchan). He was his kidnapping as an adventure. He the movie had been completed. The a drug addict and she preferred to strikes up a friendship, of sorts, with role of the billionaire was originally secure custody of their children to a one of the captors, “Cinquanta” (Ro- filmed with Kevin Spacey, but he was financial settlement. main Duris, in a gritty performance), fired having been accused of sexu- 42 MES SEN GER OF ST. AN THO NY | JULY/AUGUST 2018 Christopher Plummer, left, and director Ridley Scott at the world premiere of All the Money in the World at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, California, 18 December 2017 al misconduct. The reshooting was achieved over the course of just nine days, last November, at an estimat- ed cost of $10 million. Critics have hailed the last minute re-edit as a major technical achievement. In one shot, in the Arabian Desert, it is obvi- ously Spacey, not Plummer, who is playing the part of Getty Sr. by JordanStrauss/Invision/AP© Photo Moral ambiguity theirs, John Paul Getty might also ter-in-law’s priorities, on the other be accused of theft. He infringed the hand, were unambiguously good. It In this movie, as in any good tale, spirit if not the letter of the Seventh was a fitting irony, as the closing cred- the struggle between good and evil is Commandment, by hoarding exces- its point out, that most of the Getty not clear-cut. Yes, the criminal gangs sive profits, avoiding taxation, and fortune was distributed among chari- are obviously villains, but they, and not using his great wealth for the ties, by his heirs, in the decades fol- others, were also the victims of ex- common good. lowing his death. ploitation. In the 1950s J. Paul Getty Christopher Plummer human- had come up with the idea of the izes the character of Getty Sr., and Life imitating art supertanker as a means of transport- has him demonstrate flickers of good ing cheap Arabian oil to the West. It conscience. At one point he confides Following his release from cap- was Getty, more than the Sheiks, who to Fletcher Chase that “things, ob- tivity, John Paul Getty III is said to benefitted from the arrangement. So, jects, artifacts, paintings” are more have telephoned his grandfather to yes, while the kidnappers had broken reliable than people: “They never thank him for paying the ransom. It the Seventh Commandment (Thou change, they never disappoint.” He is claimed that Getty refused to take shalt not steal), taking what was not adds, “There is a purity to beautiful the call. Within a year he married things that I have never been able to the actress Gisela Schmidt, and had find in another human being.” Getty a child (Balthasar Getty, now an actor Michelle Williams, left, and Mark may have had all the money in the and film producer). He was, howev- Wahlberg, right, in All the Money in the world, but in terms of relationships er, traumatized by the kidnapping, World, a film based on a true story he was living in poverty. His daugh- and a drug overdose in 1981 left him partially blind and paralyzed until his death in 2011. His mother lives to this day in London. John Paul Getty died in 1976, just three years after the kidnapping of his grandchild. In his will, he left his son a mere $500 and his grandson nothing. His art-collection is housed in the Get- ty Museum in Los Angeles. The final scenes of the movie show the old man rambling through the halls of his En- glish mansion, frightened and alone. He snatches a favorite painting off the wall, a Madonna with the Infant Jesus, collapses onto a chair and mum- bles, “Beautiful child!” All too late he had realised that it is love, not money, which makes the world go around. ✦ MES SEN GER OF ST. AN THO NY 43.