Romancing the War

Shining Through (1992), Directed by David Seltzer

By Fearless Young Orphan

Hang on tight. A lot of crap happens in this movie.

Linda Voss (Melanie Griffith) is a smart young Jewish woman living in Queens who was raised in a home where she was taught to speak the German of her immigrant grandmother. While World War II is ravaging Europe but the United States is still staying out of things, she lands a job in a prestigious law firm for her ability to speak and translate a much-needed language. Her boss, Ed Leland (Michael Douglas – playing his role stoic to the point of constipated) is a mysterious character and mighty hard to please, but you’d better believe that plucky Linda soon has him singing her praises as she proves herself to be smart and intuitive. Intuitive enough, she is, to discover that Ed is a spy! Well, that just makes him even more dishy. Linda is an unknowing forerunner of feminism (she won’t let the male bosses bully her) but that does not prevent her from engaging

in the workplace no-no of becoming Ed’s lover. There is much swooning and such, and a little bit of class insecurity – as an ordinary girl from Queens with no pedigree, she does not seem to fit into tight-jawed Ed’s world of privilege.

While all that romantic stuff is happening, World War II comes to America, or vice versa I guess, and Ed must race off to fight the Nazis. You might enjoy as much as I did the scene at the foggy airport where Linda and Ed part ways and try with considerable seriousness to mimic the goodbyes of Casablanca. This is a film full of corny lines, but Linda’s entreaty to Ed is a howler. Ed can’t be the only guy who used the war as an excuse to break up with his slummy girlfriend, right?

Oh never mind; I was wrong. The plane is facing the other way. Also, a note: Ingrid Bergman never had a slummy day in her life.

After a somewhat pointless (but earnest in a very chick-flicky way) bout of heartbreak, Linda finds Ed again at a USO dance and cries until he takes her back – well, as his secretary at least – and your guess is as good as mine, what the status of their relationship might be for the next few weeks. Doesn’t matter much, because soon thereafter Linda volunteers herself for spy work in Germany. She knows the language and feels she can insert herself into a prestigious German household as a servant so she can get information on a factory location. It’s one of those Macguffiny pieces of vital information that will change the tide of the war.

Ed balks: No way! She has absolutely no espionage training at all! Sending her to spy in Nazi Germany is about as stupid as having an American spy posing as a high-ranking Nazi official when said spy can neither speak nor understand a word of German . . . oh, um, wait. Never mind. That’s exactly what Ed has been doing. Dressed as a high-ranking Nazi official, he’s been infiltrating Germany without even an inkling how to ask where the watercloset might be, so he fakes a throat injury explaining his inability to speak. Doesn’t really explain his inability to understand, does it? But the thing is, we have to suppose that if Ed and his organization (the O.S.S., or so says Linda, though that seems historically improbable . . . ANYWAY . . .) don’t mind having Ed galloping all about Germany on deep cover assignments without a clue what’s being said to him or the ability to reply, then sending a secretary in to do some deep cover spy work is no big deal.

Linda’s mission into Nazi Germany is fraught with zany coincidences and features a cameo by John Gielgud, who cannot seem to get off-screen fast enough. He looks like a man literally about to claw his way through the scenery rather than show himself one more moment than necessary. He puts Linda in contact with a German noblewoman named Margrete (Joely Richardson) who is spying for the Americans. Margrete and Linda become besty friendies in ten hot minutes and Margrete, as far as I can tell, does Linda absolutely no good except to introduce her to someone who can ruin the whole plan later. Not important. Linda fails miserably at her job as a cook – turns out, she can’t freakin’ cook – and is fired by the master of the house.

As she wanders dejectedly away, she is picked up and offered a job by Dietrich (Liam Neeson), a party guest who felt sorry for her, happens to need a nanny, and who also happens to have vital papers sticking out of a briefcase. What an incredible stroke of luck for the Allies! Despite the fact that it goes against her orders, Linda seizes the opportunity and disappears into Dietrich’s household to take care of his kids. Neeson’s Dietrich may be a Nazi, but in many ways he’s more emotionally accessible than Ed Leland. Taller, too.

My god, there is still so much movie to get through. I’ll have to summarize better. In addition to hunting for information on the factory, Linda is also searching for three family members who have been hiding somewhere in Berlin. Her efforts to find her family members are touching, yes, but one has to wonder how smart she is to take the two children of her high-ranking Nazi official boss on these searches with her. So not only is Linda a terrible cook and a fairly terrible spy, she’s also a terrible nanny. The handling of the subplot with Linda’s hidden relatives may be off-putting to some: while the film treats it with care and Linda is genuinely (if naively) determined to perform a rescue, it all smacks a bit of the drama-queen scenario. That’s my personal reaction, and I simply felt that the subject was too delicate to be handled in such a histrionic movie without feeling very awkward.

Oh, so much for summarizing. We simply don’t have time, as any plot point I mention from here on out would require a term paper’s worth of words to clear the confusion. Just trust me. There is a lot left to happen and most of it is terribly funny in the sheer audacity of its schmaltz while also remaining, I admit, fairly entertaining.

Let’s face it: Shining Through is an extremely silly movie. It is so full of silly historical inaccuracies, plot holes, goofy conveniences, over-the-top dialog, and chest-heaving passions that you almost can miss – but don’t worry, you won’t – how inept is every spy working in the whole organization. The mistakes these people make are fundamentally unbelievable unless they are purposely trying to screw the pooch.

That being said, at just over two hours in length, the whole ridiculous affair manages a momentum that simply does not allow for boredom. Melanie Griffith

is a highly watchable actress and something about the strength of her convictions to the role made me want her to be successful in her “mission.” The film is beautiful looking, lush and vibrant, made in the pre-CGI era when care was taken with sets. It looks rich, the art deco is a delight, the costumes (damn historical accuracy anyway!) are lovely. For all that it is derivative of a hundred better films, it is still enjoyable to watch its numerous references and nods. The soundtrack is sweeping. The names are big. If Shining Through had been made in 1962 rather than 1992, we’d probably consider it a girly classic, one of those grand melodramatic pictures that made up in style what it lacked in substance. It may be one of the best bad movies I’ve seen.

See that train back there? Its purpose is to haul all the bullshit in the climax.

Now, as far as spy movies goes, this one is so far into the “fluff” end of the spectrum that you may need to take an antihistamine to stop sneezing. But it is, technically, about spies. Not often we see a spy movie that is re-conjured as a sudsy romance, still, what’s wrong with that? Nothing wrong with the theory, I guess. I’ll tell you what: you can judge by now if you want to take your time seeing this or not. If you’re on the fence, consider that at the very least, there are many good laughs to be had at the expense of the script, and at the very best, you

can channel your girly-film needs for the week in one fell swoop. It’s all here: romance, adventure, swank clothes, career fulfillment, and handsome inaccessible men who make great projects for plucky girls. Well come on! A widowed Nazi official? If he’s not a project, ladies, I don’t know who is.