Public Enemies by Johnny Depp - Essay Example

? Public Enemies of Thesis ment Though the movie Public Enemies by Johnny Depp shows one of the greatest crime waves in America, it does not mean a failure in the American security and intelligence network, but a wake up call for FBI to apprehend criminals and face the full force of the law and give justice to all the citizens, and to culturally restore the American identity. Introduction Generally, the American cultural identity can be analyzed in terms of the political, religious and ideological. This paper focuses on the movie Public Enemies starring by Johnny Depp and its relationship to the American identity. For instance, strong and active intelligence network is the cornerstone for preventing insecurity in the United States of America so that the American identity can be restored. Culturally, acts of committing crimes such as stealing, robbery and rape are not accepted in the American society. Even, religious groups and teachings strongly condemn these criminal activities, which are shown in the movie. Just as it is reflected in the movie, the criminal gang tagged as public enemy could not live longer than they had expected. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) strengthened their operations and finally justice was realized to the citizens who were the targets of the gang. The events that took place show that it is possible to achieve the criminal justice irrespective of the duration it take. The criminal group organized several robberies with violence and all manner of actions, which left people just guessing on their next move. As America is very aggressive in fighting terror plans, this group could not be tolerated any longer. They became the public enemy because of the turbulence they caused in the business sector and totally uncultured activities. The FBI is a very instrumental body in America that does criminal investigations. The movie “public enemies” helps in understanding on the birth of FBI in 1930s. In addition, it makes it easy to understand the roles that the federal body played in preventing the criminal activities of the gang and its members. The early history of FBI is clearly demonstrated in the film by the director Michael Mann, who did good pieces of work in the movie design. The film author states that the way he had studied crime patterns in the US through watching policemen and criminals activities on the televisions. The criminal activities they did were enough to make the public domain question about them. Consequently, the federal government through the FBI had to redesign ways of clearing the menace in the public. Besides, this led to the setting of the state criminal free zone (Johnny, Bale, Cotillard & Craven, 2011). Part of the American identity is to fight the gangs and relieve the world of criminals especially those that can plan for terrorist and domestic robbery with violence. The main gang leaders, named Dillinger, was a hard-core criminal, who could organize main Bank robberies and kill police guards, regardless of the police efforts to bring him back to justice. Dillinger gang was well-known throughout the US since he organized for the main criminal activities. While in the bank Dillinger nods on seeing the money left in front of the booth by a bank teller and says, “You can put it a way, not here for your money, here for bank money” (Johnny, 2009). This shows that they knew what they ere doing. The gang used three innovations, which helped their operations in robbing various banks. In 1930s, they had Thompson submachine gun that was introduced after the First World War. They simply used this to gun down the local law enforcers of the federal government. In addition, in their possession was a powerful V8 engines. Through this they could outrun the law enforcers. The third machine used by this gang was the interstate highway that the law men could not use locally. This made it impossible for the law enforcers to capture them. This film also brings out the need for federal state to initiate formation of FBI that could deal with the gang once and for all. The criminal justice was disorganized and the outlawed gang caused more havoc and destruction to the property such as commercial banks. At one time the gang killed about 10 men while seven was wounded; they robbed banks and continuous arsenals of police. In addition, they broke the jails three times. The justice system in the US by then could not deal effectively with the criminals. He tells the police, “You wana know if we’re armed? We are armed” (Johnny, Bale, Cochrane, Cotillard & Craven, 2011). They caused many problems, which made people sad. Often, the FBI chased the gang. The film reflects one most dramatic event that occurred at Little Bohemia Lodge in 1934. Dillinger with his gang went in to relax and hide from FBI. Unfortunately, the FBI got intelligence report a bout their location and pursued them. The FBI made their way into the hotel premises which then lead to exchange of gun fire. The FBI approached the gang and fired hundreds of disastrous bullets. An FBI agent and a bar patron died in the operation. Several people were wounded including the agents. It is very ironical that the target gang escaped uninjured. This reflects the inability of the FBI to fight the criminals. This is one of areas that show the gang as terror group and one that it was difficult to capture while performing their criminal activities (Johnny, Bale, Cochrane, Cotillard & Craven, 2011). The lodge in which the incident took place is considered as a tourism point where “the bullet hole” customers were prominent. The public museum of Oshkosh used the information on the incident to educate them about the era and events of public enemies where there was wave of crimes during the troubled time. Dillinger was one of the gang members and he played the biggest role in the crime actions, but could not be brought to face the full face of the law. When asked by the police chief,” how much does it take you to run through a bank?” He is not bothered and answers; “About one minute forty seconds” This shows how his answer to the police was rude. In addition, FBI intensified their search for the gangs because the criminals were on the increase. The American had to flex her muscle faster. The presence of submachine guns and the conditions, which made the families, sleep in their cars. However, the police investigation was being intensified in the US. As it is always therefore, the justice system could not manage the situation at hand. The gang used submarine guns to fight the police in most cases. In the event of fire exchange, the public was at risk because the gang was inconsiderate and never valued life. This was a criminal act and the American police was required to enforce the law effectively. It is clear that the public enemy is majorly a story of the outlawed groups, the group that cannot stand for long in the chase within American borders. For instance, in January 1934 the gang member Dellinger was arrested and later broke out of the state prison in March 1934. Even after the arrest, the federal police and the justice system could not prosecute him through a proper court system where legal measures could be enforced. This reflected a bad culture to the citizens because the act of escaping from the jails was a source of insecurity already to the people. In a way, it explains why the gang was often referred to as the public enemy. Their public image was terribly bad because of the continuous threats to the nation and constant breaking of the laws. In addition, information about Dellinger and his gang members had created major questions, which later resulted in the creation of library archives and other information centers to provide information on Dillinger and his gangs who broke out of the Jail (Johnny, Bale, Cochrane, Cotillard & Craven, 2011).One of such libraries was the Indiana state library that is based Indianapolis. The fame left by these dangerous criminals was due to the fact that they had their powers while the police and the FBI could not corner them in time to prevent their fame. From the stated information, John Dillinger and his terror gang were considered as international fugitive because of the way they broke into various banks, escaped from jails and other sexual related scandals. They were all over with bad actions, but were never prosecuted for their criminal activities. This was a clear failure of the justice system. It was just ironical for Dillinger and his gang to be famous within the public domain, and not prosecuted and jailed. The American identity is dynamic since several changes have taken place over the recent past. For example, there is a lot of freedom of association and assembly, which at times leads to planning and committing crime. For instance, American youths, currently have a lot of freedom to associate and money to spend. Often, this makes them idle and they go to various night clubs and entertainment joints frequently. In fact, some youths have guns, which they use to commit crimes such as murder, rape and robbery. Precisely, the analysis of the movie, the lifestyle of Dillinger is similar to the current American identity that grants freedom to the youth to possess a lot of money and own lethal weapons, such as guns. However, the American legal and corrective systems have to do the best so that the former identity of the nation is restored. Therefore, the police force and the judicial system had a critical role to play in apprehending and bringing Dillinger and the other gang members to justice. The lifestyle of Dillinger could make him targeted easily. He was a fun of nightclubs where he spent a lot of money and it was these places where he could easily be located by the police. However, this did not take place. It was even more dangerous and ironical that he managed to bribe the cops in several occasions while his gang offered enormous support for him at all levels. In addition, Dillinger was able to undergo a painful plastic surgery just to hide his face so that he could not be recognized by the police and avoid prosecution. The American federal government had tried all the means to arrest the criminals who were causing national insecurity (Johnny, Bale, Cochrane, and Cotillard & Craven 2011). At one point the gang had to descend in south bend, where they stayed on one of the streets near a targeted bank, and killed a young police officer who was manning the bank and thereafter ran away with the money. This was one of the incidences that the public could see the danger of the gang. They raided many places and the information was flowing everywhere that the criminals were on the run. The justice system was not able to account for them since the gang could not be located for arrest. This was very bad for the population of the US at large. The gang was very clever and their operation was majorly targeting the tycoons and banks. The normal citizens were just left to see things happening. It was not that the state had no justice system, but it was due to the inability of the police to capture the criminals, who could then be taken to court for prosecution and sentence. The government was faced with serious criminal problems and was later forced to form and improvise a strong national police force that was capable to track down the criminals. The federal police had to be formed fast and promptly. The formation of FBI later bore fruits as Dillinger, Floyd and Nelson who were gang leaders, were later assassinated. The assassinations lead to breaking up of the gang. Later activities saw leadership of FBI changed to one that was free of corruption cases. This was referred to as the modern FBI. This was a time to build homeland security system for the American people. The movie depicted American identity, as a nation that is democratic, social and one which is ready to educate citizens on the demerits of criminal activities. The criminals had time to show all sides of living styles of the American people. The main aim is to lecture the public especially the youth about the dangers of crime. Dillinger and other fellow member of the gang named Homer Van argues. “I will give out a message to the youth of America” says Van Homer. In response to this, Dellinger states, “No, that's not the idea, we just want to tell them that crime does not pay.'' Further more, they reflected this in the movie presentation whereby all the challenges of living criminal life is shown on the public enemy Finally, through the American security system, Dillinger is arrested and wanders into police station and sees several mug shots of his associates majorly stamped as “Deceased” and soon thereafter realizes that it was a chronicle of his death, and the day had arrived. The US security had gunned him down as away of reducing the criminal activities. This shows that they were in control of the nation and any security threat from all sources are under control through an instrumental FBI. Clearly, the FBI played a key role in killing Dillinger since this would help restore the American identity that culturally discouraged criminal activities. In fact, the movie gives a detailed account how the American Security under the leadership of the FBI, try to discourage and manage criminals activities, which threatens the American identity and cultural image. References Johnny, D., Bale C., Cotillard, M., Cochrane, R., & Craven, M. (2011). Public Enemies Format: DVD. Available from http://www.amazon.com/Public-Enemies-Single- Disc-Johnny-Depp/dp/B002QEHPQU. Annotated Bibliography Costello, M. (2004). America’s Most Wanted. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/books/america-s-most wanted. html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. He talks about the public enemy who committed some of the greatest crime wave in America. He described Dillinger as a criminal by June 1934. His activities were bank robbery, sex symbol and jail breaker. Generally, the writer talks about the life style of Dillinger and his addiction to the night clubs. Quotes that the public enemies were outlawed gang in the USA. He finally argued on the formation of a division which then lead to formation of FBI. Davis, P. (2009, February). Depression Era public Enemies Vs the FBI, Part 1.Retrieved from http://greathistory.com/depression-era-public- enemies-vs- the-fbi-part-i.htm. Davis first came across photos of Jonny Depp in the internet; portraying Dillinger was a criminal on the chase by FBI. He talks about the book as reflecting on the life history when the gang was captured by the FBI agents. It majorly gives insight into the early FBI’s area of operation. According to Davis, bank robbers were known as Yeggmen. French, P. (2009, July). Public Enemies. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jul/05/public-enemies-film-review French noted that Johnny Depp made John Dellinger as an enigma. While director Michael Mann is striving to find a balance between romance and realism. He states that the movie is of a moribund form and its meaning only changed with simultaneous appearance just in 1967. It is a gangster movie. The character Dillinger is portrayed here as the gang leader. He talks about the final journey of the gang as Dillinger wanders into a police station. Milwaukee (2009, April). Midwest Hopes For ‘Public Enemies’ Tourism. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30457875/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/midwest- hopes-public-enemies-tourism/#.TrYrT_SArqE Milwaukee based the theme of the information on Wisconsin Tourism Department. According to the author, Wisconsin was one of the major escapades of the gang by 1930s. Other states included Illinois, Arizona, and Indiana. This made the places to be good tourism attraction sites. Milwaukee ascertained that Wisconsin tourism department had publicized on their website the state as the location where the gang dominated. It was in Lodge in Wisconsin where there was a face off of the FBI and the gang in one of the hotels that has since been the most tourism attraction point. Read More