True West

In life, some say that we are provided the opportunity to choose our own path. Others say that society and genetics set ones actions into motion. In True West, Sam Shepherd explores both of these ideas. He builds upon the idea that we are who we make ourselves. Then, in one exacting blow after another, he tears that narrative down by exposing the truth; that we are who we are and nothing we do can change that. Brothers, Austin and Lee, at first seem as different as two people could possibly be. Austin is the example of what happens when one applies himself in school, gets an education and works hard at his craft. He has managed to escape an alcoholic father and an uninvolved mother. Lee is the underachiever. He is the man who has let his past dictate who he is now. He hates his father but hates even worse, the idea that he has become him. As we see the brothers interact, we are first shown the ocean of difference that separates the two. Lee is tormented by his brothers success which he feels has just come to Austin with no real effort. Austin is jealous of the easy going life Lee seems to lead. Shepherd uses the desert, Lee’s former home to symbolize a wasted life. Their father has wasted away there and so has Lee. Austin pleads with Lee to take him to the desert. At that moment, we see Austin coming to terms with who he is. Lee tells him over and over again that the desert is not for him and that his place is right where he is. The standoff at the end is a powerful sequence in which we are granted to opportunity to think about who we are. True West is a manic tutorial in human behavior and the belief that we do not fall far from the tree.