"Capote"

The movie “Capote” was released in 2005 and it tells the story Truman’s Capote research for his book “In cold Blood”, an account of the murders of a family in Kansa. The movie emphases on the relationship the writer developed with the killers, especially with Perry Smith, and what this master piece meant to the writer and writing at the time.  “In cold blood” is considered to be a non-fiction novel, the prefect combination of literature and journalism.  The book combines the aesthetic feeling of literature with the different rhetorical devices used by Capote and the research and rigor of journalism. This combination changed the way people perceived writing for it was an innovative idea to write a true story based on pure facts and then add to these an aesthetic feeling. What Truman Capote did on “Cold Blood” was groundbreaking and yet that is not the most essential characteristic of the book. The book was so remarkable because of how beautifully it was written, the descriptions it gave and the ride to the inner and outer world of some very interesting characters.

The movie also refers to Capote’s life as he was writing the book and from it the viewer gets an inside view into the writer true self. With the book it is clear that Capote was a socialite that everyone loved especially himself, he hold himself in a pedestal and thought of his work as quite magnificent. But then all of this confident may be just a cover up to hide all his pain and sorrow after a quite sad and horrible childhood, which included not having a stable home and his mother’s suicide. There is also the revelation that Capote did not decide to write the book because of the murders but because the murderers, especially because of Perry. He thought this character was quite interesting that represented the contradiction of a quite world against a violent and lonely one, it was almost as if Perry was a portrayed of himself that helped him understand the world better. And yet even through it is clear that Capote feels emotionally connected to Perry, in the movie it is shown how he lies and he uses him for the benefit of his book. Capote was both Perry’s friend and a researcher wanting information. “In Cold Blood” Capote develops his a new type of writing but also develops a humanity he did not posses that is shown in the book, probably unconsciously, and it is this last element that makes the book a master piece.