The Badge (2001)

A more than usually thoughtful murder mystery. A heavy lorry runs off the road at night in a remote part of rural Louisiana, as the driver swerves to avoid a girl wandering across the road -- the girl is later found dead. The truck was carrying shoes, which spill out onto the road, and remarkably, the police hand these out to local people, and to themselves.

Sheriff Darl Hardwick (Billy Bob Thornton) has the task of clearing things up, and in the mortuary it becomes evident that the girl was a pre-operative transsexual. Eventually it emerges that she had been performing at a politicians' gathering, and the election is impending, so the politicians don't want a scandal.

Darl's investigations take him to a club that seems to be frequented by at least one drag queen.

Some common plot elements come in, including Darl himself being arrested on a trumped up charge, and a police car chase; nonetheless I found the behaviour of the characters a little more true to life than is usually portrayed in this genre of film. The actual motive for the murder is also credible, if discouraging. Some observers find the film a little slow, however.

The dead girl, Mona, is only seen alive in a brief and blurred flashback to the events that led to her being on the highway. However, her body is seen for some time on the mortuary examination table at the beginning of the film, but an authoritative commentator has said that this is a genetic female because of the bone formation.

The film is also known as Behind the Badge.

HF March 2005

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