Fargo is a film set during the year of 1987 in Minneapolis and Fargo, North Dakota where car salesman Jerry Lundegaard strikes up a deal with criminals Carl Showalter and Geaer Grimsrud to kidnap his own wife. The reason for this plan is so he can get his wife’s wealthy dad Wade Gustafson to pay the ransom so he can get $40,000 and the criminals get $40,000, although he’s his father in law, there’s antagonism between the two meaning Jerry can’t just ask for the money. Jerry never intended to give half of the ransom to the criminals as he was planning to tell Wade they asked for a million dollars so he could take the rest.

The character Jerry Lundegaard is a very interesting character as he is the anti hero but is the protagonist which does happen but not very often. Jerry has a wife and kid, although Jerry is desperate for money he can’t ask his wealthy father in law due to him not being able to tell them why he needs it. This friction between the two characters is foreshadowed in the early stages of the film, where only a little bit of this information is shown, almost teasing the viewer as this antagonism between the two characters will have major consequences. Jerry, the majority of the time makes his decisions based of selfish motives but on one occasion he sees an opportunity to get the money without needing to kidnap his own wife so he tries to warn the criminals but by that time it’s too late. Even though the it’s for his own selfish motives he still has a bit of care for his wife and kid to try and gain the money in a different way.

One of the great things about this film is how it makes such a gruesome situation seem so innocent through the use of setting and accents. This is executed perfectly by basing it in a small town in Minneapolis and all the characters having squeaky American accents which you wouldn’t usually associated with American gangsters and dodgy car salesmen. This adds to the anti hero aspect of Jerry as you can’t help but sometimes root for him or sympathise with Jerry as he seems so innocent that he could almost be doing this all by accident. The scenery is a baron land of snow and forest which is a beautiful and innocent looking landscape where nothing could disturb the peace of the land. There’s a scene shot from an aerial view where Jerry is going to his car after failing to secure some money in a deal and he’s walking through a snow covered car park which has his figure against the striking whiteness of the snow, showing how he’s evermore becoming a lonely figure. Then he violently scrapes the ice of his windscreen which shows how the environment is having a tightening grip on his life and losing control of his situation.

The hero who is a pregnant female police officer which is a very unusual contrast to the very average hero of a strong, white male, also adding to the very unusual nature of a very ordinary looking town. The other interesting thing about the choice of this hero is that she is not introduced until thirty minutes into the film so she definitely isn’t the main focus of the film but used as an antagonist to the main character Jerry. The police officer is such a difference to the rest of the environment as she has to work with the complete ignorance of her colleagues to the fact that murders were taking place in such a small town, making her seem the only person who could do anything useful. This is a big difference to the usual formula of the male is the hero who is the smart one who can find out all the answer; which I find in this film is usually the opposite. Fargo has many contrasting/contradicting features which tie in to make a mad but wonderful and sometimes comedic story of such a gruesome nature which can’t quite seem real in such a innocent little town.