Inktober 2017: Lawless/Wettest County in the World

On this blog I try to focus on books, but I do like movies, and sometimes they overlap! I came to this book via the movie Lawless, in which Tom Hardy plays one of the Bondurant brothers, and after researching the movie a little I discovered it's based on a book that recounts a semi-true story.

Tom Hardy as Forrest Bondurant

The book version is by Matt Bondurant, a part fiction, part history pried from his own grandfather and news clippings from the 1930s, and it's titled 'The Wettest County in the World'. The genuine historical facts are that the Bondurant brothers existed, they were bootleggers in the prohibition era, and they were involved in a soot-out with a federal officer that resulted in an official investigation later known as the Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy. Jack and Forrest Bondurant were both shot and both survived to testify in court, and it was found that the federal officers in charge of enforcing prohibition were instead taking a cut from the bootleggers.
All of that is true, and you can find the original newspaper articles about it still. The author's grandfather was Jack Bondurant, the youngest of the trio of brothers, and would not talk about the incident much but what little he did say sparked an interest in his grandson. The book is story woven around those facts, and the movie is based on that story.

Forrest Bondurant for Inktober

The real Forrest Bondurant (Actually James Forrest Bondurant) was a thin, sickly looking man who survived the Spanish Flu when he was younger, and in the book he's described in a way that fits the few photographs that exist. He is not intended to be the main character of the story, that role belongs to the youngest brother Jack. While the book was an interesting read to follow up the movie, it's a little difficult on its own because the story is not linear. Rather than simply following Jack's story of the events leading up to the shootout, and what followed, the book cuts between that and the efforts of a reporter visiting years later and trying to piece together the events from the close-mouthed locals. It's a slightly confusing way to deliver a narrative.

In the movie, Shia Lebouf plays Jack, and the narrative ostensibly follows his story (there's no reporter in the movie at all). Tom Hardy as Forrest manages to steal the show, though, and that's not just my opinion alone. Apparently he was cast for his performance in another movie where he was looking pale and sickly for the role, but when they filmed Lawless he was in the process of bulking up to play Bane in the Batman sequel so he was not what they were expecting. His version is a different character altogether, a human tank who rules over his brothers with mumbling and grumbling and brass knuckles in the pocket of his cardigan. He's a strangely maternal figure, and gives the impression he'd be happy sitting darning socks and quietly running his restaurant/gas station, but he also lays out his enemies with a couple of swift heavy punches and engages in shocking violence to protect his own. For all that the story is a good one in either format, it's the movie version of the character that I like best.

Presented here is both my Inktober version of Forrest doing the mending, and a more dynamic painting I did earlier this year, for the full dichotomy of the character.

Forrest Bondurant (Watercolor)