After reading Film Gris: Crime, Critique, and Cold War Culture in 1951 by Charles J. Manland, I think Christ in Concrete (1949) can be better defined as film gris rather than film noir. Manland suggests that an important aspect of film gris is that there is greater psychological and social realism, as well as social critique, in film gris than in film noir. Also, film gris is more likely than film noir to “lament the destruction of families and close human ties because of economic pressures on marginal and working-class people in American culture.” I think Christ in Concrete is more associated with film gris not only because family and human ties were deemed very important, but also because it makes a social critique on the American dream and capitalism.
The film isn’t just about a man who gets married, has children, and becomes evil. It is a tragedy about an immigrant man who becomes ruined by capitalism and the American dream. We see as Geremio changes from a hardworking bricklayer to a boss who betrays his family and friends because of economic pressure. No matter how hard Geremio works, it never seems to be enough. It takes him more than nine years to save five hundred dollars for a house to fulfill his American dream, which is (ironically) eventually achieved through his death. As the depression progresses, Geremio is under more pressure to make money in order to feed his family. This leads him to betray his moral standing, which probably was not too firm in the first place (another aspect of film noir; “no character has a firm moral base from which he can confidently operate,” Place and Peterson). The family “eats away [their] dream,” as Geremio expresses despairingly. The claustrophobia that is expressed in film noir and the helplessness of Geremio and his family made me feel claustrophobic and helpless as well. The whole system seemed to be the problem, for it seemed that a family that worked as hard as Geremio and saved as much as Annunziata deserved to have their share of the American dream. Therefore, Christ in Concrete makes a negative commentary on the capitalism, which Dmytryk seemed also to be against. Throughout the film, Geremio is running desperately and restlessly in this race for his American dream but remains at the same place. And at the end of the film, this race turns out to be placed in a quicksand, which consumes him and takes his life as a price of capitalism.
