Hey, it's Elvis Mitchell. You know me. I host the treatment here at KCRW. Stand by. We're going to start the podcast in about five seconds from now. But let me ask you your support because, hey, you know you're listening. I know you're listening because you can hear my voice. Why are you holding on that money? You're just going to go waste it at Starbucks anyway. We do original programming here. We get the best people who come to talk to you and to me. So send us a few bucks. In fact, send us 10 bucks by texting KCRW to the number 20222. Right? You got that? All right. Here we go.

And three, two, one. From KCRW, Santa Monica and KCRW.com, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to the Treatment. I'm Elvis Mitchell. When I saw a film out of the furnace a couple of weeks ago,

the first thing I thought was, what feels like perhaps a sprawl is a really densely layered

character piece that reminded me of William Faulkner's as I lay dying. It's director and screenwriter,

Scott Cooper also did crazy arts a couple years ago sitting across from me. I'm thrilled to have

him here. Thank you so much, Scott.

That's a real pleasure, Elvis. As someone who's been a long time admirer of your work, it's a real honor to be here.

For the audience, tell them a little bit what the movie's about, because I want them to go see it.

Well, the movie is about many things, but it's truly about us as Americans in these past five turbulent years that we've experienced, a crumbling economy,

fighting wars on two fronts, in Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers returning and suffering

post-traumatic stress disorder and having a very difficult time assimilating back into life

and the fact that we live in a violent nation.

It's also about a man, played by Christian Bale, who's a very, very good man,

who is beset on all sides by this relentless fate, who, when he emerges from prison,

he's met with great deal of tragedy and loss, his brother, played by Casey Affleck, who is reeling

from the torment and the horrors that he's seen in war and having a difficult time finding

work in the dying Rust Belt town and economy that's crumbling.

It gets caught up in a very nefarious crime ring led by horrific Woody Harrelson.

And without spoiling much of the de no mont, Christian goes on a journey to help honor the familial obligations that he's taken on so heavily from now being the titular member of

the family.

I couldn't help but think, as I was watching this, though, specifically that book, William

...