Aahana Swrup
‘The Man in My Basement‘ is a mystery thriller film where two drastically different individuals find themselves entrapped in a strange confrontation. Charles Blakey is a young homeowner whose life has brought him to a standstill. Riddled with crushing debt, he’s stuck inside his family’s generational home with no real prospects of his own. However, his cards promise to change when a wealthy man, Anniston Bennet, offers him a ridiculously lucrative compensation to rent out his basement for two months. Although the offer initially seems incredible, Charles soon begins to regret his compliance once he realizes his renter’s real intentions.
Overnight, the older man builds himself a cage inside the homeowner’s basement, offering the younger man even more money to play the role of a warden in his self-imposed imprisonment and social isolation. The premise of this Nadia Latif film sets the stage for an outlandish story, layered with horror and psychological elements. Even so, the themes of race, guilt, and generational trauma that unravel in the central conflict between Charles and Bennet remain socially relevant in a way that is bound to resonate with the audience and their real-life experiences.
The Man in My Basement Adapts Walter Mosley’s Novel
‘The Man in My Basement’ is a fictional story, devoid of narrative real-life counterparts. Yet, the film’s genesis remains intriguing, allowing the tale and its characters to form realistic and relatable themes. Nadia Latif’s feature film directorial debut is an on-screen adaptation of ‘The Man in My Basement,’ Walter Mosley’s eponymous 2004 book. The book itself is a work of fiction that examines the nuanced dynamic between Charles and Bennet, two narratively dichotomous characters, who are bound to one another in more ways than one. In developing the script for the on-screen adaptation, Latif, who also serves as the screenwriter for the project, delved deep into the author’s work. In fact, the multiple hiccups that the film’s production experienced over the course of its development allowed the filmmaker to further engage with the source material.
As a result, by the time the time restriction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the double strikes were lifted, Latif and her had enough time to form a deep connection with the material. Reportedly, during that time, the filmmaker sent research materials to the cast, indulging in extensive character work with them. In a conversation with The Wrap, Willem Dafoe, who plays the role of Anniston Bennet, discussed the influence this practice had on his performance. “All the stuff that you (Latif) sent me in that period when I knew I was going to do it was beautiful. It was like an education for me to approximate what my character’s point of view might be, which is not from my experience. I’m not sure I would have known how to get the proper point of view.” Therefore, Mosley’s work ultimately retained a notable influence on the project. For the same reason, despite the story’s fictionality, the film was able to tap into emotionally and socio-politically relevant narratives.
The Man in My Basement Finds Realism Through Philosophical and Sociopolitical Themes
For the most part, Nadia Latif’s adaptation of ‘The Man in My Basement’ remains faithful to Walter Mosley’s original work. Yet, the on-screen narrative takes a few creative liberties and diverges from its source material at times. For instance, the most glaringly evident example of the differences between the book and the movie stems from their historical time period setting. Latif’s project differs from the novel and brings the story to the mid-1990s. While this decision influences a lot of the visual aspects of the film, it also maintains a notable impact on the storytelling. Inspired by her own experiences of the time, Latif wanted to cast a parallel between Charles’ story as he wrestles with ideas of race, heritage, and generational trauma, against the Rwandan genocide, one of the most horrifying tragedies in recent African history.
In the film, this connection is cemented through a brief but powerful reference to the same tragedy, which took place in the year 1994. Even though this change creates a notable difference between the film and the book, the former remains faithful to the spirit of the latter. In his novel, Mosley wanted to explore “the meeting between evil and innocence,” which he achieves through the nuanced characterization of Charles, Bennet, and their interpersonal interactions. This effect is carried over in the on-screen adaptation, with Mosley serving as the co-screenwriter alongside the director. Ultimately, with the film, Latif strives to bring the feeling of reading the book to the screen.
Read More: The Man in My Basement Ending Explained: Does Bennett Die? How?
