Having been an ardent admirer of Abel Ferrara's film Bad Lieutenant (1992) since the first time I saw it a couple of years ago, I didn't think that it could be improved. It was only recently that it came to my attention that Ferrara intended that Schoolly D's 'Signifying Rapper' be used throughout the film, including during the scene in which the nun is raped. Okay, maybe I was a bit slow on the uptake because it seems to be a pretty well-known fact that the song was used in the film's original release, but pulled some time later due to a rights violation, which arose from the song's use of elements of Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir'. But with the song removed from all available versions of the film on DVD, I had to look elsewhere.
As soon as the film reaches the scene 'on the streets' at night when LT pretends to apprehend a drug dealer, but simply wishes to obtain a fix from him, the driving sound of 'Signifying Rapper' lends an albeit 'typical' but nevertheless gritty, hard edge to the scene; the energetic music complementing LT's run and flight up the dark stairwell. It deepens the sense that LT here is really setting out his stall, which will lead him to dig deep into the negative. Compared to the ambient sound that is used in the current version, this is far superior and captivating. It would seem that Ferrara's upset with regard to the prevention of the use of the song led him to simply refuse to replace it with any other music.The use of the song in the rape scene gives the effect that the scene takes up the perspective of the two young men committing the brutal crime. It was surprising to hear the song here instead of the solemn organ music used in the distributed version, but the screams of Christ (LT's screams overdubbed I believe, or at least almost identical, thus involving him in the scene) and the toppling of religious iconography is more powerfully integrated with the audio in Ferrara's original version - more urgent, affecting and cruel.
The song which has soundtracked the rape then becomes LT's theme as he visits the nun in the hospital, the music again linking LT with the deviance, abandon, violence and negativity of the rapists and the drug dealers.Where quietude really pays off in the film is during LT's collapse into guilt and shame in front of the apparition of Christ. This is a scene that I always find overwhelming and Keitel really does give one of the most incredible, wrenching performances. What is crucial here is the echo of LT's voice within the church. The setting works perfectly here for thematic reasons, visually and aurally. What happens is that LT's voice cries out, blaming another but it is only his voice that returns to him - there is no response from Christ. LT has to reflect on his own behaviour, crime, addiction; he cannot lay the blame on someone other than himself.
