Arlington Road

Michael Faraday is a recently widowed college history professor living alone with his ten-year-old son Grant in the suburbs of Washington, DC. The death of Michael's wife Leah, an FBI agent killed in the line of duty, continues to haunt both father and son. Michael and Grant are soon befriended by the Langs, a vivacious, All-American family new to the neighborhood. The parents, Oliver and Cheryl Lang, go out of their way to draw Michael into their lives. Soon, Grant and young Brody Lang become inseparable friends. The Faradays' long period of mourning seems finally to be over. As the two families become closer, Michael begins to have misgivings about the gregarious Oliver. After catching Oliver in a few insignificant lies, the more Michael learns about Oliver, the more his uneasiness grows. With Grant spending more and more time at the Langs, Michael decides to check into the background of his neighbors. What he discovers deepens the mystery, arousing suspicions that shake Michael to the core of his existence. The Langs are definitely not who they claim to be; but who are they? Why have they come to Washington, DC?




Widowed when his FBI agent wife is killed in an FBI anti-terrorist operation gone wrong, a college professor (Bridges) becomes increasingly obsessed with the culture and sub-society of these dangerous groups. The arrival of new neighbors (Robbins, Cusack), gives him new spirit, as they are gregarious and friendly, with two children (Gamble, Green) that his son (Clark) can be friends with. He is even beginning to see another woman (Davis). However, he begins to suspect something is odd about the neighbors, something about the way they don't want him to see certain parts of the house, or a set of blueprints they have there. Are his neighbors terrorists... or is the stress of losing his wife merely driving him past the point of paranoia.
Written by Anonymous



Michael Faraday is a recently widowed college history professor living alone with his ten-year-old son Grant in the suburbs of Washington, DC. The death of Michael's wife Leah, an FBI agent killed in the line of duty, continues to haunt both father and son. Michael and Grant are soon befriended by the Langs, a vivacious, All-American family new to the neighborhood. The parents, Oliver and Cheryl Lang, go out of their way to draw Michael into their lives. Soon, Grant and young Brody Lang become inseparable friends. The Faradays' long period of mourning seems finally to be over. As the two families become closer, Michael begins to have misgivings about the gregarious Oliver. After catching Oliver in a few insignificant lies, the more Michael learns about Oliver, the more his uneasiness grows. With Grant spending more and more time at the Langs, Michael decides to check into the background of his neighbors. What he discovers deepens the mystery, arousing suspicions that shake Michael to the core of his existence. The Langs are definitely not who they claim to be; but who are they? Why have they come to Washington, DC.
Written by PFE publicity



When Michael Faraday, single father, accidentally stumbles across a little lie from his new neigbour, he gets suspicious. As a university professor who gives classes on terrorism history and whose wife got killed in the line of FBI-duty, his fatherly protection instincts arise much faster than in normal people. Grant, his son, became the best friend of Brady Lang. Only that Brady's father did not always carry the name Lang. Digging deeper and deeper, Michael Faraday excavates a very interesting and frightening history. But what we didn't think of: From whose point of view is that history frightening.
Written by Julian Reischl {julianreischl@mac.com}



SYNOPSIS

Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) is a college history professor at George Washington University who has been raising his nine-year-old son, Grant, since the death of his FBI agent wife, who was killed in the line of duty (in a scene loosely based on the real-life Ruby Ridge incident). Somewhat of a specialist regarding American terrorism, Michael starts to become suspicious of his new suburban neighbors, Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl Lang (Joan Cusack), whom he's just met after taking their son, Brady, to the emergency room following a reported fireworks accident.

At first his suspicions are based on little things such as Oliver's architectural blueprints that seem to be for something other than the shopping mall he claims he's building, as well as pieces of mail that contradict where Oliver said he attended college. Neither his girlfriend and former student, Brooke Wolfe (Hope Davis), nor his wife's former FBI partner, Whit Carver, believe any of his wild theories.

After doing some digging Michael discovers that Oliver's real name is William Fenimore and that he built a pipe bomb when he was 16 and tried to blow up a government office in Kansas. William, one day, confronts Michael over his looking into William's past. He revealed that Oliver Lang is the name of William's friend who died in a hunting accident. William's family had owned a farm but it went broke because the government 'appropriated' the river that ran through it 'for other uses'. As a result the crops died and they could not raise any animals. William's father then killed himself and made it look like a tractor accident so the family could claim the life insurance. He left a note for William explaining everything. He built the pipe bomb to get back at the government. When William's friend Oliver died he took his name the next day to hide his past. This makes Michael think twice about what he had found out.

Michael continues to uncover what could be possible evidence and becomes even more wary of Oliver and Cheryl. Michael's girlfriend, Brooke, casually spots Oliver and follows his car after witnessing a suspicious package delivery in a garage. Her trail ends up in the headquarters of a mail delivery company from where she decides to call Michael and leave a message, finally accepting his fears as founded; unfortunately, after hanging up, she turns around and stumbles on Cheryl who had obviously heard the whole message.

Brooke's murder, which happens off-screen, is covered up by making it look like Brooke died in a car crash. Michael realizes this after finding out, a few days later, that at least two voice messages were left on his answering machine and then erased by someone else. Eventually the conspirators use a field trip with a Boy Scouts-style organization to keep Faraday's son Grant as an unknowing hostage.

Faraday rents a car the next day and follows the van his son is in, with the Scout taskmaster and a shady telephone repairman whom Faraday had a few run-ins earlier, which eventually leads him to the FBI headquarters when William attemps to stop Michael and reveals the location of their target.

Faraday forces his car into a secure parking garage of a federal building, only to discover that he has followed the wrong van into the parking garage. Attempting to calm Faraday, Whit informs him that he is the only person not cleared to be in the garage. Realizing his mistake too late, Faraday rushes to the trunk of his rental car, opening it to reveal...... a hidden bomb just seconds before it explodes, killing Faraday, Whit, and 182 others.

Posthumously, Faraday is vilified as a terrorist seeking revenge for his wife's death. The Langs and their co-conspirators (among them the Boy Scout's taskmaster and telephone repairman; also at least one of Faraday's students is in on the conspiracy) completely get away with it. Grant, now orphaned, ends up living with relatives, not knowing of his father's innocence. After the Langs decide to move out of the neighborhood, Cheryl suggests that they should go "someplace nice, someplace safe" clearly meaning that they might strike again. It becomes obvious here that Scobee, another man who was accused of blowing up an IRS building in St. Louis (a thinly veiled version of the Oklahoma City bombing), was set up as the fall guy almost exactly as Michael has been by the Langs as they now start to plan their next terrorist attack, as well as to look for another fall guy to take the blame for their murderous actions.