The Song: A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth
The Film:
Drive gives us the story of a mechanic, stunt-man, and (most importantly) a getaway driver simply known as 'The Driver' (Ryan Gosling) who lives in Los Angeles. The Driver has all his jobs managed through his boss, Shannon (Bryan Cranston). The Driver is exceptionally lonely and brooding until he meets Irene (Carey Mulligan) whose husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) is in prison but set to be released. Their relationship is on hold, but Standard needs help with a job and are beaten up in front of his and Irene's son who The Driver has grown fond of. The Driver agrees to drive for the job. The job goes sideways, Standard is killed after a set-up, and soon life for The Driver spins out of control.
The Scene:
The song is used twice in the film. The first instance is after The Driver fixes Irene's (Carey Mulligan) car at his shop. At his boss's request, he drives Irene and her son home, but not before they go on a brief drive around Los Angeles.
The song is used for the second time at the very end of the film. The plot of the film culminates with a meeting between The Driver and the chief bad guy, Bernie (Albert Brooks). The Driver hands over the money that Bernie wants, but Bernie stabs and wounds The Driver. In retaliation, The Driver stabs then fatally wounds Bernie before driving off into the night. We see Irene try to knock on his door as well, to no avail.
The Usage:
As in any film, and with any motif, repetition is important. This song appears in two vastly different contexts. Let's take a look at the first appearance of it, the drive with Irene. For the first part of the film, we see The Driver involved with the seedy underbelly of LA. He is a criminal and certainly what we would not consider a hero. We also see his job of being a stunt-man. A stunt-man, by definition, takes the stunts of main characters in the film but generally do not see any of the praise. He's also a faceless mechanic in a car shop. However, once he steps out and does this gesture of kindness for a family of two that he looks upon with favor, we here the theme. He is no longer the machine and villain of the criminal world. He is, as the song says, "a real human being and a real hero" when he's with Irene and can sense the sort of 'normal' life that he seems to want based on his coldness during criminal jobs.
The importance of the second scene ties in with this becoming a hero that The Driver wants. When we think of heroes, arguably the most 'heroic' trait is to sacrifice something for those that you love, for the greater good. This is how The Driver ends the film. He did this final job and was willing to give up his money for the protection of Irene and her son. He does not pick the money back up which explicitly spells out for the audience how this job was never about the money. As he drives into the night, leaving behind Irene, it's a sign that he loves truly loves her. After all, the saying is, 'if you love someone, let them go', and that's what The Driver does.
The song's usage is also key to understanding our lead character, which the director freely admits. Nicolas Winding Roth calls the song in an interview with NPR "the song that basically explains the whole movie". Roth would add, "To me it was the story about a character, the protagonist, who lived in two worlds. By day he was a human being and by night he was a hero." I think this raises an interesting point about what, exactly, a hero is. The Driver is our hero of the story. As he carries out his criminal activity, we do cheer for him. He may not have been a 'hero' in the sense of the world he lives in, but in the world of the film, he is our hero.
Drive is, at its heart, a character study of our lead character. Through the usage of the main theme in a pair of key scenes, the usage of the song enhances our view and understanding of The Driver.
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