A Confidential can be seen as a rather complex story in comparison to Chandler's short noir stories. The movie revolves around three main characters, namely Jack Vincennes, Bud White and Edmund Exley. An antihero is commonly known as a protagonist who lacks in heroic qualities. The three protagonists seemingly fall under such a category. All three characters have contrastingly different goals to achieve and the beautiful plot develops them, as they are put through conflicts reflecting their individualism as they react differently according to their beliefs. While all three characters exhibit characteristics of an antihero, Bud White best illustrates the characteristics of an antihero because of his vulnerability, impulse, unconventional actions taken and his own moral compass. Those qualities led viewers to a confused perception on whether he is a hero or not, which is also key in recognizing an antihero.
Bud White was the first character to be introduced and the first scene quickly and very efficiently establishes his outline as a character in the story. The first scene was one of the most significant scenes in the movie. He exhibits a strong dislike for domestic violence, accentuated by his partner's nonchalant attitude to the spouse abuse that was happening right before their eyes. White proceeding to pull off the Christmas decorations to get the wife-beater's attention was an act of rebellion revealing that he was a man of action. He does not bother to sit in the car to discuss with his partner on the next line of action but instead acts on impulse in doing the "right" thing. After subduing the wife-beater, White even proceeded to threaten the man with his own "justice system", to send the guy to prison as a "kiddy-rapist." This can be seen as White having no regard of the justice that the law provides and seeks to enforce what he think is due fitting of the unlawful instead.
