"Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm god's lonely man."-Travis Bickle
"All the animals come out at night. Whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies. Sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets."- Travis Bickle
"He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction; a walking contradiction."-Betsy to Travis (A line from a Kris Kristofferson song.)
In "Taxi Driver", Martin Scorcese and Robert Deniro have teamed up to tell the story of a lonely outsider named Travis Bickle, living in a world of violence. The atypical plot focuses on the gradual descent of this man into madness through the immersion into the violence that he abhors. Its a brilliant exploration of a lonely outsider, lost, stagnant, aimless. He's like an empty vessel that gradually gets filled by the violence and darkness that, even though he detests, he gravitates towards. Travis Bickle comes from violence as a Vietnam veteran, and possibly from before that. I imagine that he experienced terrible things in Vietnam and there are things inside himself, dark places, that instead of looking at, he projects outwards. Some of the areas of the city are already so dark and violent to begin with that it gradually pushes him into a violent madness. His mind is the darkness of the city and the city is the darkness of his mind, and especially in the sinister dwellings of New York City that is a very combustible thing.
The combination of Scorcese's vision with the camera, Paul Schrader's phenomenal screenplay, a killer performance by Robert Deniro, and a great score by Bernard Herrman make all of this so potent and alive.
The movie opens with an awesome shot of an eerie cloud of steam that fills the screen. In a closeup a cab drives through the cloud in slow motion. In the background are slow basey horns that feel very film noir. It feels like the cab is either descending from or into the underworld. Travis, throughout the movie, more than once will pass through this same cloud of steam and it will always foreshadow an entry into the dark places of the city. In this one symbolic opening sequence Scorcese reveals a lot of the mood and meaning of the film. It's not quite as potent as the opening sequence in "Apocalypse Now" but it is still quite hypnotic and has a special place in my heart as a great artistic cinematic moment.
The movie begins with Travis Bickle getting a job driving a taxi on the night shift, 6pm-6am sometimes seven days a week. He can't sleep and he needs some kind of structure, something to occupy his time and his mind. Most of the movie is told in voiceover similar to the style of a classic film noir, and this movie is a film noir but not your typical one. Some examples of a typical film noir would be the bad guys are after the protagonist, or the protagonist is protecting a woman and a shitstorm may come down on him as a result, or the character is trapped with seemingly no way out. In "Taxi Driver" its more like there is something incredibly unsettling about this man, and it feels like something bad could happen, and it continues to feel more and more like that as the film progresses until he crosses the line and pops. So much of that feeling of darkness, of uncertainty, of feeling trapped that is usually found in the dark cities of the film noir universe are found in the landscape of Travis's psyche.
You see again and again that he is an outsider, someone who doesn't quite know how to fit in, and when he tries to it often goes wrong and he gets rejected. In the first scene of the movie he's trying to make a joke with the Taxi Garage Manager and it falls flat and he gets rejected.
Manager- "How's your driving record?"
Travis- "It's clean. Very clean. Clean as my conscience." (smiles creepily)
Manager- "You gonna break my chops? I get enough trouble with these guys breaking my chops all the time. If you're gonna break my chops you can take it on the arches."
He's awkward. Deep down he feels like the world is out to get him so there's a defensiveness there, and he never learned how to properly socialize, being an outsider. So when he tries to connect it often comes out strange or creepy.
As will be seen repeatedly when Travis is feeling scorned, pissed, or just overall very activated, the camera comes in close and hovers over him. You can feel a mixture of intense emotions. It's Scorsese's way of making sure that we not only understand what's going on through the acting, dialogue, and story, but by putting that camera there you feel more of this character's experience and when he uses the same technique at other times you recognize it and have an even better idea what's going on with this character. You experience more of Travis Bickle.
Not long after this he is at a porno theatre and he's trying to make conversation with the teller by asking her name, and once again it doesn't work and she calls the manager. Later, when talking to a pimp, played very well by Harvey Keitel, the pimp makes fun of him, plays around with him, and calls him square. Travis's biggest rejection in the film comes after he has succeeded in asking out Betsy, a campaign worker for a presidential candidate named Palantine, that he falls for.
His whole experience with Betsy sums up a lot about this character. When he first sees her he feels like she is a perfect angel, and its as if they are meant to be together. When he talks to her over coffee he says strange things to her. Nice things but strange things, and you feel a little uncomfortable and embarassed for him. He, in the scene over coffee, reminded me of Norman Bates from "Psycho" when he's talking to Marion Crane over dinner. During this time he is lighter, happier. The score has a pleasant jazziness. He sees couples together rather than pimps and hookers. His viewpoint of the city is reflective of his mood and what's inside of him. He has someone. He's not alone. As he's walking to a date with Betsy he's shown in slow motion, all dressed up, in the middle of a crowd of people. He's not an outsider. He has someone. He also adopts the political candidate that Betsy is working for as someone who is great. Things begin to crumble as he unwittingly takes Betsy on a date to a porno movie. She leaves the theater after only a few minutes. He feels like he's doing the right thing. This is the world he lives in. In his world couples go to pornos and its ok. She won't return his phone calls and then Betsy the angel becomes Betsy the devil.
"I realize now how much she's just like the others, cold and distant, many people like that. Women for sure. They're like a union."
The presidential candidate Palantine that Betsy works for goes from being Palantine the great to Palantine the terrible. Travis's mind is made up of exaggerated extremes. He organizes his experience in such a way that he can justify the resulting violence. With Betsy he doesn't have to feel his loneliness and rejection so much if he creates a devil out of this onetime angel. With Palantine he has a justification now for the violence that's been aching to come out of him. As the movie progresses Travis's feeling of isolation and rejection is coupled with his immersion into the seedy parts of the city and he experiences more and more of the violence. He seeks out the violence because he has violence within him and the violence that he unconsciously seeks out creates even more violence within. It's a vicious cycle. These dark parts of the city are so vivid and alive. This is reality. You see the hookers and the pimps, and yelling and screaming. You hear a black man screaming at the top of his lungs "I'm gonna kill that bitch. I'm gonna kill that bitch." You see all the red light districts and you experience it in his cab as well. Scorsese in a cameo plays a man who is telling Travis graphically that he's going to kill his wife and how he's going to do it. So it all builds to a crescendo. Deep down he really just wants to kill someone. It's bubbling inside of him. When he realizes what he must do and begins his mission of assassinating Palantine he meets with a man who sells illegal unlicensed guns. He loads up on four of them and aims one out the window at innocent bystanders. In his apartment later he points the gun at people on tv. There's a great moment in a scene where he's sitting in a porno theatre and pointing the gun at the screen. He then periodically, with his hand against his forehead, covers his eyes with a finger and then removes it. He detests the porno yet he wants to watch. He's a walking contradiction.
Scorsese really lets the camera be a key element in describing this character. When he's driving his cab the camera is never just steady. It pans up to street lamps, pans down to just show the road. It sometimes continually just focuses on the passing streetlights. It feels unsteady and endless, like he's caught in a terrible loop. There are two separate scenes in the same diner that use a number of devices to show Travis's experience. In the first scene he's sitting in the diner with some of his fellow cabbies and he notices some black pimps in the back of the diner. The camera, like I mentioned before, gets right in close and kind of hovers over him. Soon after he puts some antacid in a glass of water and it's sizzling- the camera gets closer and closer to his face, coming from slightly underneath him. He looks like he's about to lose it. This is happening right after another cabbie (doughboy) is asking him if he wants a piece (gun). The camera gets close in on his face and then down closer and closer to the sizzling glass. Without a word we know what Travis is feeling. He's about to blow. Later, in another scene at the same diner, he is leaving with another cabbie (wizard) and the black cabbie sitting at the table points a finger like a gun at him and says "bye killer" as he smirks. Once again the camera is close in on Travis. When they get outside he sees a young black kid with a funky hat walking down the street and Bickle is framed in the red glow of the diner. The camera moves a little slower and stays on Travis as he follows the kid with his bad-ass gaze.
So often in the movie you see the reflection of Travis's eyes looking in his rearview mirror. It's a great way to viscerally show the reaction to some of the darkness he encounters. You feel a mixture of his fear and rage, and you can see a violence in those eyes. He's looking at dark, scary, violent things but in the mirror you can see these things in him, especially in the scene where he first meets Iris, the 12 year old prostitute he eventually tries to save, played by Jody Foster in an oscar nominated performance. Iris gets in the backseat of the cab and tells him to quickly get them away from there. Her pimp then comes in after her and pulls her out of the cab. The whole time there's a closeup of Travis's eyes in the rearview mirror. They are shrouded in darkness and you can see the mixture of fear, rage, and violence in them. You feel his reaction to the situation and, with such complexity, see the violence that he's reacting to in his own eyes. I also love the use of the rearview mirror repeatedly because the mirror gives us a clearer image of Travis's shadow and the fact that so much of what Travis is seeing and experiencing in the cab is distorted because the rearview mirror inherently reveals things slightly differently than they actually are.
I'll also mention some other moments in the film that I love. I love the shot when Travis is leaving the room in the tenament where he's been spending time with Iris for the first time. He looks down a hallway and the far end of it is completely dark. The tenament manager comes out of the darkness towards him to collect his money and then turns around and disappears back into the darkness like a troll returning to its cave. There is a great shot earlier in the film of Travis's cab going through a fire hydrant spray and then in slow motion the windshield wipers swiping the water away. It looks and feels just like the cab is in a car wash. It's perfect because he's ending his shift, wiping away the filth. In one of the great moments in the film Travis is finally talking to Betsy after she has repeatedly not answered his phone calls. He's in a phone booth inside a building and as the conversation continues and its clear he's getting rejected the camera moves to the right away from Travis until it's just looking down an empty hallway. It really reveals the loneliness of Travis in that moment and shows that this moment is too painful for us to watch. We shouldn't be watching him. Another great moment is when Travis is watching his tv which is resting on an egg crate. He's slowly tipping the tv back and forth with his foot. It feels like at any moment the tv is going to crash to the ground and it finally does and he puts his hands over his face. He's had it. This is Travis's world. It's not the world where people sit around on a comfy sofa, watch tv and things are predictable. It's a world in which things don't feel comfortable, safe, or predictable, where a television which often serves as a surrogate mother is unstable.
So i've come this far and haven't specifically mentioned Robert Deniro's performance. Wow. One of the greats. Travis Bickle has become an iconic character in our pop culture. I don't know if anyone else could've pulled off what he pulled off. I think part of it is that Deniro knew the streets. He spent a lot of time on the streets of Little Italy and other places in New York city and understood the effect of the city and a lot of the people that live there. Also, like Scorsese, Deniro grew up as a shy outsider. Both of them collaberating together understand what it's like to be an outsider. Both embraced cinema as a place of belonging. Deniro gives such a complex, nuanced performance in this movie. In the scene where he's asking Betsy out he reveals a man who is trying to have a swagger, who's trying to appear confident and suave, but you can see the fear and uncertainty underneath. This is why Deniro is so good in this movie. It's almost like he's not even acting, but truly embodying this character. His character shifts throughout the film. He's more quite and hesitant early on, then becomes more and more agitated until he becomes a killer in the end. Once he has his mohawk he is a different person. You can really see it when he's talking to the secret service man a little before the assassination attempt. He has this fucked up smile and he talks a little faster and with more confidence. He's a man who knows who he is and what he's going to do, and he's so much different than Travis in the beginning but its still Deniro. Deniro has this way throughout most of the movie of portraying a strange, awkward loner who is deeply affected by his inner and outer environment. It's not easy to do all of this and be riveting. I mean he's in almost every scene of the movie. The entire movie is about this man. This man is the movie and because Deniro is such an incredible actor and reveals so much authenticity in his performance you're riveted.
The final third of the movie is really its own entity. It's more typical in story and structure than the rest. It's a man on a mission.
"Listen you fuckers. You screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it any more. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up." Travis is clear. He knows what his purpose is and he's prepared to die. I think he wants to. He loads up on guns, and becomes a killing machine. He's seen putting his fists over an open flame, he's got an extensive workout regiment of situps, pullups, etc., and he creates a sling device so that he can keep a gun underneath his sleeve and at a seconds notice sling it right into his hand. This is when you get the famous "Taxi Driver" moment of Travis talking to a mirror.
"You talking to me? You talking to me? You talking to me? Well then who the hell else are you talking to? Me? You talking to me? Well i'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"
He fails in his assassination attempt of Palantine. He never gets close enough. Maybe because he stands out like a sore thumb with the mohawk and army jacket, and because he appeared so strange and suspicious when he foolishly talked to the secret service agent earlier. He quickly redirects his rage. He's going to be the savior of Iris, the 12 year old prostitute who he befriends and wants to help. He will vanquish her oppressors who will be representitive of all of the scum.
In the final act the color of the movie changes. The saturation is different, somewhere between color and black and white. This was intentional so that the gore at the end didn't feel so graphic, but it really works because it should be this way. This is his release, his act of violence, and the color palette on the screen should be darker. It adds to the overall mood. He shoots Iris's pimp in the gut, proceeds into the tenament, shoots the tenament managers hand, blowing off most of his fingers , Keitel comes in after him and shoots him in the neck, and this time Travis shoots him in the chest. He shoots Keitel again just to be sure and shoots the manager in the chest. After the head pimp sneaks up on him and shoots him in the arm Travis uses his sling gun and shoots him about seven times. All of this is very real. Nothing is held back. This is Travis's operatic release. This is representative of all the violence eating away at him throughout the movie. There has to be an explosion and it has to be volcanic. To me the most intense part of this scene is when the manager continues to chase after and crawl after Travis, agonized and pissed. "You crazy son of a bitch. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. He catches up to Travis and wrestles with him and he's slapping him with his one hand because his other is just about blown away. That is just such an intense violent image. Travis then stabs him in his good hand and shoots him. Fucking christ. A total bloodbath. As the police are coming in there's a continual looping dreamlike harp playing in the score and a periodic dramatic horn section. The camera is directly overhead looking down. It really adds to the impact of what just happened and it just looks really cool. This is the violence that the whole film was leading up to and it seems fitting that the camera should be high up looking down almost like a divine witness. It starts in the final room and slowly makes it's way down the stairs to the front door, witnessing every detail of this act. The camera travels outside the tenament and there are large crowds gathering and the dramatic horn section plays periodically along with the dreamlike looping harp. Everything seems so real and with the harp and the overhead shot it also feels a little dreamlike which I think represents the state of mind that Travis is in. As if he's saying to himself "Holy fuck. Did that just happen? Did I really do that?"
Ironically Travis is made a hero for this violence. He vanquished the villains even though they represented a justification more than anything else. The important thing to Travis was the violence itself but he gets rewarded and Iris ends up home with her parents. In the film's final moment Travis is driving his cab again, seemingly chill now that he's had his release, but there's another closeup of his eyes in the rearview mirror shrouded in black. The violence and darkness is still in there. It's just a matter of time until it comes out again. The last shot is of him doing kind of a double take into the rearview mirror and it's hard to tell but either he saw something that bothered him which also supports the idea that he's going to blow again at some point or it almost looked like he saw himself in the rearview. If that's the case it would be really interesting because in an earlier scene he's having breakfast with Iris and at some point in the conversation she says "You should look at your own eyeballs once in a while." Sooner or later he has to.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
#38 THE SHINING
Stanley Kubrick, over five decades, made only eleven films, but nearly half of them are masterpieces and each one is fascinating in its own way. He was a perfectionist who obsessed over all aspects of his films and focused more than just about any other director on creating atmosphere and character through the use of camera space. Watching a Kubrick film is really like watching no other and "The Shining", in my opinion, is his best.
"The Shining" is based on a very popular horror novel by Stephen King. In the novel a family spends a harsh, secluded Colorado winter in a massive Hotel, with the father serving as caretaker. The hotel is haunted and possesses its occupants to do it's evil will, and gradually takes hold of the father to try to kill his wife and daughter. In the novel the focus is on the supernatural aspects of the hotel and the possession of the father is just one aspect of the story. One of Kubrick's aims when doing pre-production for the film was to find out what really scared people in the late 20th century. Instead of the expected response of monsters or demons, more along the lines of the novel, the answer was a catastrophic incident within the family unit. Therefore the film focuses more on the Malevolence of the father and less on the hotel, and it allows Kubrick to explore a much more interesting topic.
This is most assuredly not your typical horror movie. It's an atmospheric, haunting movie about the dark shadow of the patriarchy, and its effect on the family. The movie focuses on a typical suburban family that is gradually pulled deeper and deeper into something supernatural. So it's the ordinary immersed in the extraordinary. Jack Torrance, the father, is a recovering alcoholic. Wendy Torrence, the mother, is a compliant, fragile, almost childlike woman. Danny, the son, is an anxious, quiet child. They are spending a harsh winter at The Overlook Hotel where Jack will serve as caretaker. In this Hotel the dynamic of this family plays itself out on a grand, horrific stage. There's the father who is going deeper and deeper into his shadow, partly because of the prodding of the hotel, and quite possibly as a result of his polar opposite wife who is a shadowless, goody goody, naive victim. The son caught in the middle knows he isn't safe between these two forces and develops an exaggerated coping mechanism which is his shining. He can see visions of the past, present, and future. An example of this whole dynamic in play is the classic Redrum scene.
Right before Jack really goes on his rampage Wendy is hiding, shut down, asleep in her bed. She isn't going to protect Danny. He has to protect himself as the child of an alcoholic often does with special coping mechanisms. So he has a shining, a vision of the immediate future and as he is chanting redrum in a raspy, high pitched voice, he writes the word in red crayon on the door.(which is murder spelled backwards) He then begins to say it more forcefully as he stands over his mom's bed, holding the knife that she will need to protect him. She wakes up jolted, sees the knife, and looks in the mirror opposite the door and sees the word murder written in red. Then Jack starts to hack at the door with an axe. It's a creepy and fascinating scene that sums up much of the psychology in the film.
Jack Nicholson really makes this movie with his top notch, over the top insane performance. He takes up so much space in the film and fills it with gleeful menace. Shelley Duvall is so exaggerated in her performance of this innocent woman that its almost campy but totally works. In their final confrontation at the end of the movie the raging Jack and the falling to pieces, overwhelmed Wendy are quite the combo. It's scary and hilarious because both of them in this sequence are so over the top as the hunter and hunted. Danny Lloyd rocks it as little Danny and kudos to him because its unusual to find a quality performance by a child actor in a movie. His reactions of terror, seen mainly in his eyes, as he's receiving his horrific visions are very effective. He also really plays this character well in subtler scenes. He always embodies a slightly troubled child.
The hotel itself is like the supernatural force of Man's darkest primal impulse and gradually taps into and possesses that place in Jack. It's not about some guy all of a sudden being possessed and told to kill someone. It's about a man gradually tapping into a very real place deep within that is pissed off at it's burden. It's the place that says "I'm going to do whatever the fuck i want and you better leave me the fuck alone and stop weighing me down with your fucking shit." It's the place deep within the Father that tells it's wife and son "We're going to do things my way. If you don't like it you're going to bleed." This Hotel for Jack is an invitation to go into that part of his soul and let it romp. The Hotel in fact is saying it is his work, his duty. Jack, I believe, is chosen as caretaker because he's ripe for transformation. He's stuck in this role of patriarch. There is a past of alcoholism and abuse towards his son. There is the hint at failure in employment, and he's married to this seemingly boring, classic suburban wife. He is representative of the dysfunctional suburban father who puts on a smile but feels miserable and angry underneath. This is a real person who, through the urging and help of The Overlook Hotel goes into a deep, dark place in himself, and it explodes out of him. So Kubrick is using the face of a Horror movie to tell the tale of the locked away place within the shadow of the Patriarchy, and its violent nature. This is such a big reason why this movie is so fascinating and unlike any other horror movie.
The first sequence in the film is a sweeping panoramic shot high above a winding road in the Colorado mountains. An ominous heavy based synthesized score hauntingly accompanies Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, as he drives his yellow car to the Overlook hotel. The closer he gets the more oppressive the elements of nature become, with grander mountains and more snow. Periodically there is also a rolling, high pitched shrieking chorus that accompany the music to give the scene an even eerier feel. When we finally get to the Hotel the music is at it's creepiest and there is a shot of The Overlook nestled against a harsh snowy mountain. The handheld camera used for this last shot feels like a hovering predator and the hotel looks menacing.
We begin to see Jack's descent as the family drives to The Overlook. Jack seems irritable in the car and it seems like Wendy and Danny are pissing him off.
Wendy- "Wasn't it around here that the Donner party got snowbound."
Jack- Irritably, "I think that was farther west in the Sierras."
Danny- "What was the Donner Party?"
Jack- "They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains and had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive." (He says this with kind of an evil smirk.)
Danny- "You mean they ate each other?"
Jack- "They had to in order to survive."
Wendy- Disapprovingly, "Jack."
Danny- "Don't worry mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on tv."
Jack- Sarcastically, "See it's ok. He saw it on the television."
Later it gets a bit more intense as Wendy walks into his enormous work area as he's writing.
Wendy- "Hey the weather forecast says it's gonna snow tonight."
Jack- Pissed, "Waddya want me to do about it?"
Wendy- "Aw c'mon hon. Don't be so grouchy."
Jack- More pissed, "I'm not being grouchy. I just want to finish my work."
Wendy- Ok. I understand. I'll come back later on with a couple of sandwichs for ya and maybe you'll let me read something then."
Jack- Irrate, "Wendy. Let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me you're breaking my concentration, distracting me and it will take me time to get back to where I was. Understand?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Flipping his shit, "Fine. Then we're gonna make a new rule. Whenever i'm in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing or whatever the fuck you hear me doing, when i'm in here that means that i'm working and that means don't come in. Now do you think you can handle that?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Kinda crazy, "Fine. Why don't you start right now and get the fuck outa here?"
If you can believe it it gets worse later as he really gets in touch with his special dark place. Wendy has just discovered all the work that he's done since he's been at the Overlook. Page after page after page reads "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This is also an iconic moment and it shows how far gone Jack is at this point. Shortly after this discovery:
Jack- Full fledge crazy motherfucker, "I think you have some very definate ideas about what should be done with Danny and i'd like to know what they are."
Wendy- Pretty freaked, "I think maybe he should be taken to a doctor."
Jack- "When do you think maybe he should be taken to a doctor?"
Wendy- "As soon as possible."
Jack- Mocking, "As soon as possible." "You believe his health might be at stake."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "You are concerned about him."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "And are you concerned about me?"
Wendy- "Of course I am."
Jack- "Of course you are. Have you ever thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occured to you that I've agreed to look after The Overlook Hotel until May 1st? Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete trust in me and I have signed a letter of agreement, a contract in which i've agreed to that responsibility? Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is? Do you? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future?"
The spirit of The Overlook, the voice of the Patriarchal shadow, has nudged and then led him to this place in himself. Earlier, after Jack has been accused of hurting Danny he fiercely makes his way to the deserted Gold Room, a festive Dance Hall when the Hotel is in season. He makes his way to the deserted, dry bar and says, "I'd give my god damn soul for just a glass of beer." Suddenly a bartender appears who seems to be the image of the devil. He dresses in a red tux, with pale skin, slightly pointy ears and cold beady eyes. He is more than happy to oblige. A little bit later he meets Grady, the ghost of a former caretaker who hacked his family to bits with an axe. He acts as the final voice of The Overlook, in one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The scene takes place in a bathroom as Grady is cleaning up a drink that he spilled on Jack.
Grady- "Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you're aware how great it is. But he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.
Jack- "He is a very willful boy."
Grady- "Indeed he is Mr. Torrence. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy if I may be so bold sir."
Jack- "It's his mother. She interferes."
Grady- "Perhaps they need a good talking to if you don't mind me saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls sir, they didn't care for The Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down. But I corrected them sir, and when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty I corrected her."
The one of a kind cinematography is another reason that this film is a masterpiece of Horror. Kubrick more than almost any other Director is a master at conveying atmosphere and character through the relation of camera space. The cinematography allows you to feel both the vastness of The Overlook and the confinement within. Throughout the film there is this alternating sense of being dwarfed by this enormous environment and of almost being trapped in a tunnel. There are long continuous, sometimes winding shots to show the colossal space that they're in but so often they are framed in the camera in such a way that you feel confined and claustrophobic. In later scenes when the tension is ramping up, point of view shots also add to the feeling of anxiety and a "no exit" sensation.
In two of my favorite scenes in the movie Kubrick makes use of a steadicam camera which made it possible to film action in long, fluent steady takes. There is an iconic scene, which I always think of when I think of this movie, in which Danny is riding his tricycle around the corridors of the hotel and the camera is right behind him, at almost exactly the same level. As he rides he alternates between riding over carpets and hard floors. What occurs as a result of all of this is a mood of overactive anxious energy which is probably what Danny is feeling inside. The whole scene is also filmed with a long lens, also, once again creating the feeling of being trapped. The other scene filmed in much the same way is the Hedgemaze scene at the end of the movie in which Jack is chasing Danny with an axe. You truly feel the immediacy of Danny's terror, and the real feeling of being chased in an imprisoned setting. You also feel the hunter in Jack as the camera settles in front of him. He encompasses all of the space in the frame so you also fully feel his madness. The two of these together create an incredibly visceral experience. Once again, through Kubrick's cinematography we truly feel the experience of these characters.
Kubrick also does a great job using lighting, color, and music to intensify the atmosphere in the film. Most of the film is well lit and it creates both a false sense of security and a surreal atmosphere. Haunted house movies are supposed to be dark. It kind of creates more of a sense of unease because it doesn't feel quite right. The lighting also symbolizes the ordinary. Things can happen in the family. Things can happen even when there's lots of light. The main color motif in the movie is red. It makes things bright and it feels dangerous. The bartender wears red, the bathroom is red when Jack has his talk with Grady, and much of the rest of the hotel is also red. The use of music throughout adds to a feeling of great unease. A high pitched ringing followed by a low rumbling base precedes Danny's horrific visions. The final third of the film is accompanied by a rythmic heartbeat, that same rumbling base, a loud rapidly beating, high pitched drumstick, a more violent, pounding base, and a loud, eery, high pitched devilish chorus of shrieking.
I'll end with my favorite scene in the movie, and one of my favorite moments in all of film. Jack, early in the film is in his massive workspace. The first thing we see is the typewriter and then we hear a loud banging noise as the camera pans up and shows Jack violently throwing a ball against the wall. That first image and the sound accompanying it says everything about the man in the moment. He's tired of fucking working. He wants to play. He walks over to a miniature replica of the gargantuan hedgemaze located in front of The Overlook Hotel. He hovers over it, looking menacingly down upon it. As he does this we get a shot of what at first looks like the miniature maze but is actually a very high shot of Danny and Wendy walking into the middle of the actual maze. The scene then shows them in the maze and the way the camera moves in front and back of them, and the limited space it occupies, you feel trapped and anxious. This is how they feel inside at this Hotel. As Jack looks down from he is the master of his domain and loving the freedom. He is the cat and they are the mice.
"The Shining" is based on a very popular horror novel by Stephen King. In the novel a family spends a harsh, secluded Colorado winter in a massive Hotel, with the father serving as caretaker. The hotel is haunted and possesses its occupants to do it's evil will, and gradually takes hold of the father to try to kill his wife and daughter. In the novel the focus is on the supernatural aspects of the hotel and the possession of the father is just one aspect of the story. One of Kubrick's aims when doing pre-production for the film was to find out what really scared people in the late 20th century. Instead of the expected response of monsters or demons, more along the lines of the novel, the answer was a catastrophic incident within the family unit. Therefore the film focuses more on the Malevolence of the father and less on the hotel, and it allows Kubrick to explore a much more interesting topic.
This is most assuredly not your typical horror movie. It's an atmospheric, haunting movie about the dark shadow of the patriarchy, and its effect on the family. The movie focuses on a typical suburban family that is gradually pulled deeper and deeper into something supernatural. So it's the ordinary immersed in the extraordinary. Jack Torrance, the father, is a recovering alcoholic. Wendy Torrence, the mother, is a compliant, fragile, almost childlike woman. Danny, the son, is an anxious, quiet child. They are spending a harsh winter at The Overlook Hotel where Jack will serve as caretaker. In this Hotel the dynamic of this family plays itself out on a grand, horrific stage. There's the father who is going deeper and deeper into his shadow, partly because of the prodding of the hotel, and quite possibly as a result of his polar opposite wife who is a shadowless, goody goody, naive victim. The son caught in the middle knows he isn't safe between these two forces and develops an exaggerated coping mechanism which is his shining. He can see visions of the past, present, and future. An example of this whole dynamic in play is the classic Redrum scene.
Right before Jack really goes on his rampage Wendy is hiding, shut down, asleep in her bed. She isn't going to protect Danny. He has to protect himself as the child of an alcoholic often does with special coping mechanisms. So he has a shining, a vision of the immediate future and as he is chanting redrum in a raspy, high pitched voice, he writes the word in red crayon on the door.(which is murder spelled backwards) He then begins to say it more forcefully as he stands over his mom's bed, holding the knife that she will need to protect him. She wakes up jolted, sees the knife, and looks in the mirror opposite the door and sees the word murder written in red. Then Jack starts to hack at the door with an axe. It's a creepy and fascinating scene that sums up much of the psychology in the film.
Jack Nicholson really makes this movie with his top notch, over the top insane performance. He takes up so much space in the film and fills it with gleeful menace. Shelley Duvall is so exaggerated in her performance of this innocent woman that its almost campy but totally works. In their final confrontation at the end of the movie the raging Jack and the falling to pieces, overwhelmed Wendy are quite the combo. It's scary and hilarious because both of them in this sequence are so over the top as the hunter and hunted. Danny Lloyd rocks it as little Danny and kudos to him because its unusual to find a quality performance by a child actor in a movie. His reactions of terror, seen mainly in his eyes, as he's receiving his horrific visions are very effective. He also really plays this character well in subtler scenes. He always embodies a slightly troubled child.
The hotel itself is like the supernatural force of Man's darkest primal impulse and gradually taps into and possesses that place in Jack. It's not about some guy all of a sudden being possessed and told to kill someone. It's about a man gradually tapping into a very real place deep within that is pissed off at it's burden. It's the place that says "I'm going to do whatever the fuck i want and you better leave me the fuck alone and stop weighing me down with your fucking shit." It's the place deep within the Father that tells it's wife and son "We're going to do things my way. If you don't like it you're going to bleed." This Hotel for Jack is an invitation to go into that part of his soul and let it romp. The Hotel in fact is saying it is his work, his duty. Jack, I believe, is chosen as caretaker because he's ripe for transformation. He's stuck in this role of patriarch. There is a past of alcoholism and abuse towards his son. There is the hint at failure in employment, and he's married to this seemingly boring, classic suburban wife. He is representative of the dysfunctional suburban father who puts on a smile but feels miserable and angry underneath. This is a real person who, through the urging and help of The Overlook Hotel goes into a deep, dark place in himself, and it explodes out of him. So Kubrick is using the face of a Horror movie to tell the tale of the locked away place within the shadow of the Patriarchy, and its violent nature. This is such a big reason why this movie is so fascinating and unlike any other horror movie.
The first sequence in the film is a sweeping panoramic shot high above a winding road in the Colorado mountains. An ominous heavy based synthesized score hauntingly accompanies Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, as he drives his yellow car to the Overlook hotel. The closer he gets the more oppressive the elements of nature become, with grander mountains and more snow. Periodically there is also a rolling, high pitched shrieking chorus that accompany the music to give the scene an even eerier feel. When we finally get to the Hotel the music is at it's creepiest and there is a shot of The Overlook nestled against a harsh snowy mountain. The handheld camera used for this last shot feels like a hovering predator and the hotel looks menacing.
We begin to see Jack's descent as the family drives to The Overlook. Jack seems irritable in the car and it seems like Wendy and Danny are pissing him off.
Wendy- "Wasn't it around here that the Donner party got snowbound."
Jack- Irritably, "I think that was farther west in the Sierras."
Danny- "What was the Donner Party?"
Jack- "They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains and had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive." (He says this with kind of an evil smirk.)
Danny- "You mean they ate each other?"
Jack- "They had to in order to survive."
Wendy- Disapprovingly, "Jack."
Danny- "Don't worry mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on tv."
Jack- Sarcastically, "See it's ok. He saw it on the television."
Later it gets a bit more intense as Wendy walks into his enormous work area as he's writing.
Wendy- "Hey the weather forecast says it's gonna snow tonight."
Jack- Pissed, "Waddya want me to do about it?"
Wendy- "Aw c'mon hon. Don't be so grouchy."
Jack- More pissed, "I'm not being grouchy. I just want to finish my work."
Wendy- Ok. I understand. I'll come back later on with a couple of sandwichs for ya and maybe you'll let me read something then."
Jack- Irrate, "Wendy. Let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me you're breaking my concentration, distracting me and it will take me time to get back to where I was. Understand?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Flipping his shit, "Fine. Then we're gonna make a new rule. Whenever i'm in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing or whatever the fuck you hear me doing, when i'm in here that means that i'm working and that means don't come in. Now do you think you can handle that?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Kinda crazy, "Fine. Why don't you start right now and get the fuck outa here?"
If you can believe it it gets worse later as he really gets in touch with his special dark place. Wendy has just discovered all the work that he's done since he's been at the Overlook. Page after page after page reads "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This is also an iconic moment and it shows how far gone Jack is at this point. Shortly after this discovery:
Jack- Full fledge crazy motherfucker, "I think you have some very definate ideas about what should be done with Danny and i'd like to know what they are."
Wendy- Pretty freaked, "I think maybe he should be taken to a doctor."
Jack- "When do you think maybe he should be taken to a doctor?"
Wendy- "As soon as possible."
Jack- Mocking, "As soon as possible." "You believe his health might be at stake."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "You are concerned about him."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "And are you concerned about me?"
Wendy- "Of course I am."
Jack- "Of course you are. Have you ever thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occured to you that I've agreed to look after The Overlook Hotel until May 1st? Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete trust in me and I have signed a letter of agreement, a contract in which i've agreed to that responsibility? Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is? Do you? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future?"
The spirit of The Overlook, the voice of the Patriarchal shadow, has nudged and then led him to this place in himself. Earlier, after Jack has been accused of hurting Danny he fiercely makes his way to the deserted Gold Room, a festive Dance Hall when the Hotel is in season. He makes his way to the deserted, dry bar and says, "I'd give my god damn soul for just a glass of beer." Suddenly a bartender appears who seems to be the image of the devil. He dresses in a red tux, with pale skin, slightly pointy ears and cold beady eyes. He is more than happy to oblige. A little bit later he meets Grady, the ghost of a former caretaker who hacked his family to bits with an axe. He acts as the final voice of The Overlook, in one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The scene takes place in a bathroom as Grady is cleaning up a drink that he spilled on Jack.
Grady- "Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you're aware how great it is. But he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.
Jack- "He is a very willful boy."
Grady- "Indeed he is Mr. Torrence. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy if I may be so bold sir."
Jack- "It's his mother. She interferes."
Grady- "Perhaps they need a good talking to if you don't mind me saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls sir, they didn't care for The Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down. But I corrected them sir, and when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty I corrected her."
The one of a kind cinematography is another reason that this film is a masterpiece of Horror. Kubrick more than almost any other Director is a master at conveying atmosphere and character through the relation of camera space. The cinematography allows you to feel both the vastness of The Overlook and the confinement within. Throughout the film there is this alternating sense of being dwarfed by this enormous environment and of almost being trapped in a tunnel. There are long continuous, sometimes winding shots to show the colossal space that they're in but so often they are framed in the camera in such a way that you feel confined and claustrophobic. In later scenes when the tension is ramping up, point of view shots also add to the feeling of anxiety and a "no exit" sensation.
In two of my favorite scenes in the movie Kubrick makes use of a steadicam camera which made it possible to film action in long, fluent steady takes. There is an iconic scene, which I always think of when I think of this movie, in which Danny is riding his tricycle around the corridors of the hotel and the camera is right behind him, at almost exactly the same level. As he rides he alternates between riding over carpets and hard floors. What occurs as a result of all of this is a mood of overactive anxious energy which is probably what Danny is feeling inside. The whole scene is also filmed with a long lens, also, once again creating the feeling of being trapped. The other scene filmed in much the same way is the Hedgemaze scene at the end of the movie in which Jack is chasing Danny with an axe. You truly feel the immediacy of Danny's terror, and the real feeling of being chased in an imprisoned setting. You also feel the hunter in Jack as the camera settles in front of him. He encompasses all of the space in the frame so you also fully feel his madness. The two of these together create an incredibly visceral experience. Once again, through Kubrick's cinematography we truly feel the experience of these characters.
Kubrick also does a great job using lighting, color, and music to intensify the atmosphere in the film. Most of the film is well lit and it creates both a false sense of security and a surreal atmosphere. Haunted house movies are supposed to be dark. It kind of creates more of a sense of unease because it doesn't feel quite right. The lighting also symbolizes the ordinary. Things can happen in the family. Things can happen even when there's lots of light. The main color motif in the movie is red. It makes things bright and it feels dangerous. The bartender wears red, the bathroom is red when Jack has his talk with Grady, and much of the rest of the hotel is also red. The use of music throughout adds to a feeling of great unease. A high pitched ringing followed by a low rumbling base precedes Danny's horrific visions. The final third of the film is accompanied by a rythmic heartbeat, that same rumbling base, a loud rapidly beating, high pitched drumstick, a more violent, pounding base, and a loud, eery, high pitched devilish chorus of shrieking.
I'll end with my favorite scene in the movie, and one of my favorite moments in all of film. Jack, early in the film is in his massive workspace. The first thing we see is the typewriter and then we hear a loud banging noise as the camera pans up and shows Jack violently throwing a ball against the wall. That first image and the sound accompanying it says everything about the man in the moment. He's tired of fucking working. He wants to play. He walks over to a miniature replica of the gargantuan hedgemaze located in front of The Overlook Hotel. He hovers over it, looking menacingly down upon it. As he does this we get a shot of what at first looks like the miniature maze but is actually a very high shot of Danny and Wendy walking into the middle of the actual maze. The scene then shows them in the maze and the way the camera moves in front and back of them, and the limited space it occupies, you feel trapped and anxious. This is how they feel inside at this Hotel. As Jack looks down from he is the master of his domain and loving the freedom. He is the cat and they are the mice.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
#19 BONNIE AND CLYDE
"Bonnie and Clyde" is a revolutionary film. It marked a new era in movie making and helped to birth a lot of the greatness that followed. It was a huge part of the bridge between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood. There was a "New Wave" film movement happening mainly in France and it was about more of the realism and less of the contrivance that Hollywood had been associated with. It was more about showing life as it was and challenging and shocking people, getting them to have more of an experience of thought and exploration, more of a soul level experience at the cinema. Arthur Penn, the director of Bonnie and Clyde was also very much interested in this and wanted to make "Bonnie and Clyde" in the spirit of "New Wave" cinema. What he did was to literally bridge classic Hollywood with "New Wave" to make an incredibly entertaining movie that kinda flipped people out and made them look at movies differently.
Great movies entertain and also reveal a depth and complexity of experience. "Bonnie and Clyde" is beloved and one of my favorite movies because it absolutely succeeds in that hybrid. The fact that the experience in the movie revolves around a rebellion of oppression and societal norm, and all of the realities of following one's own destiny, makes it lightning in a bottle.
You can talk about all of the things that make this movie great, and there are many, but at the core of it's greatness is the immense watchability of Bonnie and Clyde. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway play the aforementioned roles and their chemistry really drives this film. Warren Beatty has charisma running through his veins and is one of the king's of hollywood. Jack Nicholson himself nicknamed him the player. He is the very definition of cool and I have a hard time imagining any one else playing Clyde Barrow. Faye Dunaway, in her first major movie, brought an incredible vitality and natural feel to this role. I imagine her having been raised on a farm, the daughter of an army officer, herself brimming with so much life and creativity, helped her to occupy the skin of Bonnie Parker with much of her own. Both of these actors are also incredibly attractive. Beatty wears these classy suits and hats and Faye has that memorable beret and those exotic, cat-like eyes. They're both hypnotic to look at so when they begin their courtship to start the movie, and the dialogue pops, it's like candy.
The first thing we see in the movie is a closeup of Bonnie's lips. She then lies on her bed full of angst and she's framed by the camera in her bedposts as if she's punching the bars of a jail cell. She goes to the window and looks down to see Clyde about to steal her mother's car. Thus begins the courtship. Bonnie wants him immediately but she doesn't want him to know it, and she acts like a proper lady. Her words are going ho-hum but in her eyes you can see the attraction, and Faye Dunaway is so great at pulling off this disguised flirtation. Even though she's saying all the proper things you can sense this tiger underneath. All the while Clyde is a charismatic gentleman with supreme confidence and a southern charm. The courtship ends with a great mini-scene.
Bonnie- "What's it like robbing banks?"
Clyde- "It ain't like anything."
Bonnie- "Shoot. I knew you never robbed anyplace you faker."
He pulls out his gun and she puts her fingers around the shaft with her mouth wide open. (Phallic anyone?)
Bonnie- "But you wouldn't have the gumption to use it."
Clyde- "Alright. You just wait right here and keep your eyes open."
Clyde proceeds to rob the grocery store right across the street. They hustle to the car and as they're driving away:
Bonnie- "Hey what's your name anyhow?"
Clyde- "Clyde Barrow."
Bonnie- "I'm Bonnie Parker. Pleased to meet you."
And the legend begins.
It's not just the watchability and the chemistry of these two characters that is so great. It's how much they care for each other and truly seem destined for each other. As the story progresses we are invested in everything that happens to them up until the dark finale.
Clyde- "You could find a loverboy on every corner of town it don't mean a damn to them whether you're waiting on tables or picking cotton but it does mean a damn to me."
Bonnie- "Why?"
Clyde- "Why? Watcha mean why? Because you're different. That's why. You know you're like me. You want different things. You've got something better than being a waitress. You and me traveling together we could cut a path clean across the state, and Kansas, and Missouri, and Oklahoma, and everybody'd know about it. You listen to me Miss Bonnie Parker. You listen to me. How'd you like to go walking in the dining room of the Dolphis Hotel in Dallas wearing a nice silk dress and have everybody waitin on you? Would ya like that? Does that seem like a lot to ask? It ain't enough for you. You got a right to that."
Bonnie- "Hey. When did you figure all that out?"
Clyde- "The minute I saw ya."
Bonnie- "Why?"
Clyde- "Cause you may be the best damn girl in Texas."
And you can see she has this look on her face like she's home for the first time in her life, like this person really gets and cares about her, and she is completely his in this moment. He has this boyish grin on his face because he knows it.
Clyde isn't much of a loverboy and there are several scenes in the movie where he can't perform. From a freudian stance it's as if he has overcome this with his gun. Bonnie, although frustrated, cares deeply for him so she overlooks it. This means the world to him.
As they begin their adventure there are a series of great scenes. They are a succession of comedic and feel good scenes interspersed with sudden violence and gravity. I really think this works so well for two reasons. It shows the reality of what this experience would be like rather than the myth (something that Penn plays with throughout the film), and you have the experience of vitality in its essence. Happiness is living in the moment and embracing experience. That is so much of what this movie is all about. It's the Yin and the Yang. The bliss and the pain in all it's bloom.
Clyde robs a bank that has no money and then robs a grocery store and we are lulled into a light comedic mood as Clyde nonchalantly asks the teller if he has any more moon pies, and at this point we think this is a light romp involving two legendary bank robbers of the depression-era midwest. This is going to be a typical funny adventure and then out of nowhere comes sudden shocking violence as the butcher comes up on Clyde with a meat cleaver and tries to kill him. It happens so quickly and with so much force that you're jolted. There's a struggle and Clyde pistol whips him and they get away.
Clyde- "He tried to kill me. Why'd he try to kill me? I didn't want to hurt him. Try to get something to eat around here and a son of a bitch come up on you with a meat cleaver. I ain't against him. I ain't against him."
In a scene after this once again it's light and comedic as they meet the endearing and bashful C.W. Moss. They see his talent for working with cars and recruit him for the gang and it's such a great scene because his reaction to these two bank robbers is hysterical. We then continue the pattern of being lulled into thinking this is a certain kind of movie as they go to rob a bank together, with C.W. waiting in the getaway car. Because of a screw up by C.W. Clyde ends up killing one of the pursuers who is clinging to the back of the car. It's not a typical hollywood death. He's shot right in the face and it's bloody and shocking.
Following this truly is great scene after great scene, and it's the mixture of comedy, chase scenes, gunfights, and fantastic dialogue. The biggest reason it all works so well is the spectacular cast. Every actor who played a member of the Barrow Gang was nominated for an oscar. Never in the history of film have there been more acting nominations for one movie. C.W Moss, played by Michael J. Pollard is a loveable bashful goofball. You just grin looking at him. Buck Barrow, played by a young Gene Hackman pretty much ignites every scene he's in. He's the jokester, and he's constantly in play mode with everyone. Blanche Barrow, played by Estelle Parsons in an oscar winning performance, plays the member of the gang who just wants to be domesticated and safe. She just wants a proper life and it's really interesting experiencing her in the middle of all of this. Each of these performances is incredibly entertaining and without pretense. They all feel like authentic individuals, and each one has complexity. C.W. sometimes shows fierceness. Buck the good ole boy carouser shows sweet affection towards his wife in some scenes and anger in others. Blanche, the buzzkill, shows real vulnerability at times, and sometimes shows a more playful side. It's their energy and talent all together that elevate this film to an absolute classic.
There's so much going on in this movie. Part of what Arthur Penn, the director, does is give you a party on wheels. You have the glamorous experience of being on the run with The Barrow Gang and it's incredibly entertaining riding along in that car with the frenetic camaraderie of all of these characters. One scene in particular really sums this up. A man named Eugene, played by a very young Gene Wilder, and his girlfriend Velma are fooling around on their porch when Velma sees their car being stolen. They quickly get in her car and chase after them.
Eugene- "I'm gonna tear them apart. Stealing a man's car. Wait'll I get my hands on those kids Velma. I'm gonna tear them apart.
Velma- "What if they have guns Eugene?"
Eugene- "Listen. We'd better get the police and let them handle this. Alright now turn around. Turn around and let's go back.
The Barrow Gang then chases after them, catches up, makes faces at them through the windows of their car and have them take a ride with them in the car that belongs to Eugene. It's a great scene because part of you expects them to make it difficult for these two innocent bystanders and it turns out that they're having a ball. Buck is telling jokes, Bonnie and Clyde are being their charming selves, C.W. is a harmless innocent at heart. It's literally a party on wheels. It's as if these people in the car with them are representative of the audience watching this scene. We like these people and we're enjoying this ride. Another big part of this movie that is also exemplified at the end of this scene, continuing the pattern of light comedy with sudden violence and gravity is Bonnie and Clyde's impending doom. Bonnie asks Eugene what he does for work. "I'm an undertaker", he says. Bonnie turns around with a frown and says "Get them out of here."
Movies for the most part up to this point were about escapist entertainment. You could go to the movies and watch people fall in love, have exciting adventures where the good guys invariably would win, and generally have happy endings. It didn't matter if it was true or real. It was about what the people wanted to see. Arthur Penn, like a lot of other directors during this time, knew that there were a lot of people who were much more entertained by the truth and the complexities of existence.
Along with the glamour and thrill of this adventure we also get the violence and impending doom. As the movie progresses the violence is greater and greater as the authorities gradually tighten the noose. Buck gets fatally shot, Blanche gets blinded by bullets, and Bonnie and Clyde are the walking wounded. Buck moans in pain. Blanche screams at the top of her lungs "My eyes." Bonnie and Clyde are both visibly in pain. This is real. You really feel the result of this violence.
Throughout the movie there is also this impending doom. We witness it mainly through Bonnie, it's voice. There's a very powerful segment of the film that takes place in two scenes that really gives you a visceral experience of this doom. In the first scene Bonnie runs away from the car into a field of wheat. She is crying and miserable. She's feeling the weight of this experience. She knows in her heart that this all ends in death. During this scene as Clyde is chasing her a cloud sweeps over and chases them both, blotting out the sun, foreshadowing their demise. This wasn't planned. It was just synchronistic mother nature. She begs Clyde to see her mother again as she feels both of their mortalities. I especially love this next scene of a family reunion between the Parkers. They all meet at an abandoned quarry on a barren sand hill. This scene is filtered in blue light and sporadically shot at a slower frame rate. It gives it a dream-like feel. It works perfectly to get across in image what Bonnie is feeling inside. This part of Bonnie's life is gone. There's no turning back and you can really see the recognition of this in her eyes. She set out on this glamorous, liberating journey and now she's trapped with no way out and no turning back.
Clyde to Mother Parker- "Why just the other night me and Bonnie were talking. And we were talkin about the time we're gonna settle down and get us a home. And uh she says to me, she says, "You know, I couldn't bear to live more than three miles from my precious mother." Now how'd you like that, Mother Parker?"
Mother Parker- "I don't believe I would. I surely don't. You try to live three miles from me and you won't live long, honey. You best keep runnin, Clyde Barrow and you know it. Bye, baby."
The final scene has become iconic. In movies up to this point the heroes would often live through the picture. If they died it was often slowly, with a great speech to a loved one or to their sidekick. There might also be dramatic sad music. The point is the director would cushion the blow. It was unheard of to do what Arthur Penn did to Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the movie. At the end of the movie the cops have finally caught up to the elusive legends and set up an ambush along the country road. Clyde gets out of the car towards the traitorous Ivan Moss, father of C.W. Moss, and there are a quick succession of camera cuts that create an unease. Moss glares at an oncoming car and then towards the bushes across the road, birds quickly fly out of a tree, there's movement in the bush, Moss dives under his truck, and then at the same time Clyde and Bonnie realize something is wrong. They quickly look at each other and then they are absolutely annhilated by a swarm of bullets and you see them torn apart with no time to digest it. It's sudden and relentless. You see their bullet riddled dead bodies and there is quiet, and then THE END comes up on the screen.
Great movies entertain and also reveal a depth and complexity of experience. "Bonnie and Clyde" is beloved and one of my favorite movies because it absolutely succeeds in that hybrid. The fact that the experience in the movie revolves around a rebellion of oppression and societal norm, and all of the realities of following one's own destiny, makes it lightning in a bottle.
You can talk about all of the things that make this movie great, and there are many, but at the core of it's greatness is the immense watchability of Bonnie and Clyde. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway play the aforementioned roles and their chemistry really drives this film. Warren Beatty has charisma running through his veins and is one of the king's of hollywood. Jack Nicholson himself nicknamed him the player. He is the very definition of cool and I have a hard time imagining any one else playing Clyde Barrow. Faye Dunaway, in her first major movie, brought an incredible vitality and natural feel to this role. I imagine her having been raised on a farm, the daughter of an army officer, herself brimming with so much life and creativity, helped her to occupy the skin of Bonnie Parker with much of her own. Both of these actors are also incredibly attractive. Beatty wears these classy suits and hats and Faye has that memorable beret and those exotic, cat-like eyes. They're both hypnotic to look at so when they begin their courtship to start the movie, and the dialogue pops, it's like candy.
The first thing we see in the movie is a closeup of Bonnie's lips. She then lies on her bed full of angst and she's framed by the camera in her bedposts as if she's punching the bars of a jail cell. She goes to the window and looks down to see Clyde about to steal her mother's car. Thus begins the courtship. Bonnie wants him immediately but she doesn't want him to know it, and she acts like a proper lady. Her words are going ho-hum but in her eyes you can see the attraction, and Faye Dunaway is so great at pulling off this disguised flirtation. Even though she's saying all the proper things you can sense this tiger underneath. All the while Clyde is a charismatic gentleman with supreme confidence and a southern charm. The courtship ends with a great mini-scene.
Bonnie- "What's it like robbing banks?"
Clyde- "It ain't like anything."
Bonnie- "Shoot. I knew you never robbed anyplace you faker."
He pulls out his gun and she puts her fingers around the shaft with her mouth wide open. (Phallic anyone?)
Bonnie- "But you wouldn't have the gumption to use it."
Clyde- "Alright. You just wait right here and keep your eyes open."
Clyde proceeds to rob the grocery store right across the street. They hustle to the car and as they're driving away:
Bonnie- "Hey what's your name anyhow?"
Clyde- "Clyde Barrow."
Bonnie- "I'm Bonnie Parker. Pleased to meet you."
And the legend begins.
It's not just the watchability and the chemistry of these two characters that is so great. It's how much they care for each other and truly seem destined for each other. As the story progresses we are invested in everything that happens to them up until the dark finale.
Clyde- "You could find a loverboy on every corner of town it don't mean a damn to them whether you're waiting on tables or picking cotton but it does mean a damn to me."
Bonnie- "Why?"
Clyde- "Why? Watcha mean why? Because you're different. That's why. You know you're like me. You want different things. You've got something better than being a waitress. You and me traveling together we could cut a path clean across the state, and Kansas, and Missouri, and Oklahoma, and everybody'd know about it. You listen to me Miss Bonnie Parker. You listen to me. How'd you like to go walking in the dining room of the Dolphis Hotel in Dallas wearing a nice silk dress and have everybody waitin on you? Would ya like that? Does that seem like a lot to ask? It ain't enough for you. You got a right to that."
Bonnie- "Hey. When did you figure all that out?"
Clyde- "The minute I saw ya."
Bonnie- "Why?"
Clyde- "Cause you may be the best damn girl in Texas."
And you can see she has this look on her face like she's home for the first time in her life, like this person really gets and cares about her, and she is completely his in this moment. He has this boyish grin on his face because he knows it.
Clyde isn't much of a loverboy and there are several scenes in the movie where he can't perform. From a freudian stance it's as if he has overcome this with his gun. Bonnie, although frustrated, cares deeply for him so she overlooks it. This means the world to him.
As they begin their adventure there are a series of great scenes. They are a succession of comedic and feel good scenes interspersed with sudden violence and gravity. I really think this works so well for two reasons. It shows the reality of what this experience would be like rather than the myth (something that Penn plays with throughout the film), and you have the experience of vitality in its essence. Happiness is living in the moment and embracing experience. That is so much of what this movie is all about. It's the Yin and the Yang. The bliss and the pain in all it's bloom.
Clyde robs a bank that has no money and then robs a grocery store and we are lulled into a light comedic mood as Clyde nonchalantly asks the teller if he has any more moon pies, and at this point we think this is a light romp involving two legendary bank robbers of the depression-era midwest. This is going to be a typical funny adventure and then out of nowhere comes sudden shocking violence as the butcher comes up on Clyde with a meat cleaver and tries to kill him. It happens so quickly and with so much force that you're jolted. There's a struggle and Clyde pistol whips him and they get away.
Clyde- "He tried to kill me. Why'd he try to kill me? I didn't want to hurt him. Try to get something to eat around here and a son of a bitch come up on you with a meat cleaver. I ain't against him. I ain't against him."
In a scene after this once again it's light and comedic as they meet the endearing and bashful C.W. Moss. They see his talent for working with cars and recruit him for the gang and it's such a great scene because his reaction to these two bank robbers is hysterical. We then continue the pattern of being lulled into thinking this is a certain kind of movie as they go to rob a bank together, with C.W. waiting in the getaway car. Because of a screw up by C.W. Clyde ends up killing one of the pursuers who is clinging to the back of the car. It's not a typical hollywood death. He's shot right in the face and it's bloody and shocking.
Following this truly is great scene after great scene, and it's the mixture of comedy, chase scenes, gunfights, and fantastic dialogue. The biggest reason it all works so well is the spectacular cast. Every actor who played a member of the Barrow Gang was nominated for an oscar. Never in the history of film have there been more acting nominations for one movie. C.W Moss, played by Michael J. Pollard is a loveable bashful goofball. You just grin looking at him. Buck Barrow, played by a young Gene Hackman pretty much ignites every scene he's in. He's the jokester, and he's constantly in play mode with everyone. Blanche Barrow, played by Estelle Parsons in an oscar winning performance, plays the member of the gang who just wants to be domesticated and safe. She just wants a proper life and it's really interesting experiencing her in the middle of all of this. Each of these performances is incredibly entertaining and without pretense. They all feel like authentic individuals, and each one has complexity. C.W. sometimes shows fierceness. Buck the good ole boy carouser shows sweet affection towards his wife in some scenes and anger in others. Blanche, the buzzkill, shows real vulnerability at times, and sometimes shows a more playful side. It's their energy and talent all together that elevate this film to an absolute classic.
There's so much going on in this movie. Part of what Arthur Penn, the director, does is give you a party on wheels. You have the glamorous experience of being on the run with The Barrow Gang and it's incredibly entertaining riding along in that car with the frenetic camaraderie of all of these characters. One scene in particular really sums this up. A man named Eugene, played by a very young Gene Wilder, and his girlfriend Velma are fooling around on their porch when Velma sees their car being stolen. They quickly get in her car and chase after them.
Eugene- "I'm gonna tear them apart. Stealing a man's car. Wait'll I get my hands on those kids Velma. I'm gonna tear them apart.
Velma- "What if they have guns Eugene?"
Eugene- "Listen. We'd better get the police and let them handle this. Alright now turn around. Turn around and let's go back.
The Barrow Gang then chases after them, catches up, makes faces at them through the windows of their car and have them take a ride with them in the car that belongs to Eugene. It's a great scene because part of you expects them to make it difficult for these two innocent bystanders and it turns out that they're having a ball. Buck is telling jokes, Bonnie and Clyde are being their charming selves, C.W. is a harmless innocent at heart. It's literally a party on wheels. It's as if these people in the car with them are representative of the audience watching this scene. We like these people and we're enjoying this ride. Another big part of this movie that is also exemplified at the end of this scene, continuing the pattern of light comedy with sudden violence and gravity is Bonnie and Clyde's impending doom. Bonnie asks Eugene what he does for work. "I'm an undertaker", he says. Bonnie turns around with a frown and says "Get them out of here."
Movies for the most part up to this point were about escapist entertainment. You could go to the movies and watch people fall in love, have exciting adventures where the good guys invariably would win, and generally have happy endings. It didn't matter if it was true or real. It was about what the people wanted to see. Arthur Penn, like a lot of other directors during this time, knew that there were a lot of people who were much more entertained by the truth and the complexities of existence.
Along with the glamour and thrill of this adventure we also get the violence and impending doom. As the movie progresses the violence is greater and greater as the authorities gradually tighten the noose. Buck gets fatally shot, Blanche gets blinded by bullets, and Bonnie and Clyde are the walking wounded. Buck moans in pain. Blanche screams at the top of her lungs "My eyes." Bonnie and Clyde are both visibly in pain. This is real. You really feel the result of this violence.
Throughout the movie there is also this impending doom. We witness it mainly through Bonnie, it's voice. There's a very powerful segment of the film that takes place in two scenes that really gives you a visceral experience of this doom. In the first scene Bonnie runs away from the car into a field of wheat. She is crying and miserable. She's feeling the weight of this experience. She knows in her heart that this all ends in death. During this scene as Clyde is chasing her a cloud sweeps over and chases them both, blotting out the sun, foreshadowing their demise. This wasn't planned. It was just synchronistic mother nature. She begs Clyde to see her mother again as she feels both of their mortalities. I especially love this next scene of a family reunion between the Parkers. They all meet at an abandoned quarry on a barren sand hill. This scene is filtered in blue light and sporadically shot at a slower frame rate. It gives it a dream-like feel. It works perfectly to get across in image what Bonnie is feeling inside. This part of Bonnie's life is gone. There's no turning back and you can really see the recognition of this in her eyes. She set out on this glamorous, liberating journey and now she's trapped with no way out and no turning back.
Clyde to Mother Parker- "Why just the other night me and Bonnie were talking. And we were talkin about the time we're gonna settle down and get us a home. And uh she says to me, she says, "You know, I couldn't bear to live more than three miles from my precious mother." Now how'd you like that, Mother Parker?"
Mother Parker- "I don't believe I would. I surely don't. You try to live three miles from me and you won't live long, honey. You best keep runnin, Clyde Barrow and you know it. Bye, baby."
The final scene has become iconic. In movies up to this point the heroes would often live through the picture. If they died it was often slowly, with a great speech to a loved one or to their sidekick. There might also be dramatic sad music. The point is the director would cushion the blow. It was unheard of to do what Arthur Penn did to Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the movie. At the end of the movie the cops have finally caught up to the elusive legends and set up an ambush along the country road. Clyde gets out of the car towards the traitorous Ivan Moss, father of C.W. Moss, and there are a quick succession of camera cuts that create an unease. Moss glares at an oncoming car and then towards the bushes across the road, birds quickly fly out of a tree, there's movement in the bush, Moss dives under his truck, and then at the same time Clyde and Bonnie realize something is wrong. They quickly look at each other and then they are absolutely annhilated by a swarm of bullets and you see them torn apart with no time to digest it. It's sudden and relentless. You see their bullet riddled dead bodies and there is quiet, and then THE END comes up on the screen.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
#13 ALIENS
It all starts with the Aliens. I'm not going to describe them too much here because i'll be doing that in depth for my "Alien" essay but suffice it to say these are arguably the greatest monsters of film and you can take the original terrifying monster of monsters and multiply it times a shitload for this movie.
If "Alien" was an atmospheric sci-fi horror movie, "Aliens" is more a sci-fi action movie, but with Sergeant Kick-Ass leading the troops. James Cameron is as good as it gets when referring to the quintessential hard core sci-fi action movie. The man has directed "Terminator", "T2", and most recently "Avatar." These are all great, iconic, memorable films. Cameron is responsible for the two most successful films of all time and to show that he has some depth and that he's not a one trick pony "Titanic" and "Avatar" are vastly different movies. The one commonality is the feeling of awe, that you are experiencing something spectacular. The man's greatest gift is just rocking people's worlds with the ultra-coolness of his films. So it's no wonder that he took the greatest movie monster and surrounded it with nothing less than bad-assery.
The movie starts fairly slowly providing a nice transition from the first movie. We learn that Ripley, played again by Sigourney Weaver in an unheard of oscar nominated role for a sci-fi action heroine, has been in hyper sleep for
fifty-seven years after her ship drifted through all the core systems. Her daughter, just a child when she left for space, has passed on, and she's lost her license because the company believes that she acted irresponsibly in destroying her main ship to destroy the Alien, which they don't believe exists. When she tells them to go to the planet and see for themselves they tell her they already have. There's a colony living there and this is where the meat of the movie begins. They've lost contact with the colony and they want her to accompany a military rescue mission in exchange for all charges dropped and her license back. After firmly saying no she finally decides to go, not for any monetary reasons but because she realizes she needs to face her demons or they will always haunt her.
Once we get to the space marines this movie ceases to be an extension of "Alien" and it is truly James Cameron's "Aliens." As will also be seen later in "Avatar", Cameron is master of the hard core space marine. There is so much testosterone that you want to punch a T-Rex in the face and high five King Kong. The dialogue is cliche but genuine kick-assery. The sarge wakes up from hypersleep and automatically puts a cigar in his mouth. "Assholes and elbows." "Alright people." "Another day in the core." Vazquez, a she-man is doing pull-ups, and Hutson, my favorite marine, played by Bill Paxton, is making wise every chance he gets.
Things really rev up when they get ready to make their drop into hell. There's a metallic drumbeat as Vazquez and her buddy are holding their guns and looking badass, a futuristic tank is circling the perimeter of the ship's armory, and the marines are readying themselves with weapons and armor for the mission. Sarge takes control. "On the ready line. On the ready line." "Are you marines? Are you marines?" "What are you? On the ready line. Get on the ready line." "Move it out god damn it."
"Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." "Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." Fucking Righteous!!
This is truly the point where this movie has absolutely ceased to be "Alien" and is all James Cameron's "Aliens." From this point on this movie just continues to go to the next level exponentially so take your heart medicine. From a brilliant exercise in suspense, to an adrenaline overload, to the final right of passage of a Warrior Queen. Let's Roll!!!
The dropship scene continues to be incredibly cool. They load the tank, and everyone gets on and takes their positions. Hutson is the best thing about this scene. He just thinks he is the ultimate angel of death descending into a quick and easy mission. He's funny as hell. "We're on an express elevator to hell going down." "Alright. Check it out. I am the ultimate badass. State of the badass art. You do not want to fuck with me." "Hey Ripley. Don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you." It's amusing because everyone is so confident, and the thing is in most circumstances they should be. They are a well oiled state of the art squad of badass space marines but they have no idea what's waiting for them down below. Ripley is the only humility on board and she in the end will be one of the only survivors.
Once they reach the planet after a perfect landing and a flawlessly executed beginning to their mission, the movie gradually builds the suspense. The greatest device for this is a motion tracker used by the squad. As far as tools of suspense it is right up there for me with the ripple in the water preceding an oncoming T-Rex attack in "Jurassic Park", the music in "Jaws" that precedes the shark, the tracking locater in "No Country For Old Men", and there are many more examples but the point is it is brilliant. One sound can strike fear. When I think of this movie one of the first things that comes to mind is the sound of that sonic beeping signaling movement, and the constant buildup of tension as the beeping gets closer and closer. There are multiple uses of this. Early on it is a device of trickery. The first two times it goes off they encounter a group of hamsters in a cage, and a little girl running. A little bit later, once they discover where all of the colonists are, and discover their disturbing cocooned bodies, you see a shot of the Aliens perfectly camouflaged in their environment and uncoiling in readiness for carnage. The sonic beeping goes off again and its getting closer and closer, but because of their stealthiness they are pretty much on top of them and they still can't see them. They are in a dark corridor, knowingly surrounded by vicious monsters, and they can't see them. They can only hear the beeping and see that they are right there. They are freaking the fuck out and it is powerhouse adrenaline fueled tension as the shit begins to hit the fan and all hell breaks loose as the Aliens begin to tear them apart.
Before I get to my most memorable scene involving the motion tracker there is another way in which this movie really ramps up the suspense. So the marines are seriously in the shit and their leader is completely frozen in terror and can't make a decision. Ripley takes control of the tank from him and busts it right through a fucking wall to save the marines. About half of them survive and Ripley is beginning to truly show her metal. They get safely away but as the dropship comes to pick them up and get them off this godforsaken planet, an Alien that has snuck on board devours the pilot and the ship crashes and explodes. It turns out that it'll take seventeen days for a rescue and they're low on ammo and weapons. This is when Bill Paxton as Hutson shines. He is totally flipping out and this heightens the atmosphere of terror and desperation and I have to add it's really hilarious because he's over the top. "Well that's great. That's just fucking great man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? That's it man. Game over man. Game over." Picture all of this being incredibly loud, whiny, and obnoxious. This is kind of his role for the remainder of his part in this movie, and it's not long because he's going to die pretty soon. So at this point it's about how the fuck are we going to survive for seventeen days in the midst of an Alien horde?. A little bit later this shifts as they find out that the crashed ship caused enough damage to one of the facilities that the result was going to be a thermo-nuclear explosion that was going to obliterate the planet in four hours. The good news. No more Aliens. The bad news. No more space marines. So now it's not about a seventeen day standoff. Now it's how the hell do we get out of here in less than four hours? They're able to, with a severe challenge, set up a remote hookup to call down a dropship. Begin Countdown.
Back to the most memorable motion tracker scene. The scene that I visualize more than almost any other in this movie takes place at the beginning of the amped up third act. Ripley and Newt have already had a scare as they barely escape two face-huggers in the med-lab sabotaged by Burke. Everyone is waiting in the operations room and the sonic beeping starts again. Once again it's getting closer and closer. They seal off the main hatch to the room and continue to wait in anticipation. The tracker is showing them right on top of them. They're readying their guns and just about shitting their pants. The tracker is then showing the Aliens in the room with them. This is impossible. They realize all of a sudden that they might be coming from up above the ceiling above the grating. Hicks climbs up and opens one of the grates and shines a flashlight in the dark. In front of him is a fantastically horrifying image of multiple numbers of Aliens clutching the piping above the grated ceiling and scurrying backwards towards them. Seconds later monster mayhem.
The emotional core of this movie is the relationship between Ripley and Newt, a little girl and only surviving member of the colony. Newt represents the daughter that Ripley lost while in hypersleep. She feels like she abandoned her own daughter and will do anything to keep this one safe. The finale of the movie is the proof of this resolve. As Ripley, Hicks, and Newt, the only survivors of this recent battle, try to escape, Newt accidentally falls down a chute into a pool of water. Ripley and Hicks race after her and we have another beeping device- a tracking bracelet that Newt is wearing. They find her but have to cut through metal grating to get to her. They're almost there and once again muchos activity on the motion tracker. They're coming. There is an extreme closeup of Newt which reminds me of the closeup of the night swimmer in the opening scene of Jaws right before she gets ripped apart, and then a longer shot of Newt. From behind out of the water comes an Alien in all it's vicious glory. Before they are able to reach her the Alien grabs her. Looks like the end of Newt. Ripley won't give up on Newt and refuses to believe that she's dead. She gets a wounded Hicks back to the ship, finds out how much time they've got until the planet blows, and makes her way back to her.
We are about to witness the full transformation of Ripley from a leader to a Mothafucking Warrior Queen. As she goes down in an elevator to do whatever she has to to save this girl, the further down she goes the more she readies herself for battle. You get the impression that even if the girl is dead she will continue down in this elevator through the circles of hell and fight bloody battle after bloody battle and suffer the fury of demons until she can ascend with her again. She takes her jacket off- readies her weapons- puts on an ammo jacket, harnesses her gun over her shoulder- wakes up the flamethrower, and her expression becomes more serious with each level, embodying more of the warrior with each successive level conquered. When the elevator door opens the greatest female action hero of all time is fully born and mad as hell.
Through Newt's scream she finds her and untangles her from her cocoon. Mother and daughter make their way back to safety but not before encountering the other Warrior Queen and badass Mother. Two females ready to do anything to protect their young. What a scene. If you haven't already had enough in this movie Cameron saves the best for last. This Queen of all Aliens is ridiculous. I mean that in a good way. She must weigh the equivalent of about a half dozen of her fully grown children. Her razor sharp teeth are magnificent and mighty and her jaw brings forth images of the megalodon. From her head rises backwards a natural headdress that looks like an impenetrable shield of shiny black armor, and she lets forth a repetitive squealing hiss. She is truly the shit.
Ripley finds herself and Newt in an endless nest of eggs. She slowly looks behind her and sees the Queen laying her eggs. She looks to the left and right and there is an Alien on either side guarding the Queen. Ripley lets loose the flame-thrower above the eggs as a warning and it's so fucking cool as the Queen tilts her head to the right and motions the Alien guard to back off and again to the Alien guard on the left. These fuckers are smart and powerful. Now for the iconic moment of Ripley, the all powerful mother and warrior queen. She gives a slight tilt of her head and you can see her eyes are deadly serious and fearless and takes out fifty-seven years worth of anger on this Queen's children. She fires off the flamethrower and begins to destroy the eggs. The Queen is squealing and convulsing in madness. Ripley then fires off the grenade launcher and gradually destroys the attached tubing that's laying the eggs. She blows the Aliens to bits and gets them the fuck out of there. Fuck you mama.
They barely get to an elevator ahead of the Queen and ascend out of the depths of Alien hell. They get to the top and it's truly an amazing image as Ripley is holding Newt and the whole Planet is slowly burning around her. As this is happening another elevator comes up. Holy shit here comes mama. If you can come down I can come up bitch. It's such a cool moment as she crouches down to get out of the elevator. She is truly massive and angry. The dropship comes just in the nick of time and they board just beyond the clutches of the Queen. All is well as they fly beyond the exploding planet.
Just when you think it's safe comes the finale twist. They're back on the main ship and all is well until Bishop, the ship's android, gets impaled and ripped in two. Looks like mama hitched a ride. The final big scene is the two warriors truly going at it one on one. To even the playing field Ripley is able to get into an automotronic loader. Ripley's able to show her warrior instincts and intellect in an epic final showdown repeatedly whacking the queen with her automotronic arms and throwing her to the floor. The Queen keeps whipping Ripley with her massive tail. Back and forth. Finally Ripley has a firm grasp on the Queen and eventually flushes her into space, barely eluding the same fate. Time for a breather.
If "Alien" was an atmospheric sci-fi horror movie, "Aliens" is more a sci-fi action movie, but with Sergeant Kick-Ass leading the troops. James Cameron is as good as it gets when referring to the quintessential hard core sci-fi action movie. The man has directed "Terminator", "T2", and most recently "Avatar." These are all great, iconic, memorable films. Cameron is responsible for the two most successful films of all time and to show that he has some depth and that he's not a one trick pony "Titanic" and "Avatar" are vastly different movies. The one commonality is the feeling of awe, that you are experiencing something spectacular. The man's greatest gift is just rocking people's worlds with the ultra-coolness of his films. So it's no wonder that he took the greatest movie monster and surrounded it with nothing less than bad-assery.
The movie starts fairly slowly providing a nice transition from the first movie. We learn that Ripley, played again by Sigourney Weaver in an unheard of oscar nominated role for a sci-fi action heroine, has been in hyper sleep for
fifty-seven years after her ship drifted through all the core systems. Her daughter, just a child when she left for space, has passed on, and she's lost her license because the company believes that she acted irresponsibly in destroying her main ship to destroy the Alien, which they don't believe exists. When she tells them to go to the planet and see for themselves they tell her they already have. There's a colony living there and this is where the meat of the movie begins. They've lost contact with the colony and they want her to accompany a military rescue mission in exchange for all charges dropped and her license back. After firmly saying no she finally decides to go, not for any monetary reasons but because she realizes she needs to face her demons or they will always haunt her.
Once we get to the space marines this movie ceases to be an extension of "Alien" and it is truly James Cameron's "Aliens." As will also be seen later in "Avatar", Cameron is master of the hard core space marine. There is so much testosterone that you want to punch a T-Rex in the face and high five King Kong. The dialogue is cliche but genuine kick-assery. The sarge wakes up from hypersleep and automatically puts a cigar in his mouth. "Assholes and elbows." "Alright people." "Another day in the core." Vazquez, a she-man is doing pull-ups, and Hutson, my favorite marine, played by Bill Paxton, is making wise every chance he gets.
Things really rev up when they get ready to make their drop into hell. There's a metallic drumbeat as Vazquez and her buddy are holding their guns and looking badass, a futuristic tank is circling the perimeter of the ship's armory, and the marines are readying themselves with weapons and armor for the mission. Sarge takes control. "On the ready line. On the ready line." "Are you marines? Are you marines?" "What are you? On the ready line. Get on the ready line." "Move it out god damn it."
"Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." "Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." Fucking Righteous!!
This is truly the point where this movie has absolutely ceased to be "Alien" and is all James Cameron's "Aliens." From this point on this movie just continues to go to the next level exponentially so take your heart medicine. From a brilliant exercise in suspense, to an adrenaline overload, to the final right of passage of a Warrior Queen. Let's Roll!!!
The dropship scene continues to be incredibly cool. They load the tank, and everyone gets on and takes their positions. Hutson is the best thing about this scene. He just thinks he is the ultimate angel of death descending into a quick and easy mission. He's funny as hell. "We're on an express elevator to hell going down." "Alright. Check it out. I am the ultimate badass. State of the badass art. You do not want to fuck with me." "Hey Ripley. Don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you." It's amusing because everyone is so confident, and the thing is in most circumstances they should be. They are a well oiled state of the art squad of badass space marines but they have no idea what's waiting for them down below. Ripley is the only humility on board and she in the end will be one of the only survivors.
Once they reach the planet after a perfect landing and a flawlessly executed beginning to their mission, the movie gradually builds the suspense. The greatest device for this is a motion tracker used by the squad. As far as tools of suspense it is right up there for me with the ripple in the water preceding an oncoming T-Rex attack in "Jurassic Park", the music in "Jaws" that precedes the shark, the tracking locater in "No Country For Old Men", and there are many more examples but the point is it is brilliant. One sound can strike fear. When I think of this movie one of the first things that comes to mind is the sound of that sonic beeping signaling movement, and the constant buildup of tension as the beeping gets closer and closer. There are multiple uses of this. Early on it is a device of trickery. The first two times it goes off they encounter a group of hamsters in a cage, and a little girl running. A little bit later, once they discover where all of the colonists are, and discover their disturbing cocooned bodies, you see a shot of the Aliens perfectly camouflaged in their environment and uncoiling in readiness for carnage. The sonic beeping goes off again and its getting closer and closer, but because of their stealthiness they are pretty much on top of them and they still can't see them. They are in a dark corridor, knowingly surrounded by vicious monsters, and they can't see them. They can only hear the beeping and see that they are right there. They are freaking the fuck out and it is powerhouse adrenaline fueled tension as the shit begins to hit the fan and all hell breaks loose as the Aliens begin to tear them apart.
Before I get to my most memorable scene involving the motion tracker there is another way in which this movie really ramps up the suspense. So the marines are seriously in the shit and their leader is completely frozen in terror and can't make a decision. Ripley takes control of the tank from him and busts it right through a fucking wall to save the marines. About half of them survive and Ripley is beginning to truly show her metal. They get safely away but as the dropship comes to pick them up and get them off this godforsaken planet, an Alien that has snuck on board devours the pilot and the ship crashes and explodes. It turns out that it'll take seventeen days for a rescue and they're low on ammo and weapons. This is when Bill Paxton as Hutson shines. He is totally flipping out and this heightens the atmosphere of terror and desperation and I have to add it's really hilarious because he's over the top. "Well that's great. That's just fucking great man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? That's it man. Game over man. Game over." Picture all of this being incredibly loud, whiny, and obnoxious. This is kind of his role for the remainder of his part in this movie, and it's not long because he's going to die pretty soon. So at this point it's about how the fuck are we going to survive for seventeen days in the midst of an Alien horde?. A little bit later this shifts as they find out that the crashed ship caused enough damage to one of the facilities that the result was going to be a thermo-nuclear explosion that was going to obliterate the planet in four hours. The good news. No more Aliens. The bad news. No more space marines. So now it's not about a seventeen day standoff. Now it's how the hell do we get out of here in less than four hours? They're able to, with a severe challenge, set up a remote hookup to call down a dropship. Begin Countdown.
Back to the most memorable motion tracker scene. The scene that I visualize more than almost any other in this movie takes place at the beginning of the amped up third act. Ripley and Newt have already had a scare as they barely escape two face-huggers in the med-lab sabotaged by Burke. Everyone is waiting in the operations room and the sonic beeping starts again. Once again it's getting closer and closer. They seal off the main hatch to the room and continue to wait in anticipation. The tracker is showing them right on top of them. They're readying their guns and just about shitting their pants. The tracker is then showing the Aliens in the room with them. This is impossible. They realize all of a sudden that they might be coming from up above the ceiling above the grating. Hicks climbs up and opens one of the grates and shines a flashlight in the dark. In front of him is a fantastically horrifying image of multiple numbers of Aliens clutching the piping above the grated ceiling and scurrying backwards towards them. Seconds later monster mayhem.
The emotional core of this movie is the relationship between Ripley and Newt, a little girl and only surviving member of the colony. Newt represents the daughter that Ripley lost while in hypersleep. She feels like she abandoned her own daughter and will do anything to keep this one safe. The finale of the movie is the proof of this resolve. As Ripley, Hicks, and Newt, the only survivors of this recent battle, try to escape, Newt accidentally falls down a chute into a pool of water. Ripley and Hicks race after her and we have another beeping device- a tracking bracelet that Newt is wearing. They find her but have to cut through metal grating to get to her. They're almost there and once again muchos activity on the motion tracker. They're coming. There is an extreme closeup of Newt which reminds me of the closeup of the night swimmer in the opening scene of Jaws right before she gets ripped apart, and then a longer shot of Newt. From behind out of the water comes an Alien in all it's vicious glory. Before they are able to reach her the Alien grabs her. Looks like the end of Newt. Ripley won't give up on Newt and refuses to believe that she's dead. She gets a wounded Hicks back to the ship, finds out how much time they've got until the planet blows, and makes her way back to her.
We are about to witness the full transformation of Ripley from a leader to a Mothafucking Warrior Queen. As she goes down in an elevator to do whatever she has to to save this girl, the further down she goes the more she readies herself for battle. You get the impression that even if the girl is dead she will continue down in this elevator through the circles of hell and fight bloody battle after bloody battle and suffer the fury of demons until she can ascend with her again. She takes her jacket off- readies her weapons- puts on an ammo jacket, harnesses her gun over her shoulder- wakes up the flamethrower, and her expression becomes more serious with each level, embodying more of the warrior with each successive level conquered. When the elevator door opens the greatest female action hero of all time is fully born and mad as hell.
Through Newt's scream she finds her and untangles her from her cocoon. Mother and daughter make their way back to safety but not before encountering the other Warrior Queen and badass Mother. Two females ready to do anything to protect their young. What a scene. If you haven't already had enough in this movie Cameron saves the best for last. This Queen of all Aliens is ridiculous. I mean that in a good way. She must weigh the equivalent of about a half dozen of her fully grown children. Her razor sharp teeth are magnificent and mighty and her jaw brings forth images of the megalodon. From her head rises backwards a natural headdress that looks like an impenetrable shield of shiny black armor, and she lets forth a repetitive squealing hiss. She is truly the shit.
Ripley finds herself and Newt in an endless nest of eggs. She slowly looks behind her and sees the Queen laying her eggs. She looks to the left and right and there is an Alien on either side guarding the Queen. Ripley lets loose the flame-thrower above the eggs as a warning and it's so fucking cool as the Queen tilts her head to the right and motions the Alien guard to back off and again to the Alien guard on the left. These fuckers are smart and powerful. Now for the iconic moment of Ripley, the all powerful mother and warrior queen. She gives a slight tilt of her head and you can see her eyes are deadly serious and fearless and takes out fifty-seven years worth of anger on this Queen's children. She fires off the flamethrower and begins to destroy the eggs. The Queen is squealing and convulsing in madness. Ripley then fires off the grenade launcher and gradually destroys the attached tubing that's laying the eggs. She blows the Aliens to bits and gets them the fuck out of there. Fuck you mama.
They barely get to an elevator ahead of the Queen and ascend out of the depths of Alien hell. They get to the top and it's truly an amazing image as Ripley is holding Newt and the whole Planet is slowly burning around her. As this is happening another elevator comes up. Holy shit here comes mama. If you can come down I can come up bitch. It's such a cool moment as she crouches down to get out of the elevator. She is truly massive and angry. The dropship comes just in the nick of time and they board just beyond the clutches of the Queen. All is well as they fly beyond the exploding planet.
Just when you think it's safe comes the finale twist. They're back on the main ship and all is well until Bishop, the ship's android, gets impaled and ripped in two. Looks like mama hitched a ride. The final big scene is the two warriors truly going at it one on one. To even the playing field Ripley is able to get into an automotronic loader. Ripley's able to show her warrior instincts and intellect in an epic final showdown repeatedly whacking the queen with her automotronic arms and throwing her to the floor. The Queen keeps whipping Ripley with her massive tail. Back and forth. Finally Ripley has a firm grasp on the Queen and eventually flushes her into space, barely eluding the same fate. Time for a breather.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Top Ten Movies of 2010
1) Inception
2) Shutter Island
3) True Grit
4) Black Swan
5) Winter's Bone
6) 127 Hours
7) Kick Ass
8) Monsters
9) The Social Network
10) The Fighter
Movies I have yet to see that might make the top 10.
Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
Let Me In
2) Shutter Island
3) True Grit
4) Black Swan
5) Winter's Bone
6) 127 Hours
7) Kick Ass
8) Monsters
9) The Social Network
10) The Fighter
Movies I have yet to see that might make the top 10.
Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
Let Me In
Friday, January 21, 2011
#4 APOCALYPSE NOW
I began my true love affair with movies when I first saw "Apocalypse Now." It begins with the sound of trance-inducing slo-motion helicopter propellors; an image of the jungle; helicopters gliding back and forth in the foreground in a hazy mist as the opening of "The End", by The Doors, begins to play; explosions of fire engulfing the jungle. Then I am completely blown away as the face of a man in extreme closeup is superimposed over all of the forementioned. The flames of the jungle become a part of his face and at one point, with the two superimposed images, it looks like a tree of fire is growing out of the back of his head. This whole sequence completely flipped me out. I didn't know movies could look and feel like this. I fell in love with this sequence and would watch it over and over again. It sets the tone for a movie that will journey deeper and deeper into the darkness of the Vietnam war and one's own soul.
The brilliant framework of the plot of "Apocalypse Now" is the story "Hearts of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad. The theme of the story is the struggle between good and evil and the idea that there exists both in every man's soul. It is a man's journey down a river gradually leading him further and further into the heart of darkness. Francis Ford Coppola uses the setting of Vietnam to tell this story and it's a perfect platform to describe the experience of this war. A great movie is a great story told in a great way. "Apocalypse Now", really unlike any other movie that I know of goes beyond this. In the way that the story is told we get Captain Willard's story but within this story we get Coppola's vision of not only the Vietnam war but war in general. Beyond this we get a vision of the dark side of man's soul. Coppola is trying to juggle a ridiculous amount of ideas and themes in this movie. It's why he almost went insane making it and even threatened to kill himself along the process. He accomplishes this juggling act through the framework of telling the story, through the decision to use poetic voice-over throughout, through spectacular imagery, and some amazing performances.
We first meet Captain Willard in his Saigon hotel room awaiting a special ops mission. The movie continues to be entrancing as we watch a drunken anguished Willard weeping convulsively by his bedside as "The End" continues to play. This is a man who has been forever changed by this war and he's about to get a real choice mission, and in Willard's words "When it was over I would never want another."
His mission is to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a man that was being groomed to be at the highest levels of the military but who had apparently gone mad. In his briefing he listens to a recent recording of Kurtz's.
"I watched a snail crawling on the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. It's my nightmare. Crawling along the edge of a straight razor and surviving."
He also hears him say "We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Cow after cow. Village after village- Army after army. They call me an assassin. What do you call an assassin who accuses an assassin?"
The highest levels of the military believe that they've got a madman running lose in the jungles of Vietnam and want him terminated with extreme prejudice, and Willard is the man to do it.
The brilliant framework of the plot of "Apocalypse Now" is the story "Hearts of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad. The theme of the story is the struggle between good and evil and the idea that there exists both in every man's soul. It is a man's journey down a river gradually leading him further and further into the heart of darkness. Francis Ford Coppola uses the setting of Vietnam to tell this story and it's a perfect platform to describe the experience of this war. A great movie is a great story told in a great way. "Apocalypse Now", really unlike any other movie that I know of goes beyond this. In the way that the story is told we get Captain Willard's story but within this story we get Coppola's vision of not only the Vietnam war but war in general. Beyond this we get a vision of the dark side of man's soul. Coppola is trying to juggle a ridiculous amount of ideas and themes in this movie. It's why he almost went insane making it and even threatened to kill himself along the process. He accomplishes this juggling act through the framework of telling the story, through the decision to use poetic voice-over throughout, through spectacular imagery, and some amazing performances.
We first meet Captain Willard in his Saigon hotel room awaiting a special ops mission. The movie continues to be entrancing as we watch a drunken anguished Willard weeping convulsively by his bedside as "The End" continues to play. This is a man who has been forever changed by this war and he's about to get a real choice mission, and in Willard's words "When it was over I would never want another."
His mission is to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a man that was being groomed to be at the highest levels of the military but who had apparently gone mad. In his briefing he listens to a recent recording of Kurtz's.
"I watched a snail crawling on the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. It's my nightmare. Crawling along the edge of a straight razor and surviving."
He also hears him say "We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Cow after cow. Village after village- Army after army. They call me an assassin. What do you call an assassin who accuses an assassin?"
The highest levels of the military believe that they've got a madman running lose in the jungles of Vietnam and want him terminated with extreme prejudice, and Willard is the man to do it.
Willard's journey to Kurtz will take him down a river in a navy patrol boat. If the war were a storm, Willard would be heading right into its eye, in effect heading straight into the heart of darkness itself. As Willard gets closer to Kurtz its as if he's getting closer to the soul of war.
"I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles away up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable plugged straight into Kurtz."
The further down the river he travels, the more dangerous things become and the purer the sense of war and warrior. The movie as a whole becomes more intense and continues to be filled with a greater depth. The Vietnam war shows itself along the way with its many faces and at the end is the realization that this man who is considered to be insane is the sanest thing along the ride.
The river journey is symbolic of the experience of the Vietnam War. There are scenes mixed with horrors, randomness, and the surreal, and the deeper down the river Willard goes the deeper into the experience of the war. We also learn more about Colonel Kurtz and his descent into madness as Willard reads the classified special ops report on him through voice over along the way. His story is part of the journey. Normally I don't like voice-over in movies and there is quite a bit of it in "Apocalypse Now." It works for three reasons. One, it allows some of the quieter segments of this long river ride to have more depth to them by telling the story of Kurtz without pulling us out of this immersive journey through other means such as flashback. Two, this movie is so poetic in the way that it's being told that some amazing passages of voice-over just add to that overall feeling. Three, Martin Sheen's voice is perfect for this task. It has a combination of strength and reverence, and also the quality of someone who has been through the shit and is about to meet some more.
Along for the ride are three soldiers and the boat's chief. There's Lance Johnson, a famous surfer back home and free spirit who is frequently seen tripping on acid. A very young Laurence Fishburne plays a seventeen year old afro-american soldier named Tyrone, Frederic Forrest plays a tightly wound soldier named Chef who is a saucier back home in New Orleans, and then there is Chief Phillips the boat's skipper. We get to know and really care about each of these characters and they won't all make it through this journey. This journey down the river is their experience of Vietnam as well.
The first experience in this journey is to meet up with the Air Cavalry Unit that will assist Willard and his men to the mouth of the river that they will be traveling down. When they first meet up with this Unit it is total, random, surreal chaos. It is post battle and there are dead bodies scattered across the earth. Half the village is on fire. An amphibious vehicle with the face of a shark and sharp metallic teeth is riding onto shore. A television director, played by Coppola is telling Willard to not look at the camera, to act natural and keep moving. I love that little moment. It's so ludicrous. There are other journalists scattered around taking pictures. The captain of this squad is scattering death cards on the dead bodies of the Vietcan. A priest is performing last rights, a tank is spitting fire, and a cow is being airlifted out of the village. It's insane and pretty much describes a microcosm of Vietnam. The leader of the Air Cavalry Unit is Captain Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall in an oscar nominated performance. This is one of my favorite characters of all time. He's the American cowboy of the Vietnam war with a Helicopter instead of a horse. He is the antithesis of Kurtz which is perfect because he's the one who will escort them to the river which will lead them closer and closer to Kurtz and further and further away from himself. Kilgore is an untouchable, unstoppable force who rains down destruction upon his enemy. He is charismatic, walks with a strut and a swagger, and demands and holds the attention of everyone around him. He's also a man who loves his men, who wants them to be happy and feel home away from home. He is a man of war and distraction handing out death cards upon the Vietcan and later playing guitar by a fire while he and his men eat steaks. Kilgore is a lover of surfing and tells Lance, a famous surfer who he's thrilled to meet, that they like to finish up operations early so they can get some good surfing in. He like most of his men have one foot in and one foot out of the war. In voiceover Willard says "The more they tried to make it like home the more they made them miss it."
There are two areas of the river that Kilgore can escort them to and he picks the most dangerous one because there is good surfing. What ensues is an iconic visually stunning scene.
The choppers liftoff into the air one by one as a soldier plays a bugle. Badmothafuckinass!!! There are then multiple shots of all the helicopters in the air, like giant ominous insect demons, black against a dawn sky. Kilgore turns to Lance and says "We're coming low out of the rising sun and about a mile out we'll put on the music." Badass poetry. There is a great image of a helicopter with a missile on one side and a surfboard on the other perfectly symbolizing Kilgore. Then comes one of the most memorable moments in film. They slowly approach the village and you can hear Wagner's "The ride of the Valkyries" loudly coming from a helicopter speaker to scare the shit out of the villagers. You see the perspective of the villagers as they begin to hear the music and see helicopters in the distance. They're running for shelter, terrified. You see Vietnamese soldiers running to get into position with guns, rockets, and mortars. As this music is playing the helicopters begin to blow the shit out of this little village. You then see a chopper blown up, other choppers land and you see soldiers scurrying, terrified across the earth. A soldier refusing to leave a chopper is screaming "I'm not going, i'm not going." before another soldier pulls him out. Another soldier is screaming in pain from a leg wound. Rockets are flying through the air, the beasts of the air are flying back and forth raining down destruction; villagers are running for their lives; a woman sabotages a chopper full of wounded with a grenade, and all the while dramatic Wagner plays adding to the insanity of it all. Kilgore decides it's now safe to surf as mortars explode all around him. The surfing is hairy so he orders an air strike of napalm all along the tree line of the river. Now its safe to surf. Fucking insane.
The boat begins its descent into hell and it all begins with the random and surreal. Chef and Willard get attacked by a tiger on a quick sojourn for Chef to relieve himself. This is the perfect scene to reflect that anything can happen at any time. They come upon a random U.S.O. Playboy Bunny show at a base along the river when trying to get fuel and ammo, and on a routine check of a Vietnamese boat they get paranoid and scared and unintentionally slaughter the entire family on the boat because they mistook a puppy for a gun. Quick, random, surreal, and terrifying events.
As they get close to their destination they reach a hell on earth at an army outpost. One of the soldiers calls it "The asshole of the world." Soldiers are jumping into the water and trying to find anyway out of there, begging the patrol boat to get them out of there. Lance has dropped his last tab of acid and this is the perfect example of a bad trip. It's a psychadelic hell realm. A bridge is lit up like a christmas tree. Carnival music is playing. A group of soldiers are listening to Hendrix in their bunker as Vietnamese soldiers scream in the background and bombs obliterate. There's no commander. Everyone is just trying to find some way of enduring the hell. As they depart the outpost to travel further down river towards Kurtz the bridge is blown up and the violence seems to accelerate. The whole scene is a face of the hell of Vietnam. They are almost to the end of the river and just about to the dark soul of this war.
The next two points along the river bring death. They first encounter enemies firing from the trees along the river. Everything glows with the red of their fire piercing towards the boat and Tyrone is killed while listening to a tape of his mother back home. Chief is bawling. Chef is just about to his end, and Willard looks tortured. Lance is still tripping. The next point along the river is more savage as spears are being thrown and one finds Chief and pierces through his heart. This is the real shit.
The survivors continue towards the end of the river and they begin to see skulls and torches along the bank of the river, and then finally reach the Kurtz compound. This is when the movie goes to even another level. There's been this anticipation of meeting this man and Coppola doesn't dissapoint with any of it. Like I said before with the opening scene, I had never experienced anything like this before. The perfect imagery, the depth of what was being said; It was a heavenly cinematic experience which is ironic because we had gone from hell on earth to the real underworld.
Willard is perched on top of the boat, the camera right behind him so you only see him atop the boat gliding towards the underworld as you look over his soldier, all the while this haunting musical heartbeat plays. There is a group of men in canoes awaiting his arrival. Everyone is covered in a dry pale mud. As he reaches them they create an opening for him to enter. I love this scene. Welcome to the underworld. Willard looks around him and sees what appears to be a Pagan Babylon with beautiful green everywhere but also Pagan statues of many forms. Dead bodies hang from trees and decapitated heads lie scattered randomly around the compound. Willard meets an american journalist who is way out there and might be a little crazy played by Dennis Hopper. I love this character. Soon after Willard is held captive, tied up in the rain and mud and suffering. Kurtz on a dark and rainy night drops Chef's decapitated head on his lap. He cries in horror and agony. This is the final stage of his experience.
We meet Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, and he is perfect for my expectations. He is terrifying, primal, brilliant, and mad. What Kurtz tells Willard completes this masterpiece of a movie and really puts it all together into a great dark poem.
"It is impossible to put into words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror has a face and you must make friends of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies." He then tells the story of inoculating the children of a village for polio during the war. Afterwards an old man ran after them crying. He returned to the village and the Vietcan had hacked the inoculated arm of every child in that village.
"I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out and I wanted to remember. I don't ever want to forget and then I realized like I was shot with a diamond bullet through my forehead. The genius. The genius of that. The will to do that. Perfect. Pure. Then I realized they were stronger than we because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men. These were trained soldiers with families who they loved but they had the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men then our troubles would be over here very quickly. You have to have men who are moral but at the same time able to use their primordial instincts to kill without judgement because it's judgement that defeats us."
Willard has confronted the man. He has heard the words that he was meant to hear and finally he must face Kurtz once more and kill him. The ritual killing of Kurtz is crosscut with the ritual killing of a cow. Every image of this is perfect and beautiful. It feels mystical and primal beginning with the slow ascension of Willard from a pool of mud as "The End" once again is played. As Willard is about to kill Kurtz he hears him shouting "They train young men to drop fire on people but their commanders won't allow them to write fuck on their airplanes because it's obscene." Kurtz's last words after Willard slaughters him with a machete are a whispered "The horror. The horror." Willard stands before Kurtz's people and they bow down before him and let him pass through with Lance back to their boat. There is a closeup of his face and he now has the same look in his eyes of Kurtz. The last image in the film which once again is perfect and beautiful is of three images superimposed upon each other. As we hear Kurtz's last words again there is a an image of fire and helicopters on the left, Willard's new face in the middle, and a Pagan statue on the right. Wow!!!!
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