A good film is like a kick in the ass, or a ferocious slap that wakes us up, makes us realize about something, or reminds us about something we thought we had forgotten.This brilliant antimilitary films shows in crescendo harsh and intolerable conditions that would force any human being to abandon reason and to embrace
the animal inside, to stop submiting to dictates of a nation, a regiment, or an insensible fool at charge. Sean Connery embodies all that rage in every single look and word he speaks. Sidney Lumet knows exactly where to put the camera, how to move it, and when to cut. Films like this, 'Fail-safe' and 'The Pawnbroker' all have that same clear delineation, razor-sharp intensity in their mise en scene, and all end up in an absolute disgrace that have left me mute, wild-eyed, about to become like Charlton Heston at the end of 'Planet of the apes' screaming at the top of my lungs for the evil that men do, an inarticulate prayer with no receiver.
February 8, 2008
