Yesterday I spent the evening to myself, looking at the Italian horror movie called Suspiria. Scary films rarely scare me, but this one was actually at times, a little bit scary. It's great when a movie lets music and lighting reflect the mood and horror in the film. And it's boring when a plain murder scene, is the only thing that should feed your fear. That might be scary to those who are easily spooked, but if you have seen everything else before, a little twist is good. And in my opinion; a good horror film is more creative, than it is aggressive. If you feel the same way, maybe Suspiria is a film for you. And they had some great wallpapers and floor tiles in that movie. Look out for those.
The other week, I saw another movie I liked. Some time ago I mentioned a movie here, that I didn't like. The movie called Ted Bundy. If you don't know; this movie is about one of the most notorious serial killers in modern history. He was executed in the electric chair. The movie starts during his college days, at the time when he made his first murder. The movie is raw and brutal. It shows nothing more than what actually happens, from the moment he kills, until the moment he gets killed. In other words, it doesn't say anything about the man behind the killer. And the only time you would actually empathize with him, is the moments before he dies. And those moments are so cruel and cold, that you just regret having seen the movie in the end. At least that's what I felt.
The movie I saw the other week, is similar to this one in some ways. But it's different as well. The movie is called Monster. What these two movies have in common, is that both of them are about a famous serial killer. Both stories starts, when the first murder occur. Both killers are ruthless and selfish. And they both were in it till the end. Both were executed. The movie Monster is based on a true crime story, that I read about a few years ago. It's based on the killing spree, of a woman named Aileen Wuornos.
The difference between these two movies, is first of all, that you feel trough the Monster movie, that this person actually have a past. In the Ted Bundy film, it's hard to believe that he used to be something else. Innocent or a child, you cant imagine that he can do anything else than kill, kill, kill. This is because the film story radiates, trough numerous murder scenes. In Monster you never either see an obvious reference to the past, but there are some lines and some moments in the film, where it makes you think about it. The past is wiped out of the story and you feel that the connection is distant, but yet close. The person doesn't have a past, a record of a childhood on the surface, but in Monster we see, that it somehow plays a role anyway.
The actor that is Aileen Wuornos, are just remarkable. She doesn't just look like Wuornos trough her expressions, you also feel that this is her. Of course it's a movie based on a true story, it will probably not be completely accurate. But this movie is a story, about an individual's life. The hope, the struggle and the cruelness and sadness of our human nature.
The music in the movie is worth seeing the movie in itself. I had to go buy the soundtrack right after I saw it. And as I have said before; music helps a great deal, when it comes to the mood of the different scenes. It's extra boring, if a movie doesn't just have poor actors, but also no music or emotional effects whatsoever.
While you never really ever feel like empathizing, with the Bundy character in the movie, the Wuornos character follows a thread of aggression and the wish and attempt to do something positive. The thread is thin and narrow and as an viewer, you would know where it ends, even if you didn't know. I think in this way, the Monster movie shows an important element in film making. Instead of turning a true horrible story into an entertainment flick, for those who love gore; they tell the story without merely showing the violence.
The reason for why I think it is an important element, could be discussed trough many issues. But it all circles in. If we are not able to see people, as human beings, if our explanation and excuse is that human nature is evil and selfish; then we are not either really able to move on. If the little good spark behind the bad, are always ignored. If you are never able to see it trough the fogginess of cruelty, then the little spark, will never either have a meaning. The bad will die bad and to be bad, will always be a good excuse, in a place where violence is a tool, for the bad as well as the good.
I will make an example and a reference; death penalty. In the scenes before Ted Bundy is executed, it's hard to know which one you should pity. The image tells you that everyone, can easily deserve pity. Everyone. Because as an outsider, you notice that the innocent have become guilty and the guilty have become frail. As an outsider, you wish to turn away, from those who cheer for the death penalty. Turn away in disgust. It's the same when you see extreme murder, or rape scenes in films. Or when you hear about it. But often when I see them in the news, these aggressive people from both sides, I end up pitying them and seeing them to be the same people. All of them. The bad and the good. They don't inspire anything positive in me. Nothing at all.
But people that kill, doesn't really deserve that kind of pity. They don't deserve to be in that situation where they are killed, because they have killed and trough this knowing that nothing changed. Because many of them, will not have a chance to feel ashamed or regret their aggression, because humanity showed them perfectly by it's revenge, that this is what we all represent.
If we would show something else, another side of ourselves. A better part of our anger. The wish to positively change, with care. Go back and decide that we would be so much more, if we tried something else for once. Then, would the negative side in humanity truly blush, truly regret and look back and wish to look forward. Because it would feel challenged, by something else than violence. And if the negative would never change trough this, it would at least never either glow, in a society like this.
Last but not least, I hope the American Presidential election will be a fair and peaceful one! You can still bet with me, in the Bush Or Kerry Bet, if you like.
And thanks for all the virtual hugs: 137! That's way too much for gloomy me to survive! :D
