the far-ends of democracy

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2007)

Frank Miller is a lucky individual. The recent adaptations from his comic books came up pretty close to the original materials. But the main difference between Sin City and 300 is obviously the understory about freedom and its depiction of democracy rather than on the the visual(and even stunning) description of violence. The underlying message of the film about the price of democracy (and how to save it, and at what price ?) is so much present those days that Miller's (and Snyder's) answer is ultimately scary and nihilistic : the price of freedom is blood and death, and is to be conveyed by the far right-wing of democracy, an almost fascist elite of fighters, ready and willing to die for it). I'm glad that the characters kept their complexity (according to the book) and that Snyder managed to inject crossed story lines invented for the motion picture (the senate scenes, which emphasize the sense of loss and failure of democracy, without making it relevant to a point where the answer could be fascism). A blockbuster, then, but an unorthodox one, a smart one, and an incredibly gifted one (special bonus for camera moves and photography)