Hyper-Reality

Rating: Null/10 (8 April 2004)

I choose to view this film not as a flawed masterpiece, but just a story told in hyper realism. Everything that ever happens in the movie, ever, has a realistic effect, but not to the cause that should have triggered it. This helps you in several areas if you think about it this way. Like how Derek goes to prison and comes out reformed. He could have came out reformed but not by going through what his character went through. It helps you because it speeds up time. He needs to Learn hate, goto jail for 3 years, unlearn hate and help his brother. thats alot of ground to cover realisticly so we see this hyper reality. More examples of cause and effects that don't match are. What turns Derek racists, he could have turned racist, but not like that. Theres are less potent effects also but they escape me at the moment as i am pressed for time. Also because the causes don't match the effects you can see more clearly that his racism is all lies. I read once that someone thought this movie was great because you can actually believe some of Dereks rhetoric. Well some of it is true but thats not what makes this a great movie. Those white people with that sort of agenda of rage could find real reasons to hate people. That doesn't fix anything though. I don't watch the movie politically though. I am from a town that is believed by everyone to be racist but really isnt any worse than any other city. I love this movie for all its raw acting and good cinematography, and of course its use of black and white when derek can only see black and white, i think that is just brilliant. I think that was a very active choice the director made and it did it right because if we would have gone to color the very second derek saw the light that would have been beating it over everybody's head and campy, but he just played out the rest of that scene in black and white and its brilliant. Great job Tony Kaye, I hope he understands how stupid this movie would seem if it was directed by "Humpty Dumpty"