A straight-forward and blunt view of a complicated and absurd world

Rating: 10/10 (1 October 2008)

Sidney Lumet is a wizard.When you start watching this movie,you are almost put to sleep within the first 10 minutes.Then, starting with Pacino's sudden erratic behavior,you are violently shaken back to life,then taken on a roller-coaster emotional ride and by the end,you are scarred for life.But there is one condition: you need to accept and agree that the world is gray,crazy and absurd.Otherwise,the movie almost makes no sense.One reason for that is that the Pacino character and the screenplay are extreme beyond belief.BUT (and I find this genius),it is presented to us in a human,clear,methodical way,like it's the most normal thing in the world.It's Kafka without the philosophy and symbolism,replaced by human drama and social issues. Everything about this movie is impressive and Al Pacino above anything else.The characters are marvelous,so identifiable and yet so over-the-top.The movie also succeeds in making collective characters (the public,the police,the press) so vivid and together with the individual characters, are perfectly coordinated in a crazy dance right before our eyes. Too bad about the Oscar competition with One Flew Over The Coockoo's Nest that year,where it lost to almost every category in favor of Milos Forman's masterpiece, because it definitely deserved more hype than it got.But it is a cult classic nevertheless,I've rarely seen people talking so passionately about a movie than about this one, and it's interesting to note that it appeals to almost all ages (except under 18, maybe). On a last note,I find that Lumet's work is so underrated.His movies are just as impressive as Scorsese's or Kubrick's,and yet he is one of the least hailed.