POE: Purity of Essence

Rating: 10/10 (1 September 1999)

Dr. Strangelove is purity of cinema. Contrary to popular opinion, Kubrick never made a bad film, and this is one of his best. The performances are certainly the best that he ever got from his actors, The photography is typically brillant, and the script is better than some of his others. The film has so many layers that one viewing simply isn't enough. It is about the Cold War. It is about masculinity. It is about insecurity. It is about insanity. And in the end, I think it may even be about hope. Sure, Kubrick points his camera at his subjects as objectively as possible, but I believe that his films always have some element of hope in them. In this film, the hope comes from the song over the closing montage of destruction. Even if we destroy each other, the human spirit will continue on. Kubrick's obvious hatred for the military is never given a better display than here, and his attacks on research scientists should not be ignored either. We must all remember that a system that man has set up must still be run by man. When good sense vacates a system, the system will fail. This pattern happens over and over in his films, and Strangelove is no exception. The military is a rational set-up, but if one part goes wrong, it can detroy the whole thing. Of course, I think that Kubrick feels that the "rational" way the military is set up is a lie and that it is made that way so that men can forget that they are killing other humans, just like them. In the end, all of Kubrick's films are fighting against inhumanity. In fact, Kubrick's greatest legacy will be his humanism.