War's seriousness sacrificed in the altar of hilarious absurdity ...

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2011)

It was a time that probably most of the users who reviewed "Dr. Strangelove" didn't know or were too young to remember, a time where the fate of humanity was hanging by a thread.
The nuclear scare was a reality that history proved to be the radical solution to any political inconvenience. And at this very time where the atom could annihilate life and civilization, when the two blocks on both sides of the iron curtain had the nuclear weapon ready to be used, any human being could have legitimate reasons to look at the future with fatalistic eyes. This paranoid state lasted during almost one decade reaching its paroxysm with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Legend has it that the Soviets had indeed a nuclear weapon aimed to destroy the world in an extreme case. Anyway, the Cuba crisis, had it escalated to a no-return point changing the temperature of the Cold War, could have meant the end of humanity, or in the best case, World War III. I needed to remind the context because it's still very hard to believe that all these elements inspired one of the funniest and most classic cinematic comedies. But I guess, it's no surprise that the only film-maker who has successfully gone through this challenge is the one and only: Stanley Kubrick.
The first time I watched "Dr. Strangelove", I had no idea about what to expect. I knew it was a political satire but having the iconic image of Major Kong riding the bomb in mind, I thought the movie would be inhabited by such goofiness, it would deviate it from the level of sophistication I expect from the Master. How wrong I was! If one thing, "Dr. Strangelove" strikes by the seriousness of its humor. It's almost a psychological introspection into the ability of serious people to inspire our laughs. These are adult men, reasonable, moderately competent, who are confronted to a political crisis initiated by a lunatic Brigadier Jack Ripper. This man, between some solemn cigars' puffs, reveals the sacred mission he'd be entrusted with, preservation of precious body fluids. Sterling Hayden is so damn serious and believable, I admit I bought it. But when you go into the film in depth, a sentence that should be a motto with Kubrick's films, is there ever a reason not absurd enough to justify war? "Dr. Strangelove" doesn't use absurdity for comedic purposes but more to denounce with subtlety, its eternal dichotomy with War, as the highest level of absurdity human mind ever reached. Could something be more absurd than fighting and destroying one population for the survival of another, when contrarily to animals who do it for survival, both can technically live in peace?
Jack Ripper sets the tone that the rest of the film will never contradict. And it brought up one of the most classic ironical movie lines when the General 'Buck' Turgidson, a hysterically funny George C. Scott in an Oscar worthy comedic performance, violently confronts the Russian Ambassador: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room", shouts an patronizing President Muffey. The Cold War is almost reduced to a bunch of adults fighting like kids. Indeed, all through the film, there is a disturbing feeling that war is playful and the political leaders are like playground monitors incapable of keeping the lowest instincts of their troops under control. "War is too serious to be left to politicians" precisely because they simply can't handle their military troops, while the planes are going with "Johnny Come Marching Home Again" as musical background. That's the irony of civilization, its excess can't handle the barbarity. The unforgettable Red Phone conversation is probably my favorite and funniest moment from the film. Muffey very casually tries to appease his Russian homologue as if they were talking of a simple incident, not something that would eradicate any trace of life on the surface of earth. Hilariously disturbing.
This psychological element is omnipresent in Kubrick's as to insist on one of the very paradoxes of our species, our "dehumanizing humanity": being so sophisticated, so powerful, so civilized that it alienates in the conviction that these accomplishments, science, power can be used to kill other people in the name of self-preservation. The iconic ending where "Dr. Strangelove"'s arm raises spasmodically as to make a Nazi gesture reminds that the Cold War carries the worst aspects of whatever World War II has taught us. The lesson hasn't been learned obviously, and the way, the psychotic Dr. Strangelove talks and seems to be listened with interest, would be tragic if it wasn't so damn funny. Of course, I couldn't go on without mentioning the genius of Peter Sellers, who managed to capture the absurd roots of evilness through Strangelove, while portraying the straight man as Muffey, the symbol of civilization's impotence. Not to forget, his performance as Captain Mandrake, the unsung hero who symbolizes the eternal struggle of well-intentioned men confronted to the threatening competence of evil people and the pointless competence of good ones "You'll have to answer to the Coca Cola company" while the world is in danger. Certainly the role of a lifetime and Sellers is perfect in this, and should have won the Oscar  as usual, no respect from the peers, the only Kurbickian paradox that can't be explained.
The ending of "Dr. Strangelove" is the ultimate testimony of Kubrick's tremendous talent and capability to provide iconic images for cinematic posterity. Major Kong riding the apocalyptic bomb humanity is the powerful allegory of a world that lost it, and the moment is so hilarious, than it's better to think of the movie as a comedy, with its gags, its impeccable script rich of wonderful one-liners, and some hilarious characters' names that would've made the Marx Brothers proud ... and thank God that this is not real, without forgetting that it could have been, or that it could be