Natural born killers

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2019)

Except in humorous visions of war such as M * A * S * H or Hot Shots!, in every war movie the dehumanization, segregation, guilt, impunity and, in some cases, madness are reiterated. The "state of the art" comprises a longing for the corrupted and coarted youth: life ripped off at its fullest, young lives that have been regretted, the guilty naiveness of patriotism and the mistakes of the Cold war in movies such as The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Forrest Gump. The theme of an indoctrinated youngster converted into an anti-human killing machine man who is blinded (as well as officially justified) by the national discourse has its echoes in the literary pages of novels like Travel to the End of the Night by Louis Ferdiand Céline, The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek etc . In all these texts there is a profound anti-skepticism. The cinema, along that tone, has been no exception. The wide appeal of war movies comes from Battleshkip Potemkin , The Bridge over the River Kwai , Go and see , The Thin Red Line etc.. All maintain the usual standard style, narrative and characters. But in this whole filmographic constellation nothing shines as much as the great war movie of Kubrick, premiered in 1987. Elliptical, full of subtle inner rhymes and profoundly moving, it's admirably & tightly crafted, like every single essay in Kubrick's small oeuvre.