Hitchcock's masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2015)

"Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence."
Rear Window was my first Hitchcock film, and what a lasting impression it has had on me ever since. I remember watching scenes for it in a film course I was taking in college and I enjoyed it so much that I immediately decided to see it in its entirety. Alfred Hitchcock has been one of my favorite directors ever since. It helps that suspense is one of my favorite genres so leave it to the master to deliver plenty of thrills in all his films. In Rear Window the suspense was elevated to its highest potential and what a fun experience it was. The first thing that stuck out for me in this film was the voyeuristic nature that Hitchcock is exploring through the main character of the movie, played magnificently by James Stewart. Just like his character I remember spending some summers in the balcony of my apartment looking at the passing by neighbors in order to fight my boredom. In Rear Window I too felt I was alongside Stewart's Jeff obsessing over the possibility that a horrendous crime had been committed. We also suffer with Jeff when he sends his beloved Lisa (played by the gorgeous Grace Kelly) to investigate the suspect's apartment while we see that he is arriving, and just like Jeff there is nothing we can do about it other than hope she manages to hide before she's caught. This film is so well made that it continues to thrill today without having to rely on impressive visual effects. There is a reason why Alfred Hitchcock is considered the Master of Suspense, and this is perhaps the greatest proof for that claim. I can't think of another film that's as involving as Rear Window is with its audience. We become participants in Hitchcock's latest experimentation with voyeurism and that is its major appeal.
"We have become a race of Peeping Toms."
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