A True Disservice

Rating: 4/10 (27 July 2010)

You know, as dynamic and visceral a filmmaker as Oliver Stone can be, his deliberately subjective assessment of his subjects is not always appropriate. In the case of "The Doors", I will say that I find Stone's symbolic pulp imposition of 60's and 70's culture onto the titular individuals inappropriate at least, near slanderous at worst. Based on interviews, concert footage, essentially any real documentation of The Doors it is more than clear that these were articulate, talented and sensitive individuals...something almost at odds with Stone's bombastic and exploitative treatment (or perhaps his real perspective on the group). If Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek are considered peripheral players to the sensationalized events of the film, perhaps they should consider themselves lucky. Jim Morrison (played, albeit, with real intention and commitment by Val Kilmer) is made into a truly abhorrent caricature, devoid of all the subtlety and contradiction that made him a genuinely compelling performer and lyricist. The pathetic and near-transcendent humanity of Morrison in the midst of self-destruction and the complex interplay of the group's playing is completely overlooked by Stone in this film in favor of - what else- kinky sex, copious amounts of drugs and petty gestures of rock recreation. While the excess of this story may be real, the human was too.