 Stanley Kubrick began making a serious movie about the End of the
World As We Know It (as in a nuclear war). Halfway, he realized the absurdity
behind MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) and the entire Cold War scenario, and
decided to make a black comedy instead.
The end result is what is often regarded as a minor masterpiece of black comedy
by many critics. Kubrick, however, doesn't pull the whole thing off as good as
he could have. Some of the characters and scenes are too over the top and unfunny
to have any real impact. One keeps getting the nagging suspicion that he could
have done more with the material at hand.
 Classic
characters and scenes however abound: Dr. Strangelove, the German scientist imported
from Nazi Germany to support the American nuclear effort getting up from his wheelchair
uttering "Mein Führer, I can walk!"; the mad American general who
is convinced that the Russians are poisoning his vital bodily fluids; the American
bombardier straddling the nuclear warhead that causes World War III like a bronco
at a rodeo (very phallic that one, by the way).
Perhaps not as relevant as during the Cold War anymore, but still worth seeing
even if just for the closing shot of Vera Lynn intoning We'll Meet Again [...]
A moment of pure dark cynicism unequaled in the history of cinema.
Review by James O'Ehley from The
Sci-Fi Movie Page. |
