The Last Battle
1983
Directed by Luc Besson
I was hoping this would be like the Buffy episode "Hush" where the characters are unable to speak, mostly because I wish everything was more like Buffy. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything like that, in substance or quality.
In the post apocalyptic future, men have lost their voices for an unexplained reason and women are scarce. I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but stop raping and killing them then. Anyway, we are introduced to one of the main character as he is having sex with his blow up doll. He is doing his best to survive, while simultaneously building an airplane for...some reason. Meanwhile, a doctor is "protecting" (enslaving) one of the few women left.
So obviously, the treatment of women in this film is horrific, although no one seems to be upset about it. Since we get absolutely no perspective from the women in this, I have to assume it wasn't done to make any kind of statement. Of course, we don't get much perspective from anyone in this, since there is no dialogue. At times I felt like I was watching a classically silent film, like when the characters were running and the action seemed to be sped up. It was almost silly and I really don't think that is what the filmmakers were going for.
A reviewer from the Chicago Reader said that the lack of dialogue in this movie served as "an effective alibi for a technically proficient filmmaker who really has nothing to say." The perfect summary of this film.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Besson was inspired to do this film after seeing an abandoned cinema in Paris.
Mmmm I'm not so sure. Perhaps .. You take a situation that is bad, and, if you feel not enough is being done about it, perhaps because people refuse to acknowledge the problem .. for effect, you exaggerate it. You find a fictional situation where the situation has hugely grown, and still "no one seems to be upset about it" (within that film), so that people watching go 'Wow, that's really wrong'.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, it is from no-ones perspective.
As I say, I'm not at all sure if I fully agree or mean what I've just said. This was not one of my hits, and I'm far from sure I 'got it' but I didn't find it silly.
I just thought some of the action scenes were silly. And yeah, I felt like that going in but didn't find a whole lot in the film to support it as being any kind of statement on genders.
DeleteI don't even want to watch this after your review. I am so tired of rape scenes in movies. Just stop.
ReplyDeleteI know, honestly.
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