Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Requiem for a Dream

I think this movie is brilliant. I have seen it once many years ago and remember it being very intense. During the movie last night I thought “I remember this being a lot more disturbing”…well I must have thought that too early because then the ending came and was even more intense than I remember. The movie makes my stomach turn, but I think it is reality and necessary for people to see. I like how there is no stereotypical happy ending or even a glimmer of hope…as horrible as that may sound. As we discussed in class we Americans need to have hope at the end of our movies, but this movie broke that stereotype. With a movie that begins with a son stealing his mother’s TV and selling it for drug money and the mom buying back the TV on a routine basis, the ending is going to be anything but “good” or “hopeful.”

The effects really make this movie. Without the visual and audio effects that were used I don’t think the film would be half as powerful. Especially at the end in the midst of all the character’s downward spiraling the images are all meshing together and it just looks and sounds really cool, but super horrible (like it’s supposed to be) at the same time. The characters are all connected but also so disconnected at the same time.

When watching this movie I wrote the word ADDICTION on my paper, I don’t know why I wrote it all in uppercase letters but I just felt compelled. Watching this movie I felt like I was almost experiencing an addiction because of the intensity. The question “how far will people go?” kept lingering in my mind. I love this movie because it almost makes you feel as though you are the character or at least can see things from their perspective and why they would do these things in order to keep living, which contradicts itself because it is causing their downfall and bringing them closer to death.

In class we discussed the question “what is a drug?” Usually we just think of hard drugs, pot and maybe alcohol, but this movie makes us wonder about how dieting and things that we don’t normally associate with being a drug. Sarah was addicted to the thought of being thin and able to fit in her red dress. Also, one could argue that her addiction to the TV and being on TV were also similar to drugs. She had multiple addictions in addition to her diet pills that were a drug in itself. I think that Sarah was the worst off in comparison to all the characters. Tyrone, Marianne and Harry all became addicts in a social group setting. Sarah became addicted to TV, being on TV, diet pills and this combination literally made her go crazy. She was a lonely old woman that got excited about an opportunity to be on television, which turned out pretty much ruining her life…

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