This is not normally the kind of film I would watch. I'm more of an Independence Day and Armageddon kind of a guy. But having seen the highly polarised reviews on IMDB I was curious and gave it a try, and I have to say I'm glad I did.
The polarised reviews seem to be aimed entirely at creating a low IMDB score and discouraging viewers. They bear no relation to the quality of the film or its content. As one reviewer sagely noted, the phone call went out and two hundred negative reviews flooded in. I can think of no reaction which better highlights the mindset of the people at whom this film is aimed....
Even as a Britisher, and somewhat remote from American politics, I can understand the hatred which the aforementioned people have heaped upon it. The film is an uncompromising look into one not-so-unlikely future where to be different is to be - quite literally - branded and outcast.
The film has a number of levels, depending upon how intently you're going to watch it. Personally, I found the opening half an hour boring, filled as it was with a lot of personal exposition and little action, but gradually the characters became more interesting and I stopped skipping bits. I'm guessing that the gay love scenes probably upset a lot of viewers. That aspect of the plot - a married man concealing his sexuality in the same way that a muslim woman would conceal her religeon by not wearing a hijab, thereby fitting into society's norms - was perhaps a step too far. Very thought provoking, though.
The acting is excellent throughout. The female leads outshine the men - not in a woke Hollywood way, but in the sense that women often tend to be stronger than men in situations which require moral fortitude and common sense rather than physical courage.
Again, I can see why the film was hated - the 'good guys', who are either family-types, gay, bisexual or Indian, keep a gun-toting, all-American redneck chained in the barn so he can't betray them. They make the effort to try to understand why he hates them, and in the end he comes to realise that people are still people, whether they are white, brown or gay. An all-American redneck changing his principles and admitting to it is obviously quite impossible. Silly director.
A lot of the negative reviews for this film seem to centre on the fact that it could never happen. Well, it happened in America, before Black people (ostensibly) gained the same rights as everyone else. It happened in Nazi Germany. It happened in Eastern Europe in Bosnia. It happened in Cambodia. It's happening right now in China. That nice Mr Yeltsin would like to see it happen in Ukraine. Hence my opening comment. Show films like this to the kids in school, so when they grow up they don't make the same stupid mistakes as their ancestors.
The polarised reviews seem to be aimed entirely at creating a low IMDB score and discouraging viewers. They bear no relation to the quality of the film or its content. As one reviewer sagely noted, the phone call went out and two hundred negative reviews flooded in. I can think of no reaction which better highlights the mindset of the people at whom this film is aimed....
Even as a Britisher, and somewhat remote from American politics, I can understand the hatred which the aforementioned people have heaped upon it. The film is an uncompromising look into one not-so-unlikely future where to be different is to be - quite literally - branded and outcast.
The film has a number of levels, depending upon how intently you're going to watch it. Personally, I found the opening half an hour boring, filled as it was with a lot of personal exposition and little action, but gradually the characters became more interesting and I stopped skipping bits. I'm guessing that the gay love scenes probably upset a lot of viewers. That aspect of the plot - a married man concealing his sexuality in the same way that a muslim woman would conceal her religeon by not wearing a hijab, thereby fitting into society's norms - was perhaps a step too far. Very thought provoking, though.
The acting is excellent throughout. The female leads outshine the men - not in a woke Hollywood way, but in the sense that women often tend to be stronger than men in situations which require moral fortitude and common sense rather than physical courage.
Again, I can see why the film was hated - the 'good guys', who are either family-types, gay, bisexual or Indian, keep a gun-toting, all-American redneck chained in the barn so he can't betray them. They make the effort to try to understand why he hates them, and in the end he comes to realise that people are still people, whether they are white, brown or gay. An all-American redneck changing his principles and admitting to it is obviously quite impossible. Silly director.
A lot of the negative reviews for this film seem to centre on the fact that it could never happen. Well, it happened in America, before Black people (ostensibly) gained the same rights as everyone else. It happened in Nazi Germany. It happened in Eastern Europe in Bosnia. It happened in Cambodia. It's happening right now in China. That nice Mr Yeltsin would like to see it happen in Ukraine. Hence my opening comment. Show films like this to the kids in school, so when they grow up they don't make the same stupid mistakes as their ancestors.