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Uno: The Movie (2016)
A WW1 film disguised as a video-game movie disguised as a comedy.
*SPOILERS AHEAD...also, I'm being entirely facetious; amazing movie nonetheless*
Unlike most video-game- or game-based- films, this one was entertaining, engrossing, and addictive. However, while many other reviewers here see it as a movie about existentialism, pride, or human nature in general, I see it as a metaphor for war, and the feelings which accompany it.
Ernst Juenger wrote in "im Stahgewittern" (Storm of Steel) about the exhilaration of war. Erich Maria Remarque wrote both about the exhilaration and horror of war in his masterpiece "Im Westen nichts neues". In both cases, we see a juxtaposition of two conflicting sets of emotions, which summarize the human experience of war.
On the one hand, there are the "positive" aspects of war: pride, honor, excitement, a spirit of adventure, an immature belief in ultimate victory, the strong feeling of Schadenfreude towards your enemy (such as when an enemy building is blow apart), and relief/joy at the end of the war.
On the other hand, there is fear, dread, the longing for home and hearth, despair, and eventually utter indifference and madness. The "positive" and "negative" sets combine to unnecessarily lengthen a given war--the futility of which is a common theme in all good war-movies.
Now the comparison of UNO: the movie with a war-movie is not to be taken as a trivialization of war or the war-movie genre--far from it. However, the themes and emotions described above, and the role they play combine in the creation and prolonging of suffering are still there--and in many ways mirror the events of the First World War. We see the effect it has on six people: five players, who embark on a game of UNO. They are each cheerful, and confident of quick victory. They come in with different levels of experience, from the inexperienced Jeremy, to the well-prepared players Gavin and Geoff. We learn that they are friends--as many soldiers on opposite sides of WW1 were. Some have wives and sweethearts. Some have a dear memory (Gavin's Cat). We never see their faces, though all whimsically talk of being seen by us. Gavin does at one point attempt to make himself seen, yet quits in frustration. This symbolizes the desire for glory, and for the humiliation of the enemy; the ultimate lack of faces symbolizes the mechanical nature of war, which renders all soldiers faceless and impersonal to those who read accounts of battles past. The red background of the UNO table--the color of blood--foreshadows the horror to come. The juxtaposition of cheerful Jazz, and its continuous running throughout the game, calls to mind the lines by Frederick Sassoon in 'Blighters': "I'd like to see a tank come down the stalls/Lurching to rag-time tunes, or 'Home sweet Home'/"
However, much as with Germany in 1914, Gavin makes a series of critical blunders: he has Geoff set the score to 500, and introduce the 0 and 7 rules. These symbolize the machinery of modern war--effective on the defense, murderous to the attacker. The rounds quickly dissolve into stalemate and deadlock, as each player attempts to beggar, deceive, and ultimately defeat the others. Hard-won wins are obtained for relatively small scores. In the process, new and ingenious ways of inflicting suffering on one another are devised: the stack-up of wild-cards--which could lead to the hapless person on the receiving end to find himself with up to 12 cards at a time--is but one example. The rage, sorrow, and eventually, despair of the players builds up throughout the film, yet none seem truly willing to withdraw: their pride, anger, or apathy compel them forward, in spite of the growing horror of the trap they found themselves in. Each begins to crack in his own way: Ryan begins to devise a terrible ordinance of cards, which he leaves to Jack, when Ryan (much as Russia in WW1) pulls out of the game. This hand proves devastating for all, and further prolongs the suffering in the game. Gavin at one point sends a wild-card on his neighbor, yet discovers that all were well prepared, and simply passed the buck around right back to Gavin himself--which led to his acquisition of excessive numbers of cards. Jeremy breaks down and calls his opponents "whores". Geoff loses track of the numbers on his cards, and repeatedly hands his enemies the opportunity to beggar him (like the time he used a seven to take Ryan's hands, only to realize--too late--that he gave Ryan a hand with multiple sevens). All this takes its toll: Jeremy's call to his wife was the most poignant scene in the movie, and highlights the suffering and sacrifice of not just the soldiers, but their families who wait at home. It's the buildup of this suffering at the home-front which ultimately causes Ryan to quit.
Gradually it becomes a race to the wire between Jeremy and Gavin, as each struggles to make it to 500. This is very nearly derailed by Geoff, in a last-ditch offensive to claim victory, in what was a blatant act of pride and selfishness brought on by his brutalization. However, it ultimately falls on Jeremy to make the call: does he commit his last card, and risk failure and the prolonging of the game? or does he defer to Gavin, who appears more likely to win, but is too far away to avoid a beggaring by Geoff or Jack? This shows the nebulous nature of war--the uncertainty of results in it so wonderfully described by Clausewitz and Moltke the Elder. The Joy and relief felt even by the losers at the end of this war symbolizes the same feeling which overcomes soldiers weary of war.
Overall, this was a compelling movie to view, and I recommend it to all and sundry.