Saturday, June 28, 2003
Yesterday, I wrote 1,274 words of Chapter Five of Murder of Angels. I've done 3,751 words since I hit the reset button on this chapter, back on Wednesday. I think today will be a dream sequence, and I usually enjoy those.
This evening, Spooky and I begin reading the proofs for Low Red Moon.
Last night, we saw 28 Days Later..., which, I thought, was quite wonderful. I have virtually no complaints about this film, only praise. I've never been very fond of zombie films (and, actually, I think one could argue this isn't a zombie film, sensu stricto, as the "infected" are still very much alive). I love Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, though I didn't care for the two sequels, or the 1990 remake. I am fond of I Walked with a Zombie (1943), but that's about it for me and zombies. So I was very pleased that I liked 28 Days Later... as much as I'd hoped I would. Though a lot of comparisons are being made to Romero, and certainly Boyle and Garland have drawn much from Romero's Dead trilogy, I think this film owes a much greater debt to the superb Day of the Triffids (1962; based on John Wyndham's novel of the same name). From the set up (a man who misses an apocalyptic event due to hospitalization) to the conclusion (which I won't elaborate on, because I detest spoilers), there are many obvious points of comparison.
Boyle's decision to shoot 28 Days Later... on DV is largely responsible for the bleak, grimy reality of the film and is to be applauded. Likewise, the film's pallet - washed-out greens and grays and blues, dull smudges of white and orange - is not only visually stunning, but helps create an unrelentingly oppressive sense of dread. The use of two vividly red dresses during the climactic moments is both simple and cinematically masterful. Boyle wisely restricts our views of his "infected" to glimpses and frantic, flailing moments, so that we never see them too clearly and they never lose their punch (which gets back to what I was saying earlier in the week about They). What we do see is enough, more than enough, to get the point across. The soundtrack (John Murphy, with contributions by Brian Eno and others) is exquisite and does all the right things at all the right spots. There are moments of awe and wonder and beauty and stark terror - four horses running wild, Manchester burning in the distance, abandoned London, a horde of rats fleeing the plague stricken. I cannot recommend this film strongly enough.
I was doubly annoyed with Roger Ebert's review of the film, first because he peppered it with unnecessary spoilers, and secondly, because he questions the legitimacy of the ending. And, I warn you all, HERE BE SPOILERS!!!!!! so if you haven't seen the film, avert your eyes. He writes, "My imagination is just diabolical enough that when that jet fighter appears toward the end, I wish it had appeared, circled back - and opened fire." I'm no stranger to grim endings, and you'll recall, again, my recent praise for the grimness of the end of They, but the assumption that this film would have shown more "nerve," would have been somehow bolder, by leaving us in the dark about the fate of the three protagonists, or the rest of the world, misses the point. I would suggest Joseph Campbell. There is a cycle here, and the hero may not always complete that cycle. He or she may not slay the dragon or ask the grail king the right question or find the strength inside to continue on when in all is lost, but he or she might, and only when they do is the cycle completed. 28 Days Later... is a film that follows the heroes' journey full-circuit, beginning with an horrific "call to adventure" and ending with their emergence from "the kingdom of dread." It is no less bold or artistic or valid for finishing the trip. The object of the exploration of horror and terror is not - and I cannot stress this enough - inevitable and total doom, the negation of all hope. I can understand how frequent pat Hollywood wrap-ups for grand cataclysms (think, in recent worse cases, Armageddon or Deep Impact or Independence Day) lead to a certain cynicism, and to an equation of endings without hope with better art, but such reactionary criticism is to be avoided. As in Day of the Triffids, Boyle allows us to survive, scarred and diminished, but hopefully, though not necessarily, somewhat the wiser. And that is an entirely valid, and not unlikely, conclusion for this story. As i pointed out to friends immediately after seeing 28 Days Later..., given the symptoms of the disease and the speed at which it strikes its victims, it would have a very, very hard time jumping from Britian to Europe or America (even Ireland might have been spared).
And that's enough chit-chat for one day. Off to the word mines . . .
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