(1999) ****1/2
FW Colqhoun arrives, dirty and broken, at a remote fort in the Sierras. As he is tended to, he gives his rescuers a grim accounting of how his party of six became trapped in the snow for several months and resorted to cannibalizing the corpse of a fallen member. Holding back tears, he explains that the cannibals found the meat so irresistable, they murdered to have more of it.
This scene is given a more foreboding context when George, the fort's resident Chippewa, tells his comrades of the cannibalistic spirt, the Wendigo. It possesses you when you eat human flesh. The more flesh you eat, the more you want, and the stronger you get.
The consumption of human flesh by other humans has played a role in half of the films I've seen in this year's Thon. Gein eats his because he's curious; it's not central to Dahmer, but in reality, Dahmer ate his as an extension of his twisted sexual desires; Leatherface does it because he's retarded. Here, the cannibalism begins as a matter of survival. The characters who turn to it face death otherwise. But eventually it becomes something of a MacGuffin, as characters begin to consume it, not for the sustenance, but for the berserker power it provides.
Music in Ravenous plays a peculiar role. Its largely electronic tone is somewhat out of step with the frontier texture of the story. One of the centerpieces of Ravenous is a bloody chase scene with a curiously festive soundtrack underneath it. A quieter musical setting would perhaps have made the scene a graver one, but the festive sound isn't incongruous with the action. It just gives it a different flavor. The filmmakers of Ravenous make such choices throughout, in music, sound and script, and the movie doesn't suffer one bit for it. It's difficult to pin down the precise tone of the film, but it remains an inventive and enjoyable one to watch.
FW Colqhoun arrives, dirty and broken, at a remote fort in the Sierras. As he is tended to, he gives his rescuers a grim accounting of how his party of six became trapped in the snow for several months and resorted to cannibalizing the corpse of a fallen member. Holding back tears, he explains that the cannibals found the meat so irresistable, they murdered to have more of it.
This scene is given a more foreboding context when George, the fort's resident Chippewa, tells his comrades of the cannibalistic spirt, the Wendigo. It possesses you when you eat human flesh. The more flesh you eat, the more you want, and the stronger you get.
The consumption of human flesh by other humans has played a role in half of the films I've seen in this year's Thon. Gein eats his because he's curious; it's not central to Dahmer, but in reality, Dahmer ate his as an extension of his twisted sexual desires; Leatherface does it because he's retarded. Here, the cannibalism begins as a matter of survival. The characters who turn to it face death otherwise. But eventually it becomes something of a MacGuffin, as characters begin to consume it, not for the sustenance, but for the berserker power it provides.
Music in Ravenous plays a peculiar role. Its largely electronic tone is somewhat out of step with the frontier texture of the story. One of the centerpieces of Ravenous is a bloody chase scene with a curiously festive soundtrack underneath it. A quieter musical setting would perhaps have made the scene a graver one, but the festive sound isn't incongruous with the action. It just gives it a different flavor. The filmmakers of Ravenous make such choices throughout, in music, sound and script, and the movie doesn't suffer one bit for it. It's difficult to pin down the precise tone of the film, but it remains an inventive and enjoyable one to watch.
4 comments:
Ravenous was one of my favorites from last year. I'mNotMarc, you realize you have no choice but to review Cannibal Holocaust at this point...
someone here mentioned watching it with their sweetie-pie who was so revolted she joined a nunnery or something like that. so yeah, you bet your ass i'm going to be seeing that one.
it's not attached in any official way to some real happening, though, so maybe not this year's thon. but hey, we'll see. if i keep up this pace (not a chance) i'll run out of movies in my queue.
Cannibal Holocaust is icky. Icky on your soul.
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