Review of the Film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) (18).
Warning: this review contains some plot spoilers. The rating is out of five stars.
Tim Burton’s long awaited bloodthirsty musical does all but disappoint the legions that have been looking forward to it’s release. Anyone doubting the singing abilities of the leads Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter will be very pleasantly surprised within the opening few minutes…
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) is about human nature; and it makes a very bold statement about the truth of that, which I am sure many people who see the film will either just subconsciously ignore, or be so repulsed by the notion of admitting it that they will form an unchangeably negative opinion of the film. That point, which the film makes all too well, is that the apparently wicked and twisted Todd himself is in fact the one person in the story who has even the slightest inkling as what humanity really deserves. Death, suffering and painful slaughter… and for anyone to deny that is one of the very most incredibly and disgustingly pompous expressions of self-inflicted moral blindness possible. A lot of people are finding this film very enjoyable and even saying that it is one of their all time favourites, but I suspect that they can surely not be seeing the ultimate point of the tale for this reason. Of course there is much else to ‘like’ about the film other than the expert way that it makes it’s taboo point, such as the breathtakingly charismatic turns given by the two popular lead actors, Johnny Depp who has been nominated for an Oscar as Sweeney Todd, who’s best friends are his silver handled razor blades, and Helena Bonham Carter who plays Mrs. Lovett, Todd's sexually charged landlady and the creator of the worst pies in London… Also the Oscar nominated, inspiringly gloomy art direction is really something to behold, which along with the fittingly demented cinematography makes Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) a truly unique visual experience. Of course though, it is the magnificently electrifying music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim that makes the film what is, and the full soundtrack CD has gone straight onto my own personal wish list!
The film is definitely not flawless though. I can’t quite put my finger on the reason for it, but I found myself struggling to become enough emotionally connected with the characters to really feel their pain, unlike in many other truly great films… perhaps it’s because I was reacting to the story in a way that wasn’t quite as expected by the filmmakers, as the message of humankind's deserving of suffering and damnation was so plain to me unlike it probably was to most people, but I’m not at all sure and will have to think about that more on my second viewing. That I’ll be seeing the film again though says a lot, and this is a masterpiece by Tim Burton… it’s cynical and truly insane, but it is a real masterwork.
It will probably be confusing to a lot of cinema goers whether or not they are supposed to sympathise with Sweeney, and I think that the film creates the right balance in his character of portraying the truth of his motives, along with the inappropriateness, impracticality and ultimately pointless nature of his actions. The fact that so many of his victims seem to go totally unmissed is quite saddening but also very eye-opening… it puts to bed the idea of a single human life having any say in the ultimate scheme of things, which is powerfully reflected in Sweeney’s own final fate. He realised the truth of the problem, but found the wrong solution and so was left as if in a boat with one paddle… and he ends up in an even worse place than when he first begun.
On another note, don’t believe everything you’ve heard about the unparalleled levels of blood and gore in the film, making even Saw (2004) look like Toy Story (1995) … it’s just not true. There is actually very little ‘gore’ as such, and although there is quite a lot of blood squirting around at various stages, on the whole it is not on a level that most people won’t have seen before. What I will say though is that unlike with a lot of films, the camera doesn’t turn away and/or the shot doesn’t cut away at the ‘moment of impact’. In my opinion that is a much more honest way to depict violence, especially in a story like this. There are many films out there with stories featuring much more violence than this, but in which we aren’t actually shown anything more than the build up to a violent act, followed by the effect of it… with the ‘moment of impact’ completely omitted. That can be far more desensitising and unhealthy to watch I think than the way that the violence is shown here.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) is a tragic and soulful film, but more importantly it is also extremely refreshing and bracingly non-single-minded, so that the bleakness of it does not darken your outlook on life, but in fact opens new doors of opportunity for the viewer who truly watched it with their eyes wide open! What you should go away with after seeing it is this: we all deserve to die… murder is not the answer. So what is…?
Rating : *****
Written by,
.Peter.D.Marsay.
Originally completed: 27/01/08.
6 comments:
Hey- great review! What a change to have a film that doesn't try to make people look like misunderstood angels, but has a more realistic outlook on our true nature! Brilliant! Having not yet seen the film myself it seems now even more enticing than before to do so. Thanks for this insightful review.
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
Thank you.
It is useful to try everything in practice anyway and I like that here it's always possible to find something new. :)
Post a Comment