Viraj's Weblog

David Cronenberg is a director that can take something that we see in almost every TV show nowadays, a gunshot, and turn it into the most visceral and graphic scene imaginable. He pushes the limits on what the viewer will accept. Living in our society dulled by all the violence that pervades television, this director shows us just how disturbing death and violence really is, without actually pervading the movie with such scenes.

Cronenberg's movies are about the dark side of human nature, the animalistic, raw, uninhibited. He interwines such polar ideas like violence and love, sex and anger, and does it in such a way that you begin to question what it means to be human. You start wondering whether you are anything more than an animal. Ebert said this movie is about the survival of the fittest, and I have to agree with that.

I really thought the movie was amazing. It plays like a chess game, each move coming closer and closer to a catharsis. It's as intelligent as A Clockwork Orange, and I highly recommend it for anyone that wants to come out the theatre with more questions than answers.

The trailer for this movie plays down the violence in the film. There are some quite graphic scenes and I wouldn't recommend any children seeing it.