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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

REVIEW... more or less - Mad Max: Fury Road


“Oh, what a day, what a lovely day”
- Nux (Mad Max: Fury Road)


Maybe I would not have written about this film considering that the subject is not unknown (having in view the successful trilogy from 30 years ago), but because I think that it was a bit unfairly treated, I decided to share with you some of my personal views. The conclusion will be yours to make.

The first - curious - thing was its classification: category “R”. I'm not saying that there are not some powerful scenes for some of you, but they are not as tough as you might think seeing the classification. For example, in The Hobbit trilogy are enough violent moments: beheaded orcs, people that are stabbed or burned, but still the movies are in PG 13 category and nobody felt vexed, visual or moral. Fury Road is a fiction, a dystopian SF, so is to be expected from the start that the characters are stranger and with a deviant behavior, but, certainly, it’s not a film that will spoil your good sleep.

The second thing is that Fury Road is considered to be a film just for boys! WRONG! It is not just about custom cars and crazy people that shoot one another. If you will see only this, no offense, but you are a shallow person. Yes, it is a race for survival, not only for the main heroes, but in the same time it is about hope: the hope for the rebirth of humanity and of the world in which we lived.

The third and most important thing: if you’ll pay a little more attention, you'll notice that the main hero of the film is not the alpha male full of muscles and testosterone, but THE WOMAN. And we not talking just about the heroine, but about the woman as a symbol with all of its facets: the woman as the mother, as the daughter, the woman that gives life, and also the one that could end it, the woman as the warrior, and the one who falls in love.

Yeah, maybe it will seem strange to you, but despite all of the macho excesses, the film is a subtle tribute brought to the woman and it’s full of symbols. Even if it’s called Mad Max, the male character is only an emblem of the old films, a continuation through time of the series, a reference name in the history of the cinematography. He is neither the key nor the solution of the story. Of course, he has his part, but as well the film could have been called named after the heroine: Imperator Furiosa: Fury Road or simply Fury Road.

You know what? Let's forget for a moment about characters, cars, races, bullets and ideas. A good reason for which I recommend you this film is the image. The film is truly pictorial, a real visual treat. Such visual grandeur you have not seen much on screen and I don’t think you'll be seeing soon again. The director George Miller has the merit. He made a majestic cinematographic depiction using the old school style. The film is not a CGI full of special effects, but full of real stunts, that gives a special note, same as the natural set (Namib desert) with its impressive beauty.

It is said, and many films prove it, that an intense action scene should not take more than ten minutes in order to not bother the viewer and to not get bored. In the Fury Road, almost three quarters of the film are intense action only, but I guarantee you that it will not bother or bored you. You will not even know when two hours will pass. But let’s not forget the music that splendid complete the spectacle!

Like I said at the beginning, the conclusions it’s yours to make after you will watch the movie. I warmly recommend it to you, but I recommend you to see it in a theatre, in all its glory.

Enjoy!



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