Rating of
4/4
Duality of Man -- A Great War/Human Film
Franz Patrick - wrote on 09/17/08
I expected this movie to be great because Stanley Kubrick never fails to impress me, but I’ve read a lot of critiques that claim that this is one of Kubrick’s weaker pictures so I was anticipating for the film to slip eventually. Thankfully, it never did. Sure, the dark and sharp humor can be found in the first half of the film only, and the other half features the battlefield. At first, I was kind of thrown off as well, but a character makes an insightful comment about the duality of man. And that’s when it all clicked: this film is about two extremes… and how those extremes come together. I don’t want to list all the scenes I thought embodies or supports that idea, but the one aspect that stood out for me the most was the use of humour in situations that are nothing short of serious. Other tools that I found interesting was the use of night and day. In the daytime, even though the characters are in dire situations, we are able to laugh with or at the characters for the things that they say or do. But when night comes, we are no longer able to laugh because the dark side of humanity is highlighted. That’s when the irony comes because although night shows darkness, the audiences can better see what the characters are thinking and feeling, as if it’s as bright as day. Lastly, the use of indoors and outdoors is fascinating as well. Indoors usually go hand-in-hand with safety, and outdoors usually mean danger. But that is switched in this film. The idea of indoors-outdoors culminates at the end of the picture during the sniper scenes. This film requires a close viewing because the little details make the experience that much richer. Once again, Kubrick delivers a timeless film that is worth discussing and analyzing.
