Holy mother of all that is brutal and post apocalyptical, I
just saw Mad Max Fury Road and what a wildly intense movie it is! Loud,
violent, intense, fast and crazy. But, even more importantly, Fury Road is a
deeply layered movie with many important observations of what human beings are
and how we behave. Ultimately, we truly are animals. That is the main truth
that is present here. No matter what, we will fight to survive because that is
what animals do. We must survive to keep the species going and they will do
anything to do that.
There has been much talk about how important this movie is in
terms of feminism, which is wonderful to see. I don’t know how much I need to
add to that part of the film. It felt like a strong feminist movie, but didn’t
feel at all like it had gone out of its way to be such. It was what it was and
showed that issues facing women can be dealt with in an intense action film.
Hopefully, it will lead to more exploration of what role women can play in
future movies of all genres, particularly ones dominated by men.
For me, however, one of the most fascinating parts of the
film was its critique of religion. Young warrior men head off to fight in the
belief that they will pass into heaven (in this case Valhalla) after they are
essentially martyred in battle for their political, spiritual, totalitarian leader.
Gee, where have we heard this before? Could it be in the young men who shoot up
cartoonists or behead people in the desert in the belief that it is what some
kind of god wishes…convinced by some spokesman for the religion that martyrdom
is a beautiful thing? What better way to convince people to, in such a vigorous
and passionate way, sacrifice themselves and face death believing they are
doing the right thing and will go into a utopian afterlife (or even just exist
forever) than through religion? We see young warrior men in this move smiling,
excited, happy, almost giddy in the knowledge that they are about to die
because they are so convinced that it will lead them to something better,
turning otherwise decent people into blood thirsty killers.
Prayer rituals, symbols of faith and brotherhood, mantra’s
and a symbolic spray painting of the mouth (in chrome) signifying that one is
about to face his death and go to Valhalla seem ridiculous when set in a movie,
yet is reflective of what religion really truly is, and really always has been.
And having it laid out so bare and open, seeing these people wishing to die
while killing others, should make anyone consider the sheer power that can be
held over people by religion, although that is certainly not the only ism that
can have this power.
Now, I have been blown away by some of the critique of the
film, where people see it only as an action flick with no plot, and it’s kind
of a movie where you go and shut off your brain and be entertained by mindless
violence. I ain’t seeing that. This is not some fluff action movie in the
slightest. I left the theatre, a head
full of thoughts about what it means to be human, tribalism, nationalism,
religion, power structures, how we use our natural resources, what the future
could be like if we continue on the path of environmental punishment we are on,
the role of women in any society, the role of warfare on our planet, etc. The
movie did a great job of tackling a ton of ideas with a limited amount of
dialogue. That amazes me. But, regardless of these interesting bits and pieces within
the film, yes, an amazing aspect of the flick is the sheer brutality of a post-apocalyptic
wasteland being tackled by marauding warriors driving insanely designed
vehicles that collide and explode and flip and bash and bang their way across a
barren desert. And, in this sense, there is plenty of incredible stuff to
witness, hear and experience within this movie that you don’t have to look at
any of the other narratives that are readily available to get the full throttle
enjoyment out of it. But, they are still there, and are worth plunging into for
the questions it raises, if not the answers it gives.
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