The Other Endgame

In my last post I reviewed In Time, hopefully offering some useful analysis and maybe steering some readers to see it in a frame of mind other than simply passively accepting Hollywood drivel. In that film, the endgame was man made, stable, and incredibly unjust. The world was suckered into a system that ensures a hierarchical structure of misery and constant anxiety for the many, and unbelievable privilege for the few. In the film I promised to review three weeks ago, things are quite different. Take Shelter concerns a rather well-known premise of ecological disaster and one man's precognition of it (shades of The Dead Zone), exploring it from the point of view of an average family man and the people around him.



Putting aside the idea of disaster films as vicarious replacements for revolution in the American mind formulated by Slavoj Zizek, Take Shelter explores mental illness and the pleasures of ignorance. Whereas In Time was largely an excuse to explore a dystopian world, the coming disaster in Take Shelter is almost an excuse to study characters and their interactions. If you have even a granule of empathy you will feel an extraordinary connection with Michael Shannon's character Curtis, cringe at the consequences of his abnormal behavior but with complete understanding of the conflict in his mind. The film constantly forces you to challenge your assumptions, what is real and how you would react to the visions plaguing Curtis.

The acting is superb, the dialogue engaging, and easily believable. But mostly, Take Shelter forces you to confront the unsettling fear so many have of what the future holds. How would you feel if something horrible was coming and you could do nothing to stop it? How would you react to and treat a person who started acting like Curtis does? While survivors of Katrina might feel differently than a regular Joe in Ohio or somewhere disasters do not often occur, Take Shelter allows you the experience vicariously.

Anyway, it is somewhat slow and best viewed with subtitles to follow along with the dialogue more easily but I promise the journey is worth it and makes the experience. That said, it is encouraging to see a filmmaker produce a real emotional experience and not succumb to pressures for cheap action or gratuitous anything.