A Mutiny of Preverts

The Movie: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, directed by Stanley Kubrick
Recommendation: AFI top 100.
Reason: I'm not trying to tackle the AFI top 100, but it's easiest to list it as the recommendation. Strangelove is such a staple of pop culture that it essentially recommends itself.

I remember where I was when Gorbachev was overthrown and the countdown to the end of the Cold War really began. I was eleven, and I was at Girl Guide camp, being driven back to the campsite by one of the leaders. I heard about it on the radio. I guess I wanted to start by saying that so I could place myself at the end of the era of Strangelove. I didn't feel the fear others felt about the Russians or the Commies-I had a major problem with Nazis, but that was due to a lot of Indiana Jones as a kid. Nevertheless, I learned more as time passed by, and so I found myself appreciating Strangelove quite a bit.

I can't really analyze the movie. It would take too long. I understand the message, I see the subtle touches Kubrick placed on it. I got a lot of the jokes, blatant and not, and if there is a funnier man than Peter Sellers, he has yet to present himself. RIP, good sir, you were a credit to your profession. I don't know that I can really internalize this movie on just one watch-through. It was good, I can say that. I can even admit that it was great, in a pitch-black comedy sort of way. It was definitely absurd.

I think my appreciation of Kubrick has soared by viewing this piece, and I'm now tempted to track down an unedited version of Eyes Wide Shut (the first of his films that I saw, and I found it more incomprehensible than Mulholland Drive). Strangelove was hilarious, it was frightening, and I don't think I could possibly do it justice with any more words than I've already used. See it, think about it, and I hope you enjoy it.

-16/365 down, 349/365 to go