SirNewt
09-22-2008, 06:50 AM
The Wages of Fear
a film by: Henri-Georges Clouzot
http://twi-ny.com/leadingmen.jpg
. . .is death? So it would seem according to Henri-Georges Clouzot and his deceptively simple premise for a film. A film outraged and cruel that viciously executes judgment on four simple men. The film's four principals are flayed alive mentally not in a quest for a fortune or dreamy riches but for just enough cash to begin living again. His film pressure cooks men and only lets up once delirium has set in.
The Wages of Fear, as many will know is a reference and partial alteration of a single phrase from the 6th chapter of Romans. Oft quoted and simplified for the ears of unruly children. Perhaps in our day the epigram would be better understood as a plea for those who know to do right, to do right. And so follows Clouzot, not offering a cross and unkind warning against materialism, B. Traven style but pleaing with the minds of men (a message specifically targeted at men) not to let one fear drive them into another.
In Clouzot's film many men flock to the fear of death, chased by the fear of irrelevance. Clouzot, however, only chooses four whom he will slowly execute. He starts killing them the minute they're chosen. He keeps on going until the films final shots of man who has escaped fear and is now living. A man who has been dying for 145 minutes of film and only lived for 2.
Clouzot shows no mercy not because greed cannot be shown to pay, but because putting off the future to secure it is one of the greatest ills of our time. We seem now to have so much time, the joy of living will always be found in tomorrow. Today more than ever we see death as the most obvious wage not of fear but of life.
EDIT: woops, took care of that incomplete thought in the first paragraph there.
a film by: Henri-Georges Clouzot
http://twi-ny.com/leadingmen.jpg
. . .is death? So it would seem according to Henri-Georges Clouzot and his deceptively simple premise for a film. A film outraged and cruel that viciously executes judgment on four simple men. The film's four principals are flayed alive mentally not in a quest for a fortune or dreamy riches but for just enough cash to begin living again. His film pressure cooks men and only lets up once delirium has set in.
The Wages of Fear, as many will know is a reference and partial alteration of a single phrase from the 6th chapter of Romans. Oft quoted and simplified for the ears of unruly children. Perhaps in our day the epigram would be better understood as a plea for those who know to do right, to do right. And so follows Clouzot, not offering a cross and unkind warning against materialism, B. Traven style but pleaing with the minds of men (a message specifically targeted at men) not to let one fear drive them into another.
In Clouzot's film many men flock to the fear of death, chased by the fear of irrelevance. Clouzot, however, only chooses four whom he will slowly execute. He starts killing them the minute they're chosen. He keeps on going until the films final shots of man who has escaped fear and is now living. A man who has been dying for 145 minutes of film and only lived for 2.
Clouzot shows no mercy not because greed cannot be shown to pay, but because putting off the future to secure it is one of the greatest ills of our time. We seem now to have so much time, the joy of living will always be found in tomorrow. Today more than ever we see death as the most obvious wage not of fear but of life.
EDIT: woops, took care of that incomplete thought in the first paragraph there.