Monday, November 18, 2013

Death and The Maiden - Jamie Hughes

                 Out of all the movies we have watched thus far, I would have to say this one is my favorite. I enjoyed the satire and unpredictability of the plot. I felt the actors did a good job of keeping their character and sold the film to me. I also believe I enjoyed this film the most because it was the closest representation to Western film that we have seen in class. The film was produced with a large budget and followed many standard film protocols and angles, unlike many of the low budget documentaries we have watched. Not to say one is better than the other, but they do produce two separate types of feelings when being watched.

                The main difference I noticed between the play write and the film was the ending. I was a bit disappointed when the film decided it was necessary to prove Miranda guilty on screen to wrap up everything up. Unfortunately many movies do this in our culture because if the ending is left hanging, they are deemed as bad by people stating “What a horrible ending!” and “I can’t believe they just left us hanging like that!” The majority of people who watch films like to go through the whole story, including the ending, and when the end is not clear there is a feeling of anger or resentment towards the film. I feel that Polanski tried to avoid this negativity by adding in an ending, but this did take away from the impact of the story. By having the ending open ended like in the play, it creates a sense of pins and needles, trying to figure out what happened and who was actual crazy and who was right? Leaving the viewer with so many questions and not sure what to do next, to me, is a sign of a great work of art, distilling passion and curiosity in its viewers. 

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