Harry E (brownrecluse62)

This is a movie that builds slowly but surely, the intensity hidden below the surface finally erupting in a climax that has to rank as one of the most horrifying sequences in film history. Unpleasant, difficult, scathing, and ultimately shattering. On a side note, I heard René Clair get mentioned in a line of background dialogue. Pretty cool.

Despite its setting and the year it was made, this movie is shockingly appropriate for our current media-obsessed generation. People slave and humiliate themselves to horrifying lengths, and it's all for the sake of the show that's being put on. The viewers - us - gobble it down; we'll watch anyone suffer in order to feel good about ourselves. How is the harrowing and cruelly exploitive dance marathon in this film any different from the degradation found in today's reality TV?