Joon-ho Bong’s Snowpiercer is a nightmare inducing, violent collection of left wing fears enhanced and packaged into a madcap post-apocalyptic movie unlike any other of its kind.
Fear is a great motivator for creativity. It is a driving force for horror filmmakers, who have projected their fears onto the screen, in turn provoking fear in their audience. Fear is also a big factor in science fiction, whether it be fear of an invading species or perhaps more prominent, the fear of our own species.
Fear is especially prominent within those on the progressive, left leaning path, whether it is doomsday projections surrounding global warming, the horror towards conservative leaders and their ideologies, or the repulsion of the 1% that were once occupied against.
It is that fear from the left which South Korean director Joon-ho Bong taps into and runs rampant with in Snowpiercer, a film of throbbing political and social paranoia, and also of stunning vision by a sensational filmmaker who has managed to keep his identity and credibility in his English language debut.
Although based on the French graphic novel “Le Transperceniege”, Joon-ho Bong stamps his authority all over Snowpiercer, diving into the packed world of post-apocalyptic movies and creating something provocative, engrossing, scary and outrageous in theme and visuals.
Snowpiercer is set in a future (as these films usually are) where an attempt to reverse global warming results in a worldwide ice age. Humanity’s lone survivors live aboard the “Snowpiercer”, a train that speeds around the globe and whose occupants are separated by class with the rich riding in luxury at the front, and the poor living in squalor at the back.
Yet as history has shown time and again, an oppressed people will always revolt and so they do here, with vengeful, guilt ridden Curtis (Chris Evans) leading his filth ridden, shoe throwing comrades – among them notorious prisoner Namgoong Ninsu (Song Kang-ho), wronged mother Tanya (Octavia Spencer) and grizzled mentor Gilliam (John Hurt) – to the front of the “Snowpiercer” with intent to overthrow the monsters that lead its brutal regime.
Chief among them is Mason, a frightening creation incredibly played by Tilda Swinton as a demonic interpretation of the late Margaret Thatcher, (or what many opponents of the former British PM believe Margaret Thatcher to be), complete with shrieking timbre and an overbite revealing disjointed choppers.
Joon-ho Bong has delivered a visually spectacular movie, filled with especially frightening imagery of unabashed violence dispensed by creatures whose wealth and privilege automatically make them that much less human.
Yet there is also a madcap element to Snowpiercer as well, with moments evoking the batshit crazy visuals of Terry Gilliam, especially during a surreal sequence where an ethically messed up school lesson turns into a gunfight.
Provocation is the aim for Joon-ho Bong’s skewered left-wing viewpoint of a right-wing dystopia, and he achieves just that, adding a fresh, paranoid tinged nightmare evoking entry to the over played post-apocalyptic sub-genre, yet one that doesn’t need to embrace the politics to enjoy a ride on the Snowpiercer. |