Generally, I really love the work of the late director Stanley Kubrick. True, 2001 baffles me even after sitting through the whole thing a few times, and I found Eyes Wide Shut rather dull–though in that case, I think I should revisit it since I first saw it about twenty years ago and I wonder whether I would appreciate it more now than I did then–but for the most part, I enjoy Kubrick’s filmography.
Then while flipping through movies included with Amazon Prime, I came across Fear and Desire, Kurbick’s very first feature. Now, everyone has to start somewhere, so I decided to see where Kubrick came from and if the signs of his future success were there in a movie I’d never heard of before.
Clocking in at just over an hour, Fear and Desire is clearly a low budget production. Kurbick is listed as director, editor, and photographer in the opening credits, and most of the cast are virtual unknowns. The biggest exception there is Paul Mazursky, who went on to success as a director himself, and Virginia Leith, whose probably best known to fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as a certain Brain that Wouldn’t Die. The entire cast were, at that point, essentially just New York City stage actors Kubrick cast, and two of them played dual roles. Most of them don’t stand out in any particular way. Leith actually does pretty good, but her character does actually do much and she has no real lines. The best performance probably came from character actor Frank Sivera. The rest range from bland to scene-chewing.
Fear and Desire tells the story of four soldiers trapped six miles behind enemy lines during a war. Which war or even what country these soldiers are fighting for is never said. Only the lone officer in charge, Lt. Corby (Kenneth Harp), has a weapon of any kind as, during the plane crash that stranded the four, only he manages to keep a hold on his side piece. The others lost their rifles. As for the rest, there’s Private Fletcher (Steve Colt), Private Sidney (Mazursky), and Sergeant Mac (Silvera). The only plan the four have is to somehow return to their lines, probably by building a raft and floating down the river without getting caught.
Granted, it doesn’t work out that way. The enemy has a large headquarters nearby, complete with a general (Harp again) that maybe Corby and the others can take out if they’re smart. They do manage to get some weapons by ambushing a cabin with two guys inside sitting down to dinner, but a guilt-ridden Sidney doesn’t take it very well. Later, the foursome capture a girl (Leith) that happens to find them by chance, and they tie her up and leave Sidney behind to watch her. He’s going nuts, thinks he’s romancing her (it’s obviously more of a sexual assault), and finally unties her to get some nookie, but she instead make a run for it and he kills her before disappearing into the forest himself.
In the end, Corby, Fletcher, and Mac come up with a plan to get the enemy’s general: Mac uses a raft the foursome built to act as a decoy while Corby and Fletcher kill the general. Mac ends up getting shot, Corby and Fletcher kill the general and get back to their own lines, and at the end of the movie, Corby and Fletcher wait by the river for the raft, only to find the raft drift by with a crazed Sidney and a dead Mac on board.
So, that’s the plot. Anyone expecting some kind of action movie will be sorely disappointed. Kubrick depicts the action scenes as happening off-camera somewhere. When the soldiers storm the cabin and kill the two enemy combatants eating dinner, we see close-ups of faces, the stew spilling onto the floor, and the occasional knife stabbing downward. We see, at most, the causes and the results of violence, not the actual violence. Part of this is no doubt due to budget, but the movie is going for an anti-war message.
That comes across most in Howard Sackler’s script. The movie opens and closes with a narrator talking about war in a theoretical or philosophical manner, suggesting how irrelevant it is, and the enemy general has a long monologue to another officer in his army (also played by Colt) about how depressing his job is constantly sending soldiers off to die. Even Corby and Fletcher come to that conclusion. The script here isn’t blunt.
So, is there anything here worth recommending? Actually, yes, and it’s all from Kubrick. His prior career as a photographer shows as he manages to frame some very stark and powerful images with his camera. The anti-war plot points may be blatant, but Kubrick finds the way to exploit them. After the soldiers have taken out the enemy in the cabin, they try the stew and discuss how good it is. During that moment, Kubrick shows only the face of one of the dead men they just took the cabin and stew from. Again, it isn’t the slightest bit subtle, and Kubrick will have more success depicting an anti-war story with Full Metal Jacket, but he’s not there yet. I’d say this is a must only for Kubrick die-hards.
Grade: C+
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