You would think that an era like this, stories of class struggle would be common. But not so. If you went to almost every movie that showed in the local cineplex this year, it would be easy to assume that we are a nation of middle class people who are all gainfully employed, and pursuing our careers. A few of them can bringt themselves to mention a “bad economy” or something like that, but there is no intelligent discussion of what's happening.
Indeed, the movies about comic books, aliens, and apocalypse all manage to avoid talking about anything vaguely having to do with our lives.
Apparently in order to make a movie about class struggle, one must go to South Korea. So a number of people did just that.
It's an excellent movie, but it is also quite violent. It depictts the most disadvantage people trapped in the last livable place on Earth, figthing to get more food and livable conditions. The battle is every bit as savage as one would expect. So if the idea of seeing that bothers you, you may wish to pass on the movie.
That having been said, it's a very well made movie. I'm a fan of the director Bong Joon-Ho, who directed the excellent Memories of Murder, as well as the Host.
The strong cast helps make the movie a great one, and it is surprising that a foreign company was able to get these actors. Ed Harris himself said before this movie was made that he would gladly work in anything that Bong Joon-Ho chose to make. Tilda Swinton joined because she liked the subject matter, and the director both.
The interesting thing about Bong Joon Ho's career to date is that everything he has worked on has been hampered by money and production issues, and those complications limited how people could originally see his movies. In each case, the movie has been saved from anonymity by great word of mouth and very favorable critical reviews.
In the case of Snowpiercer, the Weinstein Company bought the American rights to release Snowpiercer in the United States. He wanted twenty minutes to be cut and other things to be added. The feeling was generally that Harvey Weinstein wanted to turn Snowpiercer into a conventional action film with no mention of class struggle. Though most of the cast spoke English in the movie, he still wanted to replace certain dialogue with voiceovers. The director refused, and the Weinstein company retaliated by finally opening Snowpiercer in only eight theaters.
Releases like that have ruined films before, but fans began a petition drive called the “Free Snowpiercer” campaign. More then a month after the initial release the movie played in over 150 theaters.
People say that in a capitalist society you can release any sort of movie you want, but when you look at the internal working of the movie business, you understand how untrue that is. There are plenty of people who would like to release movies with some sort of theme, or message. And yet, they never seem to make it to the theater. Its commercial interests that almost always prevent it.
Harvey Weinstein, the man who first bought release rights for the movie and then tried to negotiate changes in the film after the fact, is known for supporting both Clinton and Obama, and supporting liberal causes. Its unfortunate that in his public life he supports such things, but in his business life he works to produce a steady stream of movies that have absolutely nothing to say whatsoever.