So this is a movie review in a way, but to me, it’s about a lot more.
Last night hubby and I watched “Don’t look up.” We had different reactions. His was that it was indeed a satire and was somewhat funny. Mine was that it wasn’t funny at all, because it was too real in the worst ways to be funny. Or even to be satire. Kind of like trying to satirize the worst of evils—it generally doesn’t go well.
For those of you who have not seen this movie, you really should, although I’m not offering you an easy watch with my rec. If you haven’t seen it, or don’t know about it yet, it is the story of a couple of scientists who know a meteor is going to destroy the earth, and try like hell to get attention for their knowledge.
And without any spoilers, that’s the premise. The common analysis amongst critics is the meteor is a metaphor for climate change, but to me it was a metaphor for so much more. Like the Co-Vid. Like the loud and proud racist swing of the GOP. Like the fight we find ourselves in against things, silly us, we thought we had already won long ago. Like Democracy.
For me, It’s hard to say you really liked a movie like this. But one can say it was a GOOD movie in the way it got a lot right, and I say it did. Although not as a satire, where I think it is least successful---trying to make silly of such serious things. Things that can only be silly if we feel distant enough from them to not feel scared to death by them.
For example, let’s look at Meryl Streep as the president in this movie. You’ll have to watch it to see if you agree, but I’d say she is not one bit more crazy than what we lived under with Trump and his cabal for four years, and continue to live under his/their shadow. NOT. ONE. BIT.
In fact IMO, this supposed satire of a bad president was better than what we had, even when they were trying to make her a crazy caricature. At least she could look presidential and speak in something less than a word salad, when she needed to.
See, thing is, it’s really hard to satirize where we are right now, because it’s all so crazy. But I think this movie succeeded where maybe it did not intend to. For me, it succeeded in showing us as we really are---NOT an exaggeration of it.
While this movie doesn’t work as a satire for me, it DOES work as a really ugly look at who we are these days. And maybe it had to sell itself as a spoof to get out there at all.
But I just can’t see it as a spoof. Yeah, sure, I see this movie’s occasional attempts at humor and overkill, but hey, I’d say you could find real life examples right now that put these attempts at satire to shame. Hard to be a satirist in insane times.
On the other hand, there are some scenes in this movie that are so painfully true and poignant, I can’t explain it if you haven’t seen it. But for instance, there are these beautiful shots of life as we love it, edited in here and there. These shots don’t explain themselves, they speak for themselves. And there’s nothing that’s satirical about it, just a message of what we have to lose. Hard to be both a satire, and a desperate plea for the things of beauty. These are the things that resonated with me in this movie.
That, and a line DiCaprio’s character had towards the end. “Y’know, we really had it all.”
Watch it, and see if you think it’s a spoof, a satire. Or if like me, you see it as a horror movie. Because to me, this movie was all about looking ourselves straight in the mirror as we exist right now.
Nothing funny or satirical or exaggerated about it, for the most part Just what it is.