Desiring Machine

I just recently rewatched Dr. Strangelove. It had been over a decade since I had seen it last. Re-watching it I am truly struck by how impeccable this movie really is. It is some of the most cutting, and profound commentary ever made in cinema. Especially for mainstream movies. What it offers as a statement is so well crafted and unassailable. Partly this stems from the delivery. There is no point in the film that is really heavy handed. One could argue that Kubrick’s mastery in this film comes in his ability to deliver a film about the quite plausible end of the world and make you laugh unapologetically. The darkness of the comedy is ultimately revealed by the solemnity of the characters and the remarkable contrast of the absurdity of the situation they find themselves in. For an expression of craft I would point to what I consider one of the most sublime moments in cinema musical scoring. The introduction of “Johnny Come Marching Home” as Major Kong (Slim Pickens) and his bomber crew realize and accept that they have just received nuclear go codes and ultimately a mission directing them to theirs and everyone’s doom.

The mood of this song is a truly inspired choice on Kubrick’s part. It provides compelling backdrop for a deeply cynical view of the world order. The blind acceptance of the circumstance and the cog like movement of plans placed in motion. The performance Slim Pickens delivers in this movie is thoroughly convincing in his patriotic commitment to his part in the theory of mutually assured destruction. The solemnity of the score delivers a spine tingling cinematic moment that is certainly one of my favorites.

At various moments the solemnity of the movie erupts into deeply cynical comedic commentary. The film is perfect pitched in its delivery. One such moment being perhaps the single most humorous line of any movie, ever, period, end of story.

Gentleman you can’t fight in here this is the war room!

At the heart of the movie is a message of madness and its uncanny ability to dissolve everything we accept as reasonable, rational, purposeful and good. The madness has a debilitating effect on everything. Numerous characters in the film are consumed by this madness and offer no prospect of redemption or salvation from their predicament. The logical outcome of this madness is extreme in its implications. Nonetheless the presentation of this madness provides the comedic core of the movie. In a scene that might well provide instruction for deconstructing contemporary conspiratorial logic and feverish delusion we are presented with the truly deranged. General Jack Ripper and his paranoia of a grand communist plot to sap his “precious bodily fluids”.

I am not sure how much more cutting comedy can be. Dr. Strangelove is certainly a testament to a previous time with different political and social concerns. Although I am convinced no contemporary film would ever be able to deliver anywhere near the sophistication or as sharp a view on present day concerns. There is high art, commentary at its most dedicated and moving insight. Something I fear that many mainstream movies are far too apologetic to ever achieve on the level that Dr. Strangelove attains.