THE STORY – Philosopher Slavoj Žižek is our guide through landscapes of classic film, music, social media, archive, and webcasts. Making unexpected twists and turns, he maps the utopian illusions of our times. Through absurd juxtapositions and startling insights, we are seduced into recognizing our fate, in order to change it.
THE CAST – Slavoj Žižek
THE TEAM – Sophie Fiennes (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 133 Minutes
Do movies tell us the truth about human beings? It has long been the contention of writer and intellectual Slavoj Žižek that off-color jokes, popular culture, and movies in particular tell us more about society and the ways people think and dream more than earnest academic works. “If aliens were to visit our earth and by chance ask me, ‘Could you explain to us what humanity is about?,” says Žižek, “I would not tell them, ‘Go around and look,’ I would tell them, ‘Look at these and these and these movies, and you will understand us.’” In Sophie Fiennes third film with the Slovenian philosopher – closing a trilogy begun with “The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema” and “The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology” – we follow Žižek as he walks through the imagined landscapes of films, brilliantly realized by production designer Miha Knific to match the originals of “Apocalypse Now,” “V for Vendetta,” and “Blade Runner 2049,” among others.
From these examples, Žižek extrapolates a series of readings and interpretations which often dig into the contradictions of the societies they present and our dreams of the future and possible freedom. There will be spoilers ahead, as the films he chooses are often about endings and new beginnings, so if you don’t like spoilers, he says: “You are free to leave. No one will miss you.” For instance, the ending of “V for Vendetta” might have felt celebratory and anarchic at the time of its release in 2005. A few years later, with the economic crisis, the Occupy Wall Street movement adopted the Guy Fawkes mask from the film as a symbol of resistance. But now, the scenes of a mass storming of the British Parliament resembles the riotous disorder of January 6, which was carried out partly at the behest of the President of the United States. What do you do when the anarchist is actually the Commander in Chief? The “ethical evil” of Colonel Kurtz in “Apocalypse Now” is described as having increasing resonance as the Congo – the original setting for Josphe Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” – is a war zone where child soldiers are recruited to fight over the mineral resources that make our phones.
The film is bookended by Žižek in Norway as military exercises take place and Russia rattles the saber.. Of course, Gaza and the ongoing genocide is also a bleeding wound on the conscience of all and it is a genocide that, for the first time, has been streamed live on social media, largely bypassing the mainstream newspapers and television channels, who have stayed firmly out of it. The overt actions of the Israeli state require very little uncovering. The representation of what is going on is targeted not at the authorities, but instead at everyone who knows what is going on but would like to claim they don’t.
If there is a criticism, it is that the theme of utopia seems ad hoc. The word could just as easily have been replaced by “Resistance” or “Society” without losing any coherence. But times are fragmented and scattered, confounding and traumatic. To gather them together and provide a commentary as fascinating as Žižek’s is a genuine service, and Sophie Fiennes once more proves she is brilliant at making complicated ideas visually entertaining and wittily presented.
