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| Ravenous |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 98 m |
| Public Rating: 8.82 (11 votes) |
Director: Antonia Bird |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/Horror |
Year: 1999 |
| Writer(s): Ted Griffin |
| Reviewed by: Arturo García Lasca |
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Lately I've discovered I'm not the only one having a hard time explaining why exactly I liked this movie so much, and I've actually tried to write this review before but couldn't even type a word. Today I decided I have to do it, I'll try to be as honest as possible and I hope it's all clear to you.
During a war -I believe it was the Amercan-Mexican one- Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce) is thought to be dead and is piled up with several other dead soldiers; but Boyd, alive and pretty damn scared, manages to surprise one of the enemies and ends up a war hero. His superior is aware of his cowardness so he decides to send him to a lonely place far from there, a place called Fort Spencer-- which is actually a little cabain. The Fort is commanded by Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones), and the rest of the habitants are: the very religious Private Toffler (Jeremy Davies); the cook, Private Cleaves (David Arquette); the very brave and fearless Private Reich (Neal McDonough), and some Indians.
One day a desperate man walks into the Fort, he seems tired and hungry and claims to have been walking for a long while. His story goes like this: He was with a group of people but they got stuck somewhere, probably because of a storm. They couldn't go anywhere and they had no food, so they started eating the oxen; once there was also no animals to eat, one person died and they ate them. He didn't know what else to do so he started walking, and there he was. Colonel Hart decides they should go to that place and check out the remains, so they all start a trip, guided by that man, Colquhoun (Robert Carlyle). Once they reach their destination they find what they see very surprising, it seems that Colquhoun's story wasn't exactly true. I can't go any further with the story or I could end up spoiling it for you, but don't worry, it ain't over yet.
It's very interesting to hear the myth that the Indians once mentioned in the film: When a man eats another man's flesh, he takes his strenght and he wishes to keep eating human flesh. That's the main theme in this film, cannibalism. But it's different than what you might expect, director Antonia Bird -who said was a vegetarian, how ironic- managed to turn this cannibalism story into a very, very dark comedy. Of course the comedy doesn't come from stupid jokes or funny faces, just some lines and situations that seem so incredibly absurd that you just have to laugh at them.
Another source of comedy was the soundtrack, the music played trough most of the film seemed so simple and happy, even in desperate and gory situations, it's just plain funny. But the film isn't about making you laugh at all, the story isn't dumb at all and most of the characters are unique and great to watch. I think the director focused more on the atmosphere than in the story, and I personally liked the way most of the scenes were dark, and I was actually feeling the same desperation Boyd must have been experiencing when nobody believed him.
Most of the movie is some sort of battle between two men, two men who are willing to do everything to beat the other and they both seem unbeatable. of course one of them has an advantage, he eats human flesh ans therefore is stronger, so will the other one eat people too, to be able to match his opponent? Don't get me wrong, it's not really a physical fight between them, it's actually quite smart the way both men handle the situation, and the way they both finish is so clever you have to see it to believe it. Clever, that's a short and good description of this film.
From most comments I believe it was a minority of people who enjoyed this film, it is the kind of movie that only a certain group of people will like, people who are going to love it; the rest is probably gonna hate it.
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