William
Klein’s Mr. Freedom is a perfect
example of why there needs to be something more substantial driving a work of
art than strident ideology. There is
zero ambiguity about the fact that Klein despises virtually every stereotype –
whether valid or exaggerated – about the United States of America, and that’s
all he’s got. There are no challenging
ideas, no proposals for a solution, no probing of root causes, and, worst of
all, no compelling filmmaking techniques that could make everything
endurable. But that’s not all the film
offers; it is also a sublime specimen of what happens when people with no
inherent sense of humor decide to fabricate comedy. Lots of wacky things happen and gag lines are
said, all about as ham-fistedly as one could imagine, but there’s nothing
remotely clever, resonant or endearing about any of it. Mr.
Freedom is the haggard, jaded salesman who tells you the same joke he tells
everyone, not because he has any feel for comedy but because someone told him
to “always start with a joke.” John
Abbey plays the title character as a thoughtless beefcake jock whose smallish
brain is easily plied with right-wing tenets; the strongest being a
hysterical-to-the-point-of-murderous anti-communism. Mr. Freedom seems to be some kind of secret
agent and/or superhero, (it’s not quite clear), and he is sent by his American
masters to save France from the creeping onslaught of godless communism. Eventually deciding that there is no hope, he
decides that France can only be saved from its own decay by being completely
eradicated. The movie has its admirers,
but I found it brutally dull and unfunny, with nothing intelligent or even
biting in its satire at all. Its only
pleasure is a brief appearance by Donald Pleasence as the hero’s superior, ‘Dr.
Freedom,’ who reminds him of his duties and sends him on his mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment