Carnage – Polanski’s Film

At The Tivoli Theater in St. Louis
for one more week…

My review:
“Civilization is what makes you sick.” – Paul Gauguin
Some people profess to teach the humanities, others purport to have become specialists in civility, teaching and publishing on the topic, and one could complain about that… but the monstrous behavior that hides behind our so-called “civilization” is something Polanski barely survived, first as a Jewish child in WWII and later around the massacre of his wife Sharon Tate.
The wisdom in outliving these events reaches beyond the scale contained in most books, and this film, like many of Polanski’s other films, provides a chance to taste some of it.
Here, a small incident discussed within the confines of a Brooklyn apartment ignites an implosion of hypocrisy to reveal what lurks behind middle-class decorum. One is reminded of Elihu Root’s characterization of civilization as a “superficial modification of barbarism.”
Like bomb defusing,  the gradual unraveling of Yasmina Reza‘s celebrated witty play, “God of Carnage,” is handled with great skill and restraint. With Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet.
“You can’t say civilization don’t advance… in every war they kill you in a new way.” – Will Rogers –> A

The film’s website.

http://youtu.be/54qkugyCdas