No limit to curiosity: review of the film ”Martyrs”
"Martyrs" directed by Pascal Logier belong to that special kind of cinematic product, about which they usually write something like: "At such and such a festival, so many people fainted / vomited / left the hall / all at the same time" ... This assessment immediately becomes a litmus test for fans of "Irreversible", "Fun Games" and "Paradise Lake". This means that the film must be viewed.According to the plot,little girl Lucy (Mylene Jampanoi) escapes from a mysterious but wildly scary place where she was tortured in the literal sense of the word (but without sexual violence), so much so that she cannot even talk about it. Then the girl grows up and finds her tormentors.It would seem that everything is standard: first pain, then revenge. The viewer blissfully stretches out his legs and exhales. It wasn't like that. In "Martyrs" everything is just beginning with revenge ... There is a lot of blood in this film, a lot, of all shades of red, it pours, splashes, drips. On the screen every now and then close-ups of wounds, scars, pieces of skin, bones, meat, some kind of iron implanted into the body, and the like. It is clear that the European viewer, unprepared by watching the USA criminal chronicle, will quickly get sick from such "splendor". However, oddly enough, this human salad does not interfere with the edge of the bulging eye to mark the excellent work of the operator and make-up artist. You can argue as much as you like about the right of such a movie to exist, but this particular product is made with high quality.  Martyrs, just like Funny Games, has elements games with a spectator. In "Games" it is a scene with a remote control. Here are the final words of the main character. The fact is that throughout the entire film, any normal viewer should be occupied with the thought: "Why is this all?" Because if just like that, torment for the sake of torment, then the following logical question arises: "Why did I look at this? .." And now, in the end, they hint to us - "Now you will find out." And then something happens that causes burning annoyance at the director, to which, however, an inner "Bravo!" Is mixed. The viewer feels both gutted and full at the same time. They just played a "funny" game with him, or, to put it simply, "professionally bent down." Later, after a day or two - and the film does not release for a long time - you wonder whether a person can do this in general, from a purely psychological point of view. Can a mentally healthy homo sapiens methodically, for years, torture innocent women, even for such an interesting goal? It seems that not, but if you look back at Auschwitz, the GULAG, thousands of cruel experiments with people, we have to state with sadness - maybe. Everything that is shown in "Martyrs" fits well into our reality.The phenomenon of human curiosity is truly worthy of a separate study in itself. We can only hope that humanity will have enough intelligence, mental strength and technical capabilities to satisfy its craving for knowledge "beyond the bounds" in other, more humane ways. The Topic of Article: No limit to curiosity: review of the film ”Martyrs”. |
