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Unfortunately, it is brutal. The system is fascism in a banal mode, with visual allusions to Metropolis and Modern Times, giving the menacing technology a quaint, anachronistic feel. It could just as well be degenerate communism, with the nomenklatura abandoning all egalitarian pretense, and the scheme of 1984 firmly in place: Inner Party, Outer Party, and proles. The only hope of smashing the system is through a heroism that negates the dull conformity. The implication is that the De Niro character may be a harbinger of the future, of ordinary men so exasperated with shoddiness and bureaucratic harassment that they will take exorbitant risks for the chance to perform honest work. Although his intervention at the end is a fantasy, he is not. However, I will not deny that the final scene is one of fantasy as escape from brutality. This is two-edged, though. First, there is nothing wrong with coping through refreshing escapism, it is only when one becomes totally disoriented that there is a danger. "Life is Beautiful" demonstrated even moreso the value of fantasy in certain contexts: the insulation of the boy from the truth was a precondition of keeping him alive. Second, fantasy dramatizes one's dissatisfactions and longings, and therefore can provide a clue for action, by showing scenarios of fulfillment.... |
