adminDirector: Breck Eisner
Cinema: Rainbow Town
Running time: 102 minutes
Type of film: Action/fantasy
Age restriction: Adults only
Reviewed By Prof Joel White
It is not often that a person of my age changes his mind on a relatively important matter. All of my life I have spoken out in opposition to those who have called for censorship in the making of films.
I have, however, supported “age restrictions” that a Censor Board, at its discretion, may, and should, impose, along with which I have favoured prior publicity, that the public may be aware and advised of what they are about to see in their cinemas.
To my great surprise, upon viewing the film “The Crazies,” now showing for adult audiences only at Rainbow in town, it is my admittedly controversial opinion that this film should not be allowed to be shown to an uninformed public.
Set, and actually made, in the small city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a mid-western and bucolic centre of farming in America, we are confronted by a citizenry who have been declared expendable by their government in Washington.
We are informed that the American government has a containment protocol, by which, under certain circumstances, a city or a section of the country is declared to be a hostile threat to the rest of the population, the military is sent in to annihilate its residents, totally.
So realistic is the portrayal in this film that several members of the audience responded to my queries by averring their full belief.
We, the audience, participate in all the blood and gore a government determined to eradicate the entire population of the city as we follow upon the heels of the sheriff, David, and his pregnant wife a medical doctor, Judy who are at the film’s end the only survivors.
The ostensible reason for the government’s intervention in the town’s affairs: the town has been attacked by a virus which deprives its citizens of their mental capacity; a virus, which, it is feared, will spread rapidly throughout the nation at large.
Oddly, it is precisely because the film is so well made – presenting its iniquitous scenario that I fear its impact on an uniformed public.
Online Reporter