First published in gua.com.my
31 Jan 2008
Title:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber on Fleet Street
Rating:
8/10
Cast:
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell and Jayne Wisener
Genre:
Musical, Thriller, Crime
Review:
Don’t let the trailers fool you. There’s nothing sweet or chirpy about “Sweeney Todd”. Those expecting a light-hearted comedy with gothic embellishments should watch “Corpse Bride” or “Edward Scissorhands” instead.
“Sweeney Todd” is as macabre as it gets, even by Tim Burton’s standards. This is not your typical Burton film where beneath all the eerie aesthetics is a sweet little girl with a feel-good message.
No, you won’t walk out of the cinema feeling good at all. But yet, despite the gore and violence, you just can’t turn your eyes away. You may squirm at the sight of blood oozing, spurting and spraying out from people’s necks – but you just … can’t … take … your … eyes … off … the screen.
The film may be bloody, but the graphics pale in comparison to the disturbing message of the film. The insights that we are offered into the mind of the deranged, vengeful spirit that is Sweeney Todd (Depp) are deeply unsettling – even by today’s desensitised standards.
When he sings about “people who are filled with shit!” – you know he means it. The ease with which he kills people is troubling. Only vengeance and hatred seems to fill this maniac’s black vision – whose pain and pathos can only be quenched by the shedding of blood of the ‘guilty’.
Because in his mind, no one is truly innocent. His only friends are his silver razor blades which higher purpose is to ‘drip rubies’ and kill the judge (Rickman) who ruined his once tranquil life.
“Swing your razor wide! Sweeney, hold it to the skies. Freely flows the blood of those who moralise.”
Even his closest acquaintance, Mrs. Lovett (Carter) has her own agenda in buttressing Todd’s needs. Todd’s victims are dumped into her basement where she grinds and bakes their bodies into delicious meat pies. They are then served to unsuspecting customers who patron her shop.
Providing comic relief, albeit briefly – is counterfeit barber Pirelli (Cohen aka Borat aka Ali G) who attempts to blackmail Todd when he recognises him. Needless to say, he is taken care of in a very bloody and unforgettable manner – thus instigating Todd’s killing spree.
Todd’s crimes may be abominable – but Depp successfully puts a human face to Todd’s reign of terror. As troubling as it sounds, it’s almost like empathising with Hilter or a mass murderer.
The ending is tragic – but we do not feel satisfied. Nor angry. The outcome is strangely distressing. In a world where students massacre their friends in school, and the horror stories at Auschwitz are being disputed – we wonder if there are any goodness left in the world.
If you are depressed, don’t watch this. The only place that is deeper than the dumps is hell. One does wonder whether the person who wrote this is a misanthropist in the first place?
Did you know?
“Sweeney Todd” first appeared in various 19th century English language works as a barber and an early example of a serial killer.
The film is adapted from the Tony award-winning play of the same name by Stephen Sondheim (music) and Hugh Wheeler (play) that opened in Broadway in 1979.
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