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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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 MOVIE REVIEW 
20

Brutal Antichrist a Torture-Porn Nightmare

It's von Trier's masterpiece, or misogynistic tripe

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(Newser) – Some critics call it a cinematic masterpiece, others say it's little more than a snuff film. But everyone agrees: Antichrist, the latest from Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, is unforgettable.

  • The film's scenes of brutal sex and violence are "undeniably shocking,"  writes Andrew O'Hehir of Salon, but Antichrist is loaded with "amazing ideas and images," plus two great performances from Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It's further proof that "von Trier is one of the most accomplished cinema artists of our time."

  • Claudia Puig of USA Today is far less impressed: "Antichrist is probably the most disturbing, bleak and self-indulgent film ever made." Its "ultra-explicit" depictions of self-mutilation and torture make it "a particularly misogynistic torture-porn film"—not a psychological horror movie but "an incoherent hodgepodge."
  • Ty Burr splits the difference in the Boston Globe: "Can profound art be made from profound misogyny? Yes, but here’s the catch: It doesn’t make the artist’s terror of women any less pathetic."

Danish film director Lars von Trier arrives for a film screening at the Cannes film festival in 2005.
Danish film director Lars von Trier arrives for a film screening at the Cannes film festival in 2005.   (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)
Charlotte Gainsbourg in a scene from Antichrist.
Charlotte Gainsbourg in a scene from Antichrist.   (AP Photo/IFC Films)
Willem Dafoe in a scene from Antichrist, directed by Lars von Trier.
Willem Dafoe in a scene from Antichrist, directed by Lars von Trier.   (AP Photo/IFC Films)
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The trailer for Antichrist, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg.   (MovieTrailersHD1)

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20 comments
VIEWING:
 
Aelius28
Oct 23, 09 8:28 AM CDT
Christian snuff-porn, as I like to call it. Reply
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+2
IN RESPONSE:
Netstorm2k9
Oct 23, 09 12:28 PM CDT
Umm, Christians consider this stuff poison, just like the Saw movies, etc. When you desensitize yourself to violence, you lose the part of yourself that's supposed to stand up and stop such things, and become instead one of those who sees horror in real life and just shrugs.
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0
IN RESPONSE:
Aelius28
Oct 23, 09 12:57 PM CDT
That's a baseless assertion. I can say Sesame Street makes young kids go insane and want to kill coloured people but I have nothing to back it up. The fact of the matter is that after puberty children are capable of understanding the difference between fantasy and reality as well as adults and there's no demonstrable negative effect from violent entertainment. It's called the frontal lobe, and it's a wonderful part of the brain, if not still a bit too small.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
kokuaguy
Oct 23, 09 7:19 PM CDT
That was Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ."
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+2
bewilderbeast
Oct 23, 09 8:33 AM CDT
Clicked on the link just to say: I'll give this one a miss, thanks. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+1

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