Roger Ebert, after giving a zero star review to Chaos,
received a letter from its producer and director in which they defended
their film, insisting that, "Real evil exists, and cannot be ignored,
sanitized or exploited. It needs to be shown just as it is." Ebert,
however, disagrees. In his mind, the lack of motivation or context
given the killer/torturer/evildoer in Chaos makes the
filmmakers irresponsible and, he suspects, motivated more by the
notoriety of scandal than the creation of a quality film.
Additionally, he is deeply troubled by what he calls "the absence of
any alternative" to the horrors depicted in the film. Granting the
possibility that the world really is as horrible as the filmmakers
suggest, Ebert insists that it is then their responsibility as artists
to offer an alternative; to give audiences a reason to hope.Whether you agree with Ebert or not, it's incredibly refreshing when a mainstream, thumbs up/thumbs down-type critic is allowed to take a moment to seriously consider the power and meaning of cinema. I expect this sort of thing from his fellow Chicagoan Jonathan Rosenbaum, perhaps, but certainly not from Ebert. Has anyone around here seen Chaos? What do you think?
