Natural Born Killers (1994) 2008-07-24
© Trimark/Regency
The film “Natural Born Killers” returned to my consciousness a few days ago when I stumbled upon a news item reporting how a Milwaukee man strangled his girlfriend to death not long after watching the said movie. Of course, this wasn’t the first time that a movie, especially this movie, is being associated with, or having directly or indirectly contributed to, the commission of a murder. (Which is not surprising considering its impact on popular culture for the past decade.) There’s just one little detail why I cannot fully “relate” to the said news report: I haven’t seen “Natural Born Killers.” (Booo!)
But for a reason! I don’t remember the movie gracing Metro Manila cinemas in 1994 or even a year or so later. (Most probably didn’t get the approval of the prude MTRCB.) Several years later, whenever I’ll accidentally catch the movie on cable, I almost always switch to another channel out of the annoyance I feel whenever I believe a particular sequence was riddled with cuts. However, that superficial feeling of being left out for not knowing what the film was all about was wiped out last night. I just remembered that my wife bought me a DVD of the film several weeks ago, and it’s just collecting dust on our shelves. Thrilled to see that she got me the “Director’s Cut” edition, I took it out and put it for a spin.
Indeed, it was an outrageous, psychedelic, and disturbing satire. Violent? Yes! (However, I think the level of violence in this film is probably tame compared to those produced nowadays.) I get you, Oliver Stone. The movie is well-made and exceptional. Woody Harrelson and the adorable Juliette Lewis excelled as the much-glorified fictional mass murderers Mickey and Mallory Knox. A great performance was also turned in by Robert Downey Jr. His Wayne Gale character, a classic portrayal of a yellow journalism practitioner, is so on-the-spot in today’s news and current affairs culture where pervasive sensationalism and the quest for top ratings trump responsibility, accountability, public safety, and just about everything else. I think I’ll add “Natural Born Killers” to my personal favorites.
The Wife gave me a worried look and said: “You’re not going to kill me, are you?” I almost fell off my chair laughing.
