Slaughterhouse Five (DVD)

...movies is George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, based on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s popular novel and written by Stephen Gellar with respect to the novel, but without the repetitious saying 'And so it goes.' The 1972 movie shows the bleakness behind those words instead.

I'm sorry to say that I once picked up the novel because I had so enjoyed Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle and Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons, but I didn't ...
...on Tralfamadore!

Slaughterhouse Five might not seem like an intelligent movie at first glance, but it definitely is. I might compare it to 1970's Catch-22, which captured the comic, similarly confusing, struggles of a fighter pilot to save his life and get out of the war, also based on a novel I haven't read and should (Joseph Heller, author). Billy too is trying to live his life on his own terms, through fantasy, though, to escape ... more

Lately I've watched a lot of movies about people being in a war and how it has affected them while in combat as well as afterwards as they lived with their traumatic experiences. Many movies approach it seriously with the intention of shocking or horrifying us, but some more rare movies will both shock and amuse us with their attempts to convey how war affects a person who has been involved in it. One of these satirical movies is George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, based on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s popular novel and written by Stephen Gellar with respect to the novel, but without the repetitious saying 'And so it goes.' The 1972 movie shows the bleakness behind those words instead.

I'm sorry to say that I once picked up the novel because I had so enjoyed Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle and Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons, but I didn't care to read about war then and put it back down unread. I will correct that mistake soon. The clever movie, which is a riot of black comedy, science fiction, war scenes, post-war life with a dysfunctional family and flashbacks to childhood, couldn't be a better plug.

How can this be and make sense, you wonder. The answer is wildly simple. Our hero, Billy Pilgrim played straight-faced by Michael Sacks, has admitted to becoming 'unstuck in time' and he will suddenly time-trip to another memory or his fantasy of living on another planet (Tralfamadore) with only a sexy Hollywood starlet for company, played deliciously and cheerfully by Valerie Perrine. This fantasy helps him to deal with the pain of his memories, such as the horrific bombing of Dresden and the murder of his friend when the man was discovered to have stolen a figurine found in the wreckage.

As Pilgrim has learned from his fantasy, life has no beginning, middle or end. It happens in a random fashion, our stories weaving together as they will until we die and without our control. Time is not consequential, but inconsequential.

Not only World War II. has unhinged Billy's mind, but also his creepy, abusive parents and electro-shock treatments. Then there's the psychotic Paul Lazzaro (with two z's) who fought with him and wants to kill him for a friend's death, though it wasn't Billy's fault, and his childish, desperate wife whose mantra is that she'll lose weight so he'll love her more. She's actually a scream when she gets behind her Cadillac and terrorizes the highways. It's little wonder that Billy needs his erotic fantasy life on Tralfamadore!

Slaughterhouse Five might not seem like an intelligent movie at first glance, but it definitely is. I might compare it to 1970's Catch-22, which captured the comic, similarly confusing, struggles of a fighter pilot to save his life and get out of the war, also based on a novel I haven't read and should (Joseph Heller, author). Billy too is trying to live his life on his own terms, through fantasy, though, to escape who he is, his reality.

I enjoyed all of the characters that revolved around Billy throughout his life, although with so many of them you don't really get to know them well. Like with Lazzaro, I wondered why he picked gentle Billy (assistant chaplain) to hate and vow to kill. I guess it's not supposed to make sense, but still if you prefer more character development, you won't really find it except with Billy's character. The movie unfolds in its unpredictable way from Billy's 'unstuck' perspective in his middle age, which Vonnegut was easily able to understand because he really was in Dresden when it was bombed. This gave Billy an endearing quality that drew me into the movie and made me care about him.

It seems that the movie and book helped a generation through a time of senseless war, the Vietnam War, and maybe it could do the same today for this generation of Americans. No matter where you live, though, Slaughterhouse Five may speak to you with its dark humor for how you have suffered and still are.

R-rated for violence and nudity, the movie is about two hours and looks wonderful on DVD with only the barest of special features (a trailer, scene selection and subtitles).

 

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