The Idiots (Subtitled) (DVD)

...like this: they can hurt the sensibility of the spectator. In this way was understood, for example, in Ireland, where "Les Idiots" was censured because it could "corrupt and demoralize " some people. (¿¿??).

I'm here to talk about a film that is considered a cult movie. Basic conditions in order to acces to so select circle: very filthy films (Pink Flamingos), very rare films (The naked launch), very stupid films ...
...is excessive. Very much. From the beginning until the end. As the majority of adventures that this renowned director undertakes, it starts with a premise which can enervate or agree; it's not in vain that Lars Von Trier wants to change the game rules in each film, to share with you the passion he feels for cine, to dazzle, to boast (maybe) of being the first one to try this or that. ¿Is he honest? Well, if we don't ask our politics for decency, ¿Why ... more

There are some films that treasure in their counter something so subjective and ethereal like this: they can hurt the sensibility of the spectator. In this way was understood, for example, in Ireland, where "Les Idiots" was censured because it could "corrupt and demoralize " some people. (¿¿??).

I'm here to talk about a film that is considered a cult movie. Basic conditions in order to acces to so select circle: very filthy films (Pink Flamingos), very rare films (The naked launch), very stupid films (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), very stingy (Plan 9 from Outer Space), very funny (Bad Taste), very.... very.

And yes, really. Les idiots is excessive. Very much. From the beginning until the end. As the majority of adventures that this renowned director undertakes, it starts with a premise which can enervate or agree; it's not in vain that Lars Von Trier wants to change the game rules in each film, to share with you the passion he feels for cine, to dazzle, to boast (maybe) of being the first one to try this or that. ¿Is he honest? Well, if we don't ask our politics for decency, ¿Why we should do it with the artists?

Paradigm of the Dogma movement, this movie is structured around a few retrospective interviews made by Lars Von Trier to the members of the group. Questions that let us study the genesis of this group: gang of friends without economical problems, bored of enjoying the several oportunities that life has brought to them. And one idea: transgression as a way of reivindication; the reafirmation by the way of stupidity.

The well-being state has as main quality that it free us of thinking about our human condition. And this accomplishment doesn't seem despicable for the major par of our citizens.
Accepting our roll and integrating us completely in this big pantomime, our existence in this world could seem even satisfactory, while we are adapted at the simple behavior rules: turn out the alarm clock, eat, hurry, smile, earn money, buy, buy again, enjoy, have, collect, forget, keep smiling, believe in yourself, sleep...tomorrow... one more time. Easy ¿no?

It's nothing special, but taking into account the life conditions of big part of the humanity, we must be happy. ¿Must we?

The protagonists of "Les idiots" have arrived at a curious conclusion: submerging themself in the stupidity, they can bear better their existence. They enjoy, like amateurs actors in a street performance, of people reactions. They enjoy of seeing how much displaced and out of place those men and women feel when someone beside them is acting according to an unknown patron, ilogically.

Many people thought that was intolerable that Lars Von Trier made fun of something which is a handicap that some people suffer. Well. The director confronts his fiction characters with this disagreeable reality, organizing a meeting with people that suffer a real diminution of their intelectual abilities.
And they feel, for first time, deeply unconfortable. Because, obviously, the thing is not funny.

Then, the smiles which at the beginning were incited by the uncivil actions of these guys, start to freeze and they turn into an expectant grin.
¿Why does a normal personal take delight in the abnormality? ¿Could they have some kind of emotional, spiritual lack.... no less important than the intelectual one?

Stoffer (Jeans Abinus), spiritual guide of the group, proposes harder challenges every time, more radical, less funny. The exploration of the limits culminates with the polemical orgy scene, a heathen dance where the sex becomes painful because of how idle they show to be.
The trivial sexual act doesn't equalize them. It increases the distance between a lot of them, and it's followed by a moment of supreme lonelyness that brings too much important questions. The biggest pleasure has as epilogue a sensation of surfeit.

In this group of idiots, a woman detaches. Karen is overtaked by these seductive sectarians who look for new sensations.
For all of them idiocy is just a way to scape. They never believe at all this roll that defend, because
they don't accept truly to live out of the society, to take the premises so far as the last consequences. For them, it's just a game, a pastime, a way of saying good-bye to a prolongated adolescence.

But not for Karen. Because she has adopted them as her new family, she is the only one who is entitled to entry in the idiocy, unable to go out of the state of shock because of an insuportable experience.

Perhaps, you may think that "Les Idiots" is an unhelthy exercice of sadism, or a not verisimilar sign of a colective stupidity.
Think about it the next time you see someone doing parachuting, the citizens of a village throwing tons of tomatoes, or someone getting a world wide record of something.

Lars doesn't laught of the idiots. He envys them. 

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