Nobody ever said that Stanley Kubrick was an optimist.
With "Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," Kubrick's glass is not merely half empty: It's been blown off the face of the Earth.
Often criticized for offering too cynical a view of humanity, Kubrick doesn't let up on the gas - instead he tears aggressively into the hypocrisy of both government and the gears that make it run.
And, always one for lighthearted fun, Kubrick chooses nuclear annihilation as his subject.
General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders a nuclear strike against Mother Russia. The ever-vigilant soldiers of the American Air Force are quick to respond, sending numerous B-52s to bomb their targets inside Russia. There's only one problem: All is quiet on the Eastern Front. The Russians aren't coming. Afraid that the Commies are invading to steal America's vital bodily fluids, Ripper has gone over the president's head to order a preemptive strike.
Kubrick originally wrote the film as a taut political thriller but changed it to a comedy when he realized that the already-written scenes were funny.
The strength of the film comes in its ensemble cast of excellent actors, and Peter Sellers shines above the rest. Those who don't know what he looks like shouldn't turn to "Dr. Strangelove" for help. Playing three very different roles (Mandrake, the British exchange officer, President Merkin Muffley, the meek figurehead of the free world and Dr. Strangelove, the Nazi expatriate now in charge of American Weapons Development) Sellers shifts from part to part with agility and ease, changing his clothes, his accent or, if necessary, his face.
Hayden portrays Ripper with the confident Americanism of a Joseph McCarthy. He knows that his way is right, but like McCarthy, he is driven by fear and paranoia. Since only Ripper knows the code necessary to call off the bombers, the government attacks the base to retrieve the secret cipher.
While all of this is funny, it is the root of Kubrick's frustration. The governments portrayed - Kubrick attacks the hypocrisy of both the American and Russian governments - are essentially unable to communicate to work together. The Army attacks the Air Force. The president has no power. The Russian premier can't order a halt to Russian retaliation. And in the end, this inability to communicate will, and does, lead to the end of the world.
Kubrick's most brilliant characterization of this fractiousness comes in the character of Colonel "Bat" Guano. After the Air Force base has been liberated, Mandrake has to make an urgent phone call to the president in order to save the world. After an unsuccessful attempt to call the president collect, Mandrake decides to shoot the lock off of a Coke Machine to get enough loose change for a long-distance phone call. Guano reluctantly agrees, saying, "If you don't get the president of the United States on that phone, you know what's gonna happen to you? You're going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company."
Unable to make decisions on his own, Guano represents the ultimate government drone. He cannot function without an authority to answer to, even if it is just the Coca-Cola Company.
Kubrick is the ultimate film ironist. Both visually and verbally, Kubrick laces the film with a subtle irony that isn't always evident upon a first viewing.
One inspired example of this comes with the Army attack of the base. As missiles fly and bullets shred through buildings and flesh, the camera settles on a billboard proclaiming, "Peace is Our Profession."
In the end, Kubrick won't bend to the pressure of having a happy ending. He won't conform to the standards of Hollywood. He will go to the extreme to drive his point home. And, in the end, if that means killing off the populace of the world, so be it. After all, it's just a few billion people.
(See schedule on page B3 for showtimes.)
Grade: A
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