Suburbicon: Welcome To Hell
Greetings, felines!
With the Black Lives Matters movement taking hold in the United States, many companies are looking for ways to show their support. In Brazil, several channels have started showing more films with explicit or implicit racial themes, and that’s how I discovered “Suburbicon: Welcome to Paradise” (2017).
Before watching some movies, I like to read reviews or some videos about it to see if I’m going to waste my time or if it’s worth it. So when I read the title, I did a quick search and decided to give the film directed by George Clooney and written by the Coen Brothers (Ethan and Joel) a chance.
In 1959, everything is safe in the Suburbicon condominium, a neighborhood that sells the perfect and well-known “American way of life.” There’s nothing that can shake the typical helpful, white, upper-middle-class people who live there. But this perfect world changes when the first black family arrives in paradise.
On the other side of the balcony, when the house of the model family of Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) is invaded by two criminals, a series of events shows those watching how far from perfect the Lodges’ lives are.
In many reviews I read, the authors complained about the fact that the narrative of the black family is always out of focus, we only follow the attacks from afar.
However, for me, this is the perfect touch for the film. It’s funny to see that, with so much dirty stuff happening in the neighborhood, people still strive to destroy and attack a family that does nothing but try to have a home in a safe place.
In addition, as happens in society, the focus is never on the black people and what they are going through, but rather on the white family that needs to be – and is – highlighted throughout the entire plot.
Between deaths, crimes and blood, Suburbicon subtly shows us the problems of the idea of a perfect family, prejudices and racial segregation, in addition to being a direct criticism of the hypocrisy of a society that prioritizes appearance over character.
And despite being a story set in the 1950s, this discussion becomes even more current given the context of changes and the fight against racism that we are living in, in addition to having a cast with big names such as Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac.
The film certainly deserves the chance to leave you thinking after the final seconds!
If you still need to think, here is the trailer to help you decide:
- This post was originally posted on the website Balaio Cósmico do Gato Caolho, which is no longer available, in 2020. You may check the original post clicking here.
