anny@hpdcdb.UUCP (anny) (04/10/85)
I'd like to warn people about the movie "KING DAVID". This is NOT A FAMILY MOVIE!!!! Not unless your family is into blood, gore and excruciating violence. The movie might have been ok, except for the obviously extreme effort that went into making it gory. For example, in at least two places heads are chopped off (with amazingly disgusting sound effects, I know, my eyes were closed) and then those heads were carried around by the scalp w/ bloody entrails hanging. Get the drift? Still, it wouldn't be so bad if this was the exception in the movie, but it's the rule. Scene after scene it is clear that the directors have done their best to demonstrate the crulty and violence of King David's time through excessive gore. Slow motion scenes give us clear detail of how each wound is inflicted. Really interesting stuff, I suppose, if your into it. The worst part, for me, was the sound effects. Believe me, closing your eyes does not help; in fact, it may be worse. I can understand that the producers of this movie are probably trying to portray the "way it was". But I can't excuse them for advertising it as a Biblical Epic. It is not. At BEST it is a graphic presentation of the cruelty and gruesomeness of war during a brutal, bloody period of history. Sincerely, Anny Randel (hplabs!hpfcla!anny)
reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/13/85)
>For example, >in at least two places heads are chopped off (with amazingly disgusting >sound effects, I know, my eyes were closed) and then those heads were >carried around by the scalp w/ bloody entrails hanging. Get the drift? For the record, both beheadings occurred off-screen. By the standards of its rating (PG13), "King David" is about average in terms of violence. The Bible, of course, does describe these events; these are not cheap interpolations on the part of the filmmakers. Of course, there's a difference between reading "He was beheaded." and even a not especially gross cinematic depiction of the same. Unlike many Biblical films, Bruce Beresford has the courage to deal with some of the less savory aspects of the Old Testament, including God's sponsership of genocidal conquests of tribes inhabiting the lands God gave to the Israelites. -- Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher