I haven't seen the movie, I was just wondering. Perhaps family members of a mentally disabled person could give their thoughts. (I don't mean offensive as in shockingly sexual, this isn't about the sex or nudity in the movie.)
shareI do not really have any connections with any disabled people, but I would say that it is not offensive at all, in fact it takes the piss out of 'normale' peoples reaction to disabled people and WE become the laughing stock.
One of my favourite scenes *SPOILER* is when they knock on peoples doors and try and sell these really s**t christmas decorations they have made (it is a long time ago since I watched it, but I seem to remember that it is summer). People are really friendly and of course they want to buy them to help out, it is after all for charity. The price is quite high and not worth a tenth of it, but you get the sense that because they are disabled they dare not argue with it and just pay up. It is a priceless scene and worth watching the film just for that.
I did not find it offensive at all, but it does make you feel slightly uncomfortable at times, because you find yourself laughing at things you then realise you should not laugh at.
I expected it to be somewhat offensive but found it not to be offensive at all.
shareI suppose some people could get offended, but some people get offended by Donald Duck not wearing pants! So it's up to how the individual feels.
I can only agree with previous posts, that the film makes us consider how we act around handicapped people.
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It's very offensive cause of the lack of style. Dogma is offensive for everyone who enjoys film as an art form.
Ash: [for no apparent reason] ... Groovy.share
I take it your favourite movies all star Nicholas Cage or Adam Sandler then?
Dogma was about breaking the mind numbingly boring tradition of mainstream films. Unfortunately with the likes of Sandler and Ferrel this has come back with avengance.
The film is not offensive if you put the purpose of of the Dogme 95 movement into consideration prior to filming. Films such as Idioterne and Festen (Dogme 2 and 1 respectively) are very crude, underedited, scoreless films. For someone who understands the movement, its perfect. By eliminating genres, manipulations, and consequently removing convention, films according to the Dogme vow of chastity strive to engage a viewer into the humanity and emotions of the characters. Certainly someone who likes watching cars blow up and choreographed fight scenes would not appreciate this. The fact that the characters pretend to be retarded should not be offensive, as I have a downs/autistic cousin, and I have seen caustic behavior towards his disability. The film however, is about the desperate desire of finding innocence and healing through the absence of accountability and responsibility. There is actually one scene in the movie where "the idiots" host several people who are actually retarded, and many of them are moved by the experience.
I would take anyones comments about the offensivness of this movie towards the mentally handicapped based on principle and not on the films context. Just like I could say Harry Potter is blasphemous because it features wizards and wizards are the devil. By studying the form of the film, you can find that the director leads you to expect that impersonating retards is malice and done for kicks, but as you become closer connected with the characters, you find that by impersonating retards, they are simply striving to find some happiness they have lost.
Hold on a moment there!
"Wild at Heart" stars Nicholas Cage.
Just because something breaks tradition doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. While "The Idiots" has some interesting features, as a film it's pretty tedious. And fracturing film tradition is hardly new either. Godard was making more radical movies than this thirty years before.
I think in fact "The Idiots" sets out to be offensive, in an 'epater le bourgeois' sort of way. And there's nothing wrong with that, of course....
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
I bet you hate the French New Wave movement too.
"The task of art today is to bring chaos into order." - Theodor Adornoshare
I didn't think it was offensive. And I worked at a mental health institution for 6 years.
The movie does raise some interesting questions. It's a tad slow but I think it makes a valid point
Did you ever notice that people who believe in creationism look really un-evolved? - Bill Hicks
I never seen the movie but from i've read from the tagline and premise,seemingly it was offended the concept of democracy (??) i guess... well,i don't know..
ATONEMENT(2007)10/10
AMERICAN GANGSTER(2007)10/10
3:10 TO YUMA(2007)10/10
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Whether or not any film is offensive depends on your point of view (if it was really, really offensive it would probably be banned, like if it was trying to incite hatred)
I'm not sure how people who are close to a mentally disabled person would feel about it, that probably depends on them. There is a scene featuring a couple of people with Downs Syndrome, but they aren't made fun of.
All in all, it's probably actually less offensive regarding the mentally disabled than There's Something About Mary. Or Ricky Gervais' Derek. They try to get laughs from characters who actually are supposed to be mentally handicapped, whereas the characters in The Idiots are only pretending. That being said, many movies about mentally disabled people have elements of comedy in them, like Rain Man.
I'd love to have my grandparents reaction to this though!