MovieChat Forums > The Abandoned (2007) Discussion > The allegory within the movie.

The allegory within the movie.

posted 17 years ago by asmodeux-1
8 replies | jump to latest

If you watch this movie as a terror film you will not find anything really remarkable or new. In fact many of the original things of the movie, such as the atmospheres, locations and subtle terrorific mood gets completely nullyfied by the easyness and common grounds of the "easy scare" read: loud noises with no other intention than to disturb you, sudden appartions again just to "scare" you...etc this has been made so many times, in so many pictures that it is no longer scary even.
the interesting, yet alternative view of the movie may come from an almost direct allegory within the narration.
Its about RUSSIA and the past behind it. the totalitarism reflects in the fathers tyranny and cruelty, killing the mother which is the spirit of comradery and family (this is a symptom of what russia is nowadays) and as well killing his own future by killing his own children in the most cruel way (feeding the pigs and drowning) again an image of Russia today, where theres no future.
Its interesting as well the importance of the concept of determinism. characters CANT escape their past, the father/Russia engulf their actions and promotes their auto-destruction. Again, this is very similar of what is happening around Russia these days...
Maybe this appreciation goes way beyong casualty.

[–] teadm 16 years ago

You are reading too much into it.

[–] casperado 16 years ago

try reading and not writing between the lines mate

[–] pmdawn 16 years ago

even if you're wrong (and you might be) looking at it this way, the movie gets about a 10x more interesting.

[–] nick-1036 16 years ago

To OP:

Great post, original thought.

[–] amonovalentradical 15 years ago

I concur, it's nice actually seeing someone putting some thought into a film. I am in a horror of the supernatural class and I am going to show this film in class. The social/politcal clime when a movie is produced is extremely important to one's reading of the film and you nailed it. To the idiot who wrote that you're "reading too much into the film," you should go watch scooby doo or rugrats or something where original thought and critical analysis doesn't matter at all. I'm sure that idiots favorite movie is Super Babies: Baby Genius' 2 or some bull *beep* like that.

[–] Sivafae 15 years ago

I totally agree with your post^. To think that a writer isn't somehow trying to make a point about life or reality in a screenplay is to put both the writer and the script at a disservice. Often times the script is changed after it has been written and up for production, or even while in production of the film. So what you see may be very different than what was originally thought out by the screenwriter.
Two things, while Hilter ascending to political power in Germany, many of the movies made were horror. And when Iraq was being invaded there was increase in horror movies being produced. Often times horror movies reflect a national emotional state.

[–] ray.orourke 16 years ago

That would be the saving, redeeming thing about this movie. I figured it had something bigger to do with Russia, the movie pretty much sucks otherwise. If I'm not mistaken Russian stories don't tend to end too well (re: rarely ever end happily). If it weren't trying to appeal to some deeper appreciation for things Russian then I would have definitely preferred if they decided to fight their way out of things, at least attempt to survive. From very early on in the movie I figured she'd end up dead, and when her brother appeared in the movie figured he'd be dead too - there were absolutely no surprises in this movie whatsoever.

[–] SweetDee87 14 years ago

Well, I think you should get your facts straight, because saying that Russia "has no future" really makes you look stupid. Very, very much.

*It's not me it's you...Guess Who Batman!*