CS Weekly Archive > The Big Picture > 7/11/08

Breaking the Rules:
Seven Revolutionary Movies

written By jason davis

As we recover from the Fourth of July festivities, CS Weekly highlights seven films that throw off the tyranny of screenwriting conventions with their revolutionary approach to storytelling.

Two-hundred thirty-two years ago, the Second Continental Congress declared Great Britain's 13 American colonies to be free and independent states. In honor of last week's historic break with convention, CS Weekly examines seven English-language films that similarly broke with the status quo to become cinematic revolutions in their own right.

Spoilers ahead—proceed with care!

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (the former directed)

If science fiction exists to chronicle man's changing relationship to technology, then 2001: A Space Odyssey is perhaps the most undiluted example of its genre. Writers Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange) and SF legend Arthur C. Clarke eschew the notion of a linear narrative in favor of offering glimpses of the beginning, middle, and end of man's reliance on technology in three sequences that rely more upon tone than story to make their point. The film begins on a desolate plain where a proto-human, seemingly influenced by a mysterious pulsing monolith, recognizes a bone's potential as a weapon and thus gains superiority over a neighboring tribe. The bone becomes an orbital weapons platform in 1/24th of a second, and the second part of the story displays a human race ensconced in a technocracy of space ships, moon bases, and artificial intelligence. This last innovation, the supercomputer HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), is installed aboard the Discovery One spaceship to facilitate a manned mission to Jupiter to investigate yet another monolith. En route, the writers illustrate the dangers of mankind's reliance on technology when HAL sets about killing the crew, and astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) must imitate his ape-like ancestor in yet another sea change in the relationship between man and machines. The third act, a transcendent spectacle, completes the experience while leaving the viewer to establish the philosophical links between each segment.

if…. (1968)
Screenplay by David Sherwin
From the original script Crusaders by David Sherwin and John Howlett

Actually featuring a revolution of sorts, if…. is doubly welcome on a list celebrating independence as well as narrative rebellion. Originally a less ambitious script called Crusaders, if…. received an infusion of anarchy from director Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life), whose documentary roots are evident in the long set-up that establishes life at a British boys school under the cruel rule of upperclassmen. Senior boys Mick (Malcolm McDowell), Johnny (David Wood), and Wallace (Richard Warwick) return for another term and are quickly established as free thinkers within the school's society. The brutalities of the environment are driven home as the story explores every aspect of school life before a severe beating, administered to Mick for his attitude, incites a violent resolution. The final act of the film plays out like the eruption of a volcano, with Mick and his mates, including an unnamed girl (Christine Noonan) who joined the protagonist after a dreamlike sexual encounter in a greasy spoon, take up arms and open fire on anyone in authority. Breaking with the usual rhythm of screenwriting, the film is almost entirely built up with the climax amounting to an infinitesimal quantity of screen time. It's almost as if, in Monty Python fashion, another film has invaded the first, but the origins of the violence inherent in the finale find their roots in the foregoing scenes; only the manner of execution has changed, and the movie has taken aim at its audience as well as its enemies.

The Wicker Man (1973)
Screenplay by Antony Schaffer

When a young girl is reported missing on a remote Hebridean island, Sergeant Neil Howey (Edward Woodward) is dispatched to investigate, but finds much to worry his Christian soul in the pagan realm of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and his adherents. Antony Schaffer's (Sleuth) screenplay, which mingles elements from mysteries, thrillers, musicals, and horror, could serve as a cinematic treatise on comparative religion. Howie's investigation allows the viewer to experience the island through his eyes, with all the requisite condemnation his devout beliefs warrant upon the inhabitants. As the story progresses and the film's core mystery is revealed to be a red herring, the film's protagonist (and the audience) slowly discovers where the story's allegiances rest, and the final scenes undermine the hero's journey in an almost operatic style. Originally inspired by the novel Ritual by Dave Pinner, Schaffer's screenplay wanders far afield from its source material to become one of the most iconic cult films ever produced. Trimmed to 87 minutes and released as a double-bill with Don't Look Now, the theatrical release did serious damage to the movie's continuity. Among the casualties were a sequence establishing Howie's prudishness on the mainland, the introduction of Lord Summerisle, and —due to the abridged continuity—the loss of one day from the timeline. Thanks to Roger Corman, the film was restored to 100 minutes in 2001, and this version offers the best account of a narrative that turns against its protagonist in a most unexpected fashion.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Screenplay by Cliff Green
Based on a novel by Joan Lindsay

Ambiguity is the heart of Picnic at Hanging Rock's surreal appeal. Accompanied by two of their teachers, the girls of an Australian finishing school take a day trip to a geological curiosity on Valentine's Day, 1900. Shortly after every watch in the party stops at noon, four girls set off to climb Hanging Rock. A short time later, one emerges screaming and one of the teachers is discovered to be missing as well. The remainder of the story finds the authorities scouring the area for the missing students and their instructor. When she initially wrote the novel upon which the film was based, Joan Lindsay included an 18th chapter that resolved the mystery of the disappearances. On the advice of her editor, this passage was excised and the remaining ambiguity became the story's hallmark. Cliff Green's (Mercury) screenplay, aided in no small part by Peter Weir's (The Truman Show) haunting direction, revels in questions, but offers few answers. Like the first season of Lost, the story balances on the precipice between realism and speculative fiction, with supernatural phenomena definitely an option, though more mundane explanations just as likely. The ability to answer the film's central premise with almost any interpretation makes viewing the movie an intensely personal experience with infinite possibilities. Though the story withholds information, it is effusive on the emotional front, and the maelstrom of reactions from the denizens of Appleyard College and the surrounding community makes for a cathartic experience. For the Agent Mulders of the world who believe the truth is out there, the revelation of what happened at Hanging Rock was published after the author's death in The Secret of Hanging Rock. I suggest you enjoy the ambiguity…

The Stunt Man (1980)
Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus
Adaptation by Richard Rush (also directed)
Based on the novel by Paul Brodeur

Nominated for an Academy Award, Lawrence B. Marcus' (Going Home) screenplay takes subjectivity to a new level as it follows Vietnam vet Cameron (Steve Railsback) into the world of moviemaking, where diabolical director Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole) blackmails the fugitive into becoming a stunt man on the film. Taking advantage of the very grammar of cinema, The Stunt Man hides critical information in the cuts from one shot to another and disorients the protagonist (and the viewer) by changing location or abridging time without the tell-tale indicators that audiences have come to expect. A fascination with the delineation between real and make-believe permeates every aspect of the narrative as the actors belie their onstage performances, the director manipulates his cast members' emotions, and the newly minted stunt man learns how to sell his craft without getting killed like the man he replaced. Cameron's point of view frequently blurs the boundaries of reality and fantasy, and it's up to the viewer to orient himself when the story provides enough information to do so. Without the usual cues to time, place, and situation, the viewer must fight to stay on top of the story, and every innocuous cut could bridge the film's reality to that of the film within a film. Like the eponymous hero, viewers must be on their toes lest reality slip away entirely.

Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Written by David Lynch (also directed)

Originally conceived as a pilot for ABC, Mulholland Drive marks the fruition of filmmaker David Lynch's (Twin Peaks) narrative experimentation, indulged to the extreme in Lost Highway. Though Lynch is loath to explain his work, each could arguably be interpreted to feature protagonists who dream an alternative life to escape the horrors of the real world. In Highway jazz musician Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) escapes into the imagined life of Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) after murdering his wife. Eventually, that delusion is broken and Fred's personality reasserts itself. Mulholland Drive follows much the same pattern, but convolutes the scenario by splitting the embittered actress Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) into two dream characters: aspiring actress Betty Elms (Watts) and amnesiac "Rita" (Laura Elena Harring). Effectively beginning within Diane's dream, the story finds the two women working together to discover Rita's mysterious past and the origins of the substantial wad of cash and blue key found in her purse. While their investigation unfolds, the movie dips into the lives of other characters who would have likely received their own storylines had the series continued. In this version, they serve as intriguing digressions and provide outside perspectives on the ongoing events within Diane's imagined world. Using funds from Studio Canal, Lynch fashioned a final act for the originally open-ended narrative, thus completing the Möebius strip-like structure that links the two realities of the movie.

The Fountain (2006)
Screenplay by Darren Aronofsky (also directed)
Story by Darren Aronofsky & Ari Handel

Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Fountain unveils its story on three fronts, but these complementary narratives are deployed simultaneously to present an overall gestalt on the limitless potential of love. Tomas (Hugh Jackman), a conquistador, is charged by Queen Isabella of Spain (Rachel Weisz) to recover the Tree of Life from a 16th century Mayan pyramid. Dr. Tommy Creo (Jackman), an oncologist, struggles to find a cure for his wife Izzi's (Weisz) cancer, but sacrifices time with her in an attempt to save her. Tom (Jackman), a 25th century Zen astronaut, speeds toward a dying star in a space-going biosphere on an errand of symbolic devotion. With the presence of Jackman and Weisz providing the link between the three otherwise unrelated tales, writers Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel create a history of love and the lengths to which people will go to honor that emotion. Each of their three protagonists demonstrate their devotion on a different philosophical level—the conquistador's adventure is physical, the scientist's study is intellectual, and the astronaut's sojourn is spiritual. Similarly, the Tree of Life—a motif recurring in each iteration—evolves from a goal, to a means, and finally to a symbol for the protagonists' pursuit.

In celebrating these cinematic attacks on the status quo, it's inevitable that some revolutionary movie will be missed. Indeed, one could argue that the most revolutionary of movies, from a screenwriting perspective, were the early silent films that assembled multiple shots into a story and began the whole narrative revolution. If there's a movie that breaks all the rules for you, drop us a line and share your thoughts at the email address above.

Jason Davis has been the DVD Manager for CS Weekly, a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.

The Wackness courtesy Sony Classics
Anvil! courtesy Gold Circle Films
Hellboy II: The Golden Army courtesy Universal Studios

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