Hi,
I think there was a B film made in Hollywood about this ... and it was also bloody, in that the incessant screaming and destruction of plates, walls, glass and all that was never ending ... and the Hollywood sound of bullets of course!
You could tell that it was violent and then some.
The American past WAS violent, no less so than anyone else, and American history books have, for a long time hidden most of it, including the atrocities on American Indians (thus the concessions on land and casinos in the past 30 years), and the American Blacks. The American Black thing is still hidden and not a comfortable discussion with some really nasty stuff that I have heard and seen, that is not print'able here ... up to and including customers!
But too much of it is a lack of respect in the schools ... because in some areas there is still too much animosity about the greens, the whites, the blacks, the blues and the rockers, and the schooling does not show that the kids are learning, but instead are maintaining the hate status quo!
The H & M's thing, was brutal ... but then, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate was trashed senseless because it WAS violent, and everyone wanted to maintain and keep a nice vision/version of the way that the West was Won and built in America ... with no indians anywhere in sight, of course! Because they were nekkid, I bet!
It's good to see that ... in many ways, the movies showed everyone that war was hell in the 50's and 60's ... but it did not help anyone prevent any further wars, and today, the same thing is still happening in the Middle East, in Pakistan, Afganistan, and so many other areas in Africa.
Makes me wonder what good is all this media thing ... when it doesn't help.
I don't have an answer.
I thought that "The Wild Bunch" was fabulous and one "true" western, compared to the Hollywood factory thing ... and I liked it and still do. It resonates with reality. But when Sam did Straw Dogs, it was not longer fun or enjoyable and the meaning was corrupted by the ugliness involved. It was probably very real, but all of a sudden it had more of a ring to it ... this is a novel ... a literary event! NO ... it was a cinematic finger! And I didn't bother with Sam anymore after that!
Seeing Gaspar Noe today is the same thing ... it is brutally vicious at times, and you get to see it, and when you see "Je Suis Seul" it makes you wonder ... is this cinema? ... is this what the whole thing is about? ... is this just a bad acid trip on Sandoz in someone's mind? ... and then you see "Irreversible" ... and it is a total trip backwards, with all the delusions, drugs and reality that you can think of or experience ... and one's view of "cinema" or "entertainment" gets really jilted.
One last thing ... half the folks walked out of Noe's "Je Suis Seul" at the Film Festival, and that tells you that they will go see that crazy film by Almodovar because it is more fun to watch ... that ... that film over there! Or something a bit on the left hand by Steven Sodderbsburger! Or some fancy money film with the word "Potter" on it.
I saw a lot of these films as a kid ... when you see "Kanal" (Polish film) ... you see the same thing and the reality of all the blood is not necessary for you to get the idea ... it is horrific, regardless of how you look at it.
But then you can look at history like this, too ... you do know that one of the greatest influences of the "horror" literature in the 1760's was the French Revolution and politics, right? ... and you already know what they were known for as well, and it set off an incredible array of gory literature, and it only stopped around 1810 or so when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein ... and she borrowed all the stuff that Lord Polidori (their doctor!!!) knew and used it ... and he had written a very gory and one of the first vampire stories ever written!
I'm not sure that we live in a society that believes in peace and love ... the very same idea that we fought for 40 years ago, before the media made us look like idiots that were too stoned and stupid ... and left garbage behind ... we couldn't even respect the national anthem!
What do you expect?