A deep dive… into Kubrick?

Sometimes I go down a rabbit hole. It usually starts out randomly. In this case, I was reading an article about Christmas movies that aren’t really Christmas movies, but are set during Christmastime. One of these movies, maybe the least Christmas-y of all, is Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s last film. I remember seeing that movie in the theater. It got very mixed reviews. I remember that it was very creepy, but strangely compelling. I’ve watched it several times over the years, and like most Kubrick films it has all sorts of details that you can’t notice the first time you watch it. I think it’s very underrated. I consider it to be one of Kubrick’s best.

But now I’m determined to watch all of Kubrick’s movies in chronological order. The first is a 1952 film, just an hour long. It’s called Fear and Desire, and it’s a (not surprisingly) anti-war (not surprisingly) psychological thriller of sorts. It reminds me of The Twilight Zone, but of course it predates that show. I wonder if Rod Serling was influenced by it at all?

If you like, you can watch it online for free at this link.

I love the opening narration (not written by Kubrick):

There is a war in this forest. Not a war that has been fought, nor one that will be, but any war. And the enemies who struggle here do not exist unless we call them into being. This forest then, and all that happens now is outside history. Only the unchanging shapes of fear and doubt and death are from our world. These soldiers that you see keep our language and our time, but have no other country but the mind.

Fear and Desire