The fears of Kevin Smith Kansas is not the reddest state in the U.S. - much more votes Republicans have in Utah or Idaho. But it is in Kansas that the independent Westboro Baptist Church is located, no more than a hundred members of which are united not only by close blood ties, but also by the charismatic pastor Fred Phelps, who became the prototype of Ebin Cooper - perhaps the most striking character of the film "Red State". Phelps became famous as the creator of the slogan “God Hate Fags”, which finally quarreled with at least the LGBT community and buried the career of a politician from the Democratic Party.
The scandalous slogan sets the tone for Kevin Smith’s film in many ways, fueling an atmosphere of hatred that gives the term “red state” far from political meaning. The horror of what is happening on the screen is incompatible with any satire, even if it was initially present in the plan of the filmmakers.
Smith delves into horror as much as possible within a given framework. The radical sect cleanses the land of any abomination passing by in the most direct and proven way, local authorities and security forces are buried under dozens of skeletons from the cabinets of their offices and houses, and an unexpected trumpet voice makes you remember about natural disasters that are getting closer and closer to the homes of the confident middle class every day. The fact that three very concerned young men – “our” according to the logic of horror – without a shadow of a doubt consider themselves to be in this very middle class, completely aggravates the situation.
Kevin Smith, speaking about his film, said that all these things are really scary, but no one will say that it really happened to him. The Red State openly and unabashedly creates myths about modern America, similar to those that circulated among whites during black racial segregation. Only now, passing by the corresponding area, you will notice not a black ghetto full of sorcerers and drug addicts, but a den of intolerant thugs marked with many crosses.
Paradoxically, comedy master Smith lacks the irony to rise above the situation and create something like what he noticed in Tarantino’s films, which, apparently, he equaled in preparing his first horror.
To my surprise, I came across the first Kevin Smith movie I wanted to talk about seriously. It is in the “Red State” that carefree talk about sex is interrupted in the most drastic way. Caught in the lair of unpredictable fanatics, Smith, like three loving young men, falls into a brooding stupor.
4 out of 10
Original