Simultaneously “eerie and beautiful.”
That’s how professor Greg Flaxman described the first film of the UniVarsity film series, “Dr Strangelove.”
The series, “Cold War Uncanny,” is the second sponsored by the Varsity Theatre and the Comparative Literature Organization for Undergraduate Discussion, or CLOUD. In addition to “Dr. Strangelove,” the Varsity Theater will host “The Innocents” and the 1962 original “The Manchurian Candidate,” all of which center around the Cold War politics.
Haley Fahey, co-president of CLOUD, said that the series helps introduce renowned movies to students.
“(Its) a good way to give the films a context, get to know the faculty members and just have a good time,” she said.
The series aims to bridge the gap between seeing films for academic reasons and purely for pleasure, Flaxman said. The series is designed for film students, but is open to the public for free enjoyment.
Where last semester’s series of films were connected by a common director Roman Polanski, these are united by stylistic choices, most notably black and white film.
“All three directors made the conscious decision to film in black and white during the 1960s, an era in which color had become dominant” said Shayne Legassie, a professor in the department of English and comparative literature, in an e-mail.
The monochrome gives to visual creativity in “Dr Strangelove.” Flaxman cited the use of lighting, shadow and a wide angle camera lens for creating a “beautifully shot” film.
The films all explore the Cold War era. “Dr Strangelove” looks at a time of tension and terror through satire and black comedy. It provides a critique on those in power and how they manipulated a susceptible population, Flaxman said, and the “paranoid style in American Politics”.
“We chose to start the series with this film because it offers a really keen insight into the role that individual and group pathology played in shaping the Cold War,” Legassie said in an e-mail.
Flaxman, who will be introducing “Dr. Strangelove” on Friday, said the film was particularly important to him as a child.
He said that the film, which “dared to laugh at awful things,” does not dissolve but satirizes the way that Americans perceive the threat of nuclear attack.
CLOUD hopes that the series will appeal to audience members outside of the student community who remember when the film came out. Seeing it in the theater, Flaxman said, is far more spectacular than DVD.
Experiencing “packed theaters” for the previous series, Fahey has high hopes for the next three films.
See the films at the Varsity Theatre beginning Friday, March 18 with “Dr. Strangelove” at 9 p.m. “The Innocents” will play Friday, April 8 at 9 p.m. “The Manchurian Candidate” will play Friday 22 at 9 p.m.
All films will be introduced by professors in the Department of English and Comparative Literature and are free for students and the general public.
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