THE PURGE

2022. Over the past few years, America has become one of the safest places in the world, and all this thanks to the initiative undertaken by the New Founders of America, a government body that has sanctioned and imposed the ratification of the 28th amendment to codify the right of every American citizen to the freedom to commit any type of crime, including murder, for one night a year, without suffering penal consequences, precisely the night between the 21st and 22nd of March, between 7 in the evening and 7 in the morning. They call it "The Annual Purge," and James Sandin, who sells alarms and security systems, has founded his fortune precisely on the need for people to protect themselves that one night of the year from the violence that erupts in the streets. Just a few hours before the Annual Purge, James, his wife, and his two children lock themselves in the house waiting for morning, but a black man begins to insistently ask for help in the street. The younger son of the Sandins decides to let the man into the house, but a group of masked thugs armed to the teeth besiege the Sandins' house with the intention of having their prey handed over to them. Jason Blum sees far ahead, producer at the helm of BlumHouse and creator of low-budget successes like "Paranormal Activity," "Insidious," and "Sinister." The formula of his factory is now polished: budgets that do not exceed $5 million per film, stories not necessarily original but based on very precise high concepts, reference genre in thriller/horror, locations predominantly indoors, and great importance to the construction of tension. A proven formula to which "The Purge" does not withdraw, co-produced also by Platinum Dunes of Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller, a terrifying and intelligent film that has rightly garnered great favor among the public and overseas critics. The starting point of the screenplay for "The Purge" was given to director and screenwriter James DeMonaco by an episode that happened to him a few years ago. While he was in the car with his wife, DeMonaco nearly died due to a reckless driver who made them go off-road; the director, furious, threw himself at the road pirate with the intention of killing him with punches, but his wife stopped him just in time, later commenting with her husband that it would be ideal if at least once a year people could freely release the repressed violence. A phrase that has been turning in the director's mind for several years until it gave rise to the story told in this film, where there is an atmosphere of old political horror that has not been tasted in cinema for a really long time. On a home invasion movie base - as those films are called in which a group of people must defend themselves and their home from an external threat - which in some aspects might make one think of the recent "The Strangers," James DeMonaco manages to build a perfect mix between thriller/horror and social criticism offering many points for discussion and reflection. First of all, "The Purge" talks about human nature, how predisposed it is to violence, and how violence is an integral part of the human instinct. On this simple, even banal, axiom, DeMonaco decides to launch more than one jab at government policies that achieve success by being based on monstrous assumptions. It is the strength of the paradox that makes America a winning nation, this film seems to tell us, a country founded on blood that seeks satisfaction in blood, promoting above all the arms industry, deus ex machina that seems to protect every minute of the Annual Purge told in this film. And the instigators of the Purge seem to be above all the wealthier social classes, that enriched bourgeoisie that harbors hate and envy towards the neighbor simply because they have had more economic luck, or raise children who prodigalize violence towards minorities in the name of an imprecise ethical/religious ideal. A faceless bourgeoisie (hides behind grotesque laughing masks), an indistinct mass that seems to have regressed to a primitive/infantile state that takes it out on a homeless black man and anyone who offers them hospitality. It is impossible not to think of Carpenter or Romero of the beginnings and perhaps it is not a coincidence if DeMonaco has in his curriculum the script of the good remake of "District 13," which had Ethan Hawke in the cast, ready to defend family and home from the bloodthirsty faceless children of daddy. "The Purge" works, has a good subject carried forward with intelligence and coherence, as well as a series of well-placed and effective tension scenes. We can overlook some somewhat banal characterization of certain characters (the teenage daughter, for example) and the mania of the Sandin's son with technology, which is very (but really very) 80s. The film is beautiful and tells something, in its own way, new. A special mention to the actress Lena Headey, ex TV Sarah Connor, queen Gorgo in "300," and now splendid Cersei Lannister in the series "Game of Thrones," who here plays the mother and wife Mary Sandin in a measured and credible manner. Highly recommended.