Bela Rivas

Interesting movie. I don't think it took a stance on politics and I don't think it meant to. I've seen a lot of people arguing that it is in favour of the far right, but I don't know that I did think that. The reality was that both sides were shown as extremists whose backwards ideals ultimately got them killed. For the Hunted, it was this extreme paranoia and lack of critical thinking. For the Hunters, it was the obsession with pride and inability to take responsibility. I've seen people refer to the Betty Gilpin's character as a representative of the far right, but she really wasn't. We don't ever, at any point, learn her political stance. I actually think the movie was carful to make that so. She's asked multiple times, but never comments. She protects the immigrant mother and child, regularly rolls her eyes at the Hunteds who say stupid things. Ultimately, when Athena asks, she never gives us any insight into her views. This is purposeful, imo. Neither the Hunted nor the Hunters care. She wasn't an instigator and never contributed to the (initially) false rumours, but nor did she side with the Elites. She was the middle ground caught between the two extremes. Ultimately, I think the movie takes a centrist viewpoint of trying to argue that the average person will suffer at the hands of the extreme right and left. It's a statement about how political turmoil blinds us to our humanity and divides us too far to redeem, with those who don't take a side suffering. I don't know if it was a fiercely intelligent take, certainly it was nothing that hasn't been said before, nor did it take any sort of stance of any of the actual issues. I suspect this was the point, though I'm not sure how I feel about that. The Animal Farm allegory was a little out of place, in my opinion. You could argue it was showing how Athena was initially a good person pushed too far (a la Snowball) or that it was trying to echo the original sentiment, and in a way it was. Still, I don't know that it did enough to make that point clearly. Ultimately, a well-acted movie. The choice to kill off so many recognisable actors so quickly and carelessly was clever and paid off well. The final fight scene was tense and cleverly filmed. I will probably be thinking about this for a while. That said, it's disappointing to see so many of the reviews clearly miss much of the argument. If you can only use it to reiterate an existing far right opinion, you're doing what those in the movie do. Letting your pre-existing ideals blind you to the actual point.