Funny Games

Giving this movie 5 stars would feel antithetical towards Haneke, so I give will be giving it the lowest possible rating in his honor.   I’m kinda speechless and my feelings are all over the place after watching this. The scene that really stuck with me was when Paul was in the Kitchen while Peter killed the young Georgie. Paul leaves the room where his hostages are being held for a quick sec to prepare himself some food. A gunshot, screams, aches, groans, and cries come from the room next door, but he doesn’t react at all. It’s like when you turn on a movie in the background to keep your mind busy and your thoughts from wandering.  And that is EXACTLY how Americans consume violence in media. It’s just another facet of entertainment, a facet often left unexplored and arbitrary to the plot, unlike in Funny Games.  Haneke shows consequences in his films in a way I wish so many other directors would. Gaspar tries to, but often does so in insensitive or even destructive ways. But Haneke knows how to get to his audiences emotions, massage them, and then puncture them.  I honestly think anyone that either disagrees with or dislikes Haneke for making this movie just cannot grapple with their affinity for consuming violent content. They can’t handle how unnecessary it is to both consume it and promote it. They aren’t able to face how continuing to consume this content is continuing its normalization in our culture. They aren’t able to understand how consuming such content with such disregard for how violent actions and behaviors actually occur in real life leads to desensitization that allows for violence, such as shown in this movie, to be completely justified.  Michael Haneke, I fucking love u dude. Ur a genius and freak, in the most pleasant way possible.