God Of Carnage, A Caricature Of Everyday Life

Without leaving the room and with only four actors, we witness a magnificent ridicule of everyday life. God of Carnage is a film by Roman Polanski which, in turn, is an adaptation of the play Le Dieu du Carnage, by Yasmina Reza.

There’s no doubt that the film’s cast is exceptional: Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly are the four actors, the only ones in the film. It is a short film, static in terms of spaces, limited in characters, but with a very powerful script. The entire weight of the film resides in the actors’ interpretation and in its script.

God of Carnage , a Children’s Conflict?

It all starts after the dispute of two children in a park, the only outdoor setting we can see. The fight ends when one hits the other with a stick. Next, we go to the home of Longstreet, the family of the child who was beaten and as a result had problems with his mouth. The parents of both children gather in the aforementioned apartment to try to find a solution to the problem.

• The Cowans: parents of the “aggressor” boy, form an elegant and distinguished couple. The father, Alan, is a recognized but unscrupulous lawyer; the mother, Nancy, is a financial investor of dubious morals. Both draw the prototype of a rich “good family” that enjoys social recognition and intends to be exemplary. However, we soon realized the falsity and hypocrisy of these appearances.
• The Longstreet: parents of the victim, form a couple who want to be exemplary, peaceful and able to resolve conflicts in a polite way. Michael, the father, seems like a calm, easy-going, well-meaning man who will try to ease tensions; on the other hand, Penelope, the mother, is a committed pacifist and writer, although from the beginning we see a certain hostility towards her “guests”.

Throughout the film, the characters unmask themselves and move from political correctness to aggressiveness. Even Michael, who looked like the peacemaker, will show a dark and spiteful side. The conversation will become an authentic verbal carnage, where the knives will fly in all possible directions. What in the beginning would be the resolution of a conflict and an example for your children becomes an authentic jungle, where everyone sees their true nature.

Arguments and coherence disappear, aggressiveness increases in tone, characters will completely lose their roles and enter the worst of their versions. The apparently serious situation will turn into an absurd argument that approaches childishness.

God of Carnage and self-centeredness

In God of Carnage , the most primitive impulses of human beings are explored, their more visceral and darker side comes to light, all in an almost claustrophobic space, because every attempt by the Cowans to leave the apartment will be frustrated when entering a new one. discussion.

Discussions sometimes generate a cycle, immerse us in a dead end from which it is difficult to escape and, when it seems that everything will be resolved, another argument will hinder us and force us to enter the conflict. That’s how they seem to resolve the conflicts in the film, trapped between the four walls of a room that will get them nowhere. As they approach the elevator, when it seems like it’s all over, they get into a new argument and get trapped again in the living room.

Conflicts are so widespread that what was at first a war between two families has turned into a struggle of women against men, and finally ends up in a completely individualistic war. Each of them defends himself; human obstinacy will be extreme, everyone wants to be right, and everyone thinks that if the world were like them, it would be much better.

God of Carnage presents a caricature of human nature.  We see characters that use numerous defense mechanisms, very primary and very basic, who lose their roles and have no problem stab at the next one.

The critique of society

In leaving social conventions, in showing their true character, we see reality behind the mask, we see the hypocrisy and lack of morality in our world. Polanski brings a pessimistic air to our daily life, because the characters are no strangers to us and it’s easy to identify with some of them or identify people in our environment.

Money and the importance of status will be criticized in the film, especially through Alan Cowan’s character, who is more concerned with his work than his own personal relationships; he barely shows interest in his son’s education and we see him as an immoral character when we discover that his job is to defend a pharmaceutical company whose drugs cause serious health problems. In addition, he is stuck on his cell phone to address work problems, something that allows him to continually escape the discussion and which will be an additional trigger for the conflict by preventing communication between both families.

Penelope will be the character that most contrasts with Alan, because she seems very focused on humanitarian causes and very aware of third world problems; however, she has not left the cave and believes everything she sees.

The overprotection that occurs in many cases towards children is questioned, preventing them from resolving conflicts on their own, excessively blaming some and victimizing others… when, in reality, there are many nuances. The importance of material in our society is also questioned, such as the vomiting scene over art books or the destruction of cell phones.

This chaotic and meaningless situation is finally going nowhere. Best of all, in the end, it will be the children who will teach the parents a lesson through a brief scene.  In the park where it all started, they seem to have left their differences. This makes us reflect and rethink that maybe we are making life too complicated and that everything can be reduced to a simple argument between children who end up shaking hands.

Criticism, comedy and realism go hand in hand in this film that presents us with a very everyday situation, which goes beyond false smiles and shows the human being as a caged animal who, when breaking the bars, is nothing more than a violent and selfish. God of Carnage is a work of art that draws our current society, a film in which human stupidity is one of the keys.