The secretive Adam Kramer arrives to a small Southern town. He quickly starts rallying White followers who are opposed to Black people attending school, and uses hate speech to demand racial segregation. He is opposed by intellectual newspaper editor Tom, who is attacked by a mob, leaving him in an injury where he loses an eye. Kramer seduces the wife of a certain Griffin, and persuades Tom’s daughter Ella to feign she was raped by a Black student, Joe. A mob is about to lynch Joe, but then Griffin convinces Ella to tell the truth. The mob then abandons Kramer.
An intruder of sorts among his opus, this film showed the director Roger Corman in a different, more dramatic edition, featuring the best performance in the career of actor William Shatner, here in the uncharacteristic role of schemer Adam Kramer. Even though at first it may appear as one of those calculative ‘social issues’ films comprised only out of preachy messages, “The Intruder” is a surprisingly mature, sophisticated and thoughtful psychological drama that has a lot going for it, and seems just as relevant today as during its premiere. The most surprising analysis is that of its main antagonist Kramer: even though he is using hate speech to promote racial segregation, and all the transparent clichees that go with it (scarewords such as “Communists”, “Jews” and “Negroes” are used to incite the masses), Kramer is ironically not even racist himself, but is only using hate insofar to attract followers and gain power as a leader, using it only to promote his own ego, his illusion of self-importance. Other characters, such as Griffin, see right through him (“You're gutless, Adam, that's why you are doing this, to prove to yourself that you are not!”; "You began losing your grip on those people the minute you got it!"). The way this hate-business is dismantled is fascinating, especially in the final scene which shows that these kind of populist ideologies are chaotic and cannot have a stable, permanent value. The finale is kind of lukewarm and without a clear direction where this is all heading, but the storyline unfolds smoothly and elegantly, posing some thought provoking questions, and transforming into one of the underrated movies of the 60s.
Grade:+++
No comments:
Post a Comment