The Purge
released 2013
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“The Purge” is an American, dystopian, horror, suspense film produced by Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Gerard DiNardi, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller and Jeanette Volturno and was written and directed by James DeMonaco and stars Ethan Hawke, Lena Heady, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller, Arija Bareikis, Tom Yi, Chris Mulkey, Tisha French, Dana Bunch, Peter Gvozdas, John Weselcouch, Alicia Vela-Bailey and many more.

The Purge IMDb webpage

“The Purge” takes place in a reality not too different from our own, with problems like our own but this is a society that has chosen extreme solutions for their problems. This is a society that has opted for the quick solution. One that favors those with resources and treats the people on the lower echelons of society as fodder, literally fodder for the sadisitic urges of those best able to commit violence. This is an America with very little crime, very low unemployment and a population that regulates violence through a sadisitic game called ‘The Purge’. This is a game that outdoes the Ancient Roman gladitorial games in brutalily where violence and murder are permited for 24 hours and a population can get their sadisitic urges out. As if that will make them better people and we would have a better society to live in as a consequence. I don’t think the homeless or vulnerable people of this society would agree that The Purge makes for a better society.

Ethan Hawke plays the role of James Sandin, a business owner who sold most of the security systems to the people in his neighborhood and made a fortune out of it. His wife Mary Sandin, played by Lena Heady, is a sensable person with a better moral compass than her husband and it is important to say that the Sandins have the largest house in their wealthy community. This attracts a lot of envy and hatred from people in their gated community and causes them huge problems during the Purge.

The themes in The Purge are just classic, especailly to the scifi genre. The idea that the elimination of one group of people, in this case it’s the more vulnerable, would make for a better society. If we got rid of all the homeless people would we solve poverty? If we got rid of all the sick people would we create a healthier society? If we got rid of all the people addicted to something would we get rid of addiction as a problem? Well, the answer to all those questions is ‘no’. The answer to all those ills is to study and understand them, and then create and modify solutions to solve these issues.

We also have to ask ourselves what kind of a society do we want to live in? There is such a thing as quality of life and societies with a genuinely good quality of life strive to take care of their people and promote a caring of your fellow members in society. I don’t want to live in a society where when someone is hit by a car everybody just walks by them and doesn’t care.

“The Purge” and the ideas behind us disturb us in all the right ways and that’s why I liked it as a film. The sense of entitlement and sadism from some of the characters irked me. I mean the scene where the neighbors come over in what looks like them offering aid but they were really there to commit murder will have you shaking your head.

Check out “The Purge” because it’s a good watch.

John Ink2Quill

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