THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE

US, 1984, 114 minutes, Colour.
George C.Scott, Trish Van Devere. John David Carson, Lee Montgomery.
Directed by George C.Scott.

The Savage is Loose was produced and directed by its star, George C. Scott. He co-stars with his wife Trish Van Devere and their son is portrayed by Lee H. Montgomery and John David Carson.

The film is set at the turn of the century, a husband and wife and their young child shipwrecked on an island. There are echoes of The Swiss Family Robinson as well as of The Blue Lagoon. The family manages to survive on the island, the father providing all that is needed for survival and touches of civilisation. His wife feels oppressed and often depressed by the isolation, her memories of fine living and the impossibility of getting away from the island. Their son grows up in a loving atmosphere, being civilised - but yet eventually having to learn to survive in the jungle against the savage animals.

Where the film is different is that it focuses on the isolation of the boy, the fact that the mother is the only woman on the island, the boy reaches puberty and experiences the need for sexual outlet. In reading the Scriptures, especially Genesis, there seems to be reason for his consummating his needs with his mother. The film, subtly, raises the questions of moral taboos and their application when people live outside society.

The film was made in the '70s and has a certain reticence - as well as touches of melodrama. The film evokes the issues for the audience and does not resolve them.

1. Interesting drama? The island setting? The period? The survival of the family? Changes? Moral issues?
2. The Mexican settings for the island, the land and the sea, the jungle, the animals, the beauty? The musical score?

3. The title and its reference to David and his basic drives? Growing up? How to handle the drives? The response of John, of Maida? And the images of the animals on the island? The talk about civilisation and savagery?

4. The family and their being marooned? Their coping, the wreck of the ship, the buildings? The remnants of civilisation? Good manners, David learning to read? His mother telling him stories of the past? His father teaching him survival? The lyrical aspects of life on an isolated island? The tensions?

5. John as father and patriarch? Coping with the life on the island? The seven years - his record, voice-over commentary? Love for his wife? Her depression and his coping with it? Teaching his son? The episode with the leopard - and John's decision to make his child survive, teaching him aggressive attitudes, the hunting? His change of heart about his son and civilisation? Preparing his son to survive when his parents had died? The transition to David's puberty? The beginnings of rivalry? The wariness between father and son? John knowing what was happening? The decisions of how to handle the situation? The attack by David and stringing up his father? John being burnt? The confrontation with Maida and David? Their survival, the sexual instinct, the outlet, the Biblical background? Final decisions?

6. Maida, loving civilisation, the hardships of being on the island? Her preserving decorum in the house, at the meal table? Telling her son stories of the past? Making her son a mother's boy? Her fear in the episode with the leopard? Her reaction to John training David as a hunter, the bloodthirsty achievement, killing the wild pigs? The change with David growing up, her awareness of puberty? His attentions and gifts to her? The way he looked? Her tenderness for him? The moral dilemma, the scriptural background? The rivalry with his father? The final confrontation on the cliff top? Her fears? To live or to die, to allow him to express his sexuality or not? The future?

7. David, a genial boy, the exhilaration of the island? Loved by mother and father? Civilised and educated? At play? Learning to be a hunter, his father teaching him, stalking the animals, killing the wild pigs? The transition? The adolescent, smouldering attitudes, attracted to his mother, the gifts? The rivalry with his father? Setting the traps - helping his mother avoid them? His father and his being strung up? The clash? The need for self-expression, with his mother - her fears, resistance? His father, burnt and angry? The future?

8. The possibility of rescue, setting the beacon fire, isolated for 7 years, for another 7 years? Everything changing - and Maida setting alight to the house? Burning her husband?

9. Moral issues, society and its moral norms, moral law, individuals bound? Different situations - especially with three people on an island, sexual drives and expression? The film evoking the issues, emotional responses? Not providing answers?