THE PARALLAX VIEW
US, 1974, 102 minutes, Panavision.
Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter Mc Ginn, Hume Cronyn.
Directed by Alan J. Pakula.
The Parallax View is topical. Recent American politics seem to give credibility to speculations about plots, conspiracy and double dealing that previously would have been considered highly exaggerated. Executive Action explored the hypotheses of a skilfully plotted conspiracy to murder John F. Kennedy with a skilful cover up programme.
This film is in the same vein although designed more as a thriller than semidocumentary like Executive Action. It is an enjoyable thriller of the sombre variety with death and duplicity looking more real and not just as the usual trappings of fiction.
Parallax is an organisation for conspiracy and the film shows hero-reporter, (Warren Beatty), penetrating the organisation. The glimpses of how such an organisation might work, especially an audiovisual brainwashing session, are impressive. The whole film naturally raises many questions about politics and justice, right and wrong.
Director of the film is Alan J. Pakula, a former producer who has directed four films, The Sterile Cuckoo, Klute, and Love and Pain, All the President's Men.
1. What is the meaning of the title? The society, the use of the word 'parallax' and 'view'? The irony in the title?
2. Comment on the structure of the film: the first assassination, the judicial atmosphere during the credits, the repetition of this sequence at the end, with its irony? How ironic and telling was this? Comment on the use of colour and Panavision and all the panorama of American Politics.
3. How significant were the implications of the first assassination? Audience belief about what happened? The leader and the happy atmosphere of an American celebration, the group at the top of the building in the restaurant, the behaviour of the senator and his wife, the suddenness of the assassination, the role of the waiter, the other waiter being chased and dying? Did you believe what the commission found about a single minded assassination? The irony of this at the end?
4. Could the audience identify well with Joe? What kind of person was he? As a reporter and skilful in his work? Associated with politics? A loner, his drinking? His response to the girl and his pushing of the inquiry? His relationship with and his reliance on his boss? His courage in entering into the parallax system? His physical fitness and ingenuity? His skill in detection? The risks to his life? How heroic was he meant to be? Our response to his heroism? Heroism in the face of politics and duplicity in America?
5. How important was the girl's fear at the beginning of the film? The atmosphere of tension? The number of people who died? The communication of fear? Did you believe her? Did you expect her to die? How did this motivate Joe in his search and our response to this search? The importance of the support by the newspaper? Was it a rash promise on the part of the editor? His continued interest in and support for ice? Your response to his being killed? Does the parallax system exist in America today? Do people think this way and use such assassination bureaux for their political ends?
6. Comment on the personalities of the people involved in parallax. The style of the advertisements? The skilful presentation of the test? How important and central was this for the film?
7. The candidate and his being led by his contact, the darkened room; comment on the content of the slides and the jumbling, the musical background. the subliminal effect that it had on the person watching, the fascist implications. the aggression and cruelty as well as self justification? The smooth-talking contacts and the persuasion of the parallax people? The two sheriffs as examples of hired assassins? The waiter? The intricacy of their plans and cover-up (the removal of the tape from the editor's room)? The possibility of conspiracy in America today?
8. How important was Joe's encounter with the Sheriffs? His advice for infiltrating this particular area? The fights with the sheriff and the meaning? The personalities of the sheriffs?
9. How important was the sequence of consultation with the psychologist about the aggression test for parallax? The importance of the sequence where he went on the ship with the political adviser, the blowing up of the ship and his escape? The importance of this for his pursuit of the truth?
10. Comment on the atmosphere created by the rehearsal for the convention. The senator and the inevitable build-up of fear an our part for his life? The background and hoopla of American politics and television? The shock of the assassination, the hall and its colours, the dive of the dead man into the tables?
11. How exciting was the culmination by the chase of Joe? Did you expect him to die? The impact of this on you? Could you believe it? Why?
12. How important was the theme of right and wrong, a sense of justice, the use of people for killings and political purposes, politics and dirtiness, the need for courage and investigation? How real was this in view of American politics, assassination, conspiracies?
