What came first, the hen or the egg? It’s not like I ponder over this extremely annoying question everyday. But for me, there has always been something fascinating about beginnings. How does life evolve, how do people build up a business and how does an artist start a new painting? When it comes to film, it is always interesting to look back at a director’s first – often shaky – steps with a camera on her/his shoulders. In this feature, I will look back at a certain director’s first feature film every month.
Most of Stanley Kubrick’s (few) works have gone on to become some of the most iconic movies in the history of cinema. Film noir, sword-and-sandal, sci-fi – the man has done it all. And better than most other directors, for that matter. Having seen all of Kubrick’s films (including the lame early things he made because he needed the money), I noticed that one of his main areas of interest was the subject of war and violence. His second short “Day of the Fight” focused on a poor boxer, Barry Lyndon used the British wars in the 18th century as a violent backdrop, while Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket are some of the most powerful anti-war films out there. What few people know is that even Kubrick’s first feature film wears the label ‘war film’.
Fear and Desire is set in a fictitious or unidentified country in an unnamed war. A supposedly American plane crash lands in the enemy’s territory and four soldiers survive. They now must fight their way back to safety and plan to do so by building a raft and floating on the river at night. However, these plans are crossed when an exotic young woman stumbles upon the group and one of the soldiers tries to fulfill his mission of executing an enemy general who just so happens to be nearby.
Shortly after the release of the film, which had been partly paid for by his father’s life insurance, Stanley Kubrick decided it was too amateurish and tried to destroy every single print. The film was thought to be lost for a long time but was later recovered and is now – surprise, surprise – available on YouTube.
As we know from his later films, Kubrick had great style and taste, so his decision to eliminate Fear and Desire certainly fits that profile. It is not a good film, my dear friends. The quality is a challenge for anyone who has been to the cinema in the last 50-or-so years and the screenplay is not tight enough to make 62 minutes feel like what they are. That being said, it’s not a complete pain to watch this one – in fact, none of Kubrick’s works are. There is definitely something to chew on here and one can smell a hint of the greatness of Kubrick’s later works. The theme is interesting, the effort it took to film it is astonishing (do your research after watching it!) and the acting is not superbad either. So if you’re interested in becoming a Kubrick completionist, there’s not much to be scared of. However, I have seen many better debuts. What I take from this one is that even one of the best directors who have ever walked the streets of Tinseltown started right at the bottom. Which makes Fear and Desire kind of a satisfactory cinematic experience in the end.
