I titled this entry “Discussion #2″ -- we had a "Discussion #1-- but it was early in the life of this blog-- now that we have a body of intelligent people reading-- let's try it again!
There is a challenge I like to extend to my film-fanatic friends, and that is this:
“What are the best movie scenes of all time?”
Seems easy. But I didn’t want the knee-jerk responses, like “Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star” or “Frodo throwing the ring into the fires of Mordor” (I know, I know, technically he didn’t throw the ring in himself). These are truly climactic scenes, but are they truly “great scenes?”
I’m talking about scenes that stick with you LOOOOOONG after you’ve seen the movie. And I mean long after– maybe years.
The scene must transcend the movie. That’s why a knee-jerk response just won’t do– inevitably the answer will come from something you’ve seen recently perhaps, or a scene that gets lumped in with the movie itself. As an example, I watched
“No Country for Old Men” recently, and while it was a great film, I can’t say there was a scene that will stick with me years from now. But I can pick another great Coen Brothers’ film,
“Miller’s Crossing” and I can definitively say that the scene involving the attempted assassination of Albert Finney’s mob boss while “Danny Boy” is playing on the record player (that’s the only soundtrack for that amazing sequence) is on my list of “All-time great Movie Scenes.” Like a great moment in my life, I remember it to this day, in its finest details.
I think that’s why it’s difficult to create a “Best Scenes” list, because only the truly great ones should be those that pop into your head years and years later, when asked “What are the Greatest movie scenes of All Time?” You need a bit of amnesia to make this work– only those scenes that are indelibly carved into your memory should make the list.
28 Weeks Later
That being said, I’m going to break this rule right now, to get the discussion going. The movie I’m going to refer to is a fairly new release (OK-- if you're reading this now-- it came out in 2011) and so therefore hasn’t stood the test of time (based on the criteria I’ve listed above). Only time will tell whether I think the following scene deserves to be on the list of “All-Time Great
Zombie Movie scenes”, let alone one of the “Greatest Movie Scenes of All-time.”
The scene is from the movie “28 Weeks Later”, (sequel to “28 Days Later”) and is basically the first 10 minutes of the movie. The mood is so intense and claustrophobic, I was finding it hard to breath watching it.
The scene plays out like this:
Survivors (of apparently
“28 Day Later”) have barricaded themselves into what appears to be a small cabin or house (you only see the inside, initially). Lighting for the scene is provided only by candles, and the survivors are preparing to eat supper. Everyone is on edge and moody, when a child comes to their door from the outside. When the door is opened we realize, for the first time, that it’s a very bright and sunny summer day outside. Then darkness again as the child is ushered in and the door slammed shut. The ensuing violence that quickly follows (as the child has been pursued by very fast-moving zombies —
zoombies as I like to call them) is some of the most intense and riveting action in a movie I’ve experienced in a long time (which is really saying something considering the number of zombie movies I've watched). The scene culminates with our hero escaping the claustrophobia of the house to the beautiful English countryside. He is seen racing from the house across a gorgeous green field (the camera tracking him from a distance) as, what can only be described as a swarm of racing zoombies pour over the top of the hill toward him. The juxtaposition of the beautiful landscape and open sky, with the crazy split-second cuts (insane camera-held jittery shots, pounding soundtrack and gnashing teeth) showing the landscape as it’s seen by the zoombies as they close in on our hero… just brilliant! It’s too bad the rest of the movie didn’t quite live up to this opening scene.
The scene has stuck with me for a few months. We’ll see how it holds up over time.
