MovieChat Forums > Der siebente Kontinent (1992) Discussion > 'what was so 'shocking' about this film?...

'what was so 'shocking' about this film? -spoiler alert

posted 18 years ago by kiljoy78
5 replies | jump to latest

A family commits sucide. Wow! I mean really people. There is little characterization for these folks, you have no real plot. It is merely an event that ends the film. A statement of fact such as, "the boy fell in the well and broke his neck", actually it's less than that because my visualization of a boy is much fuller than any of the characters of this film. Needless to say, I was less than awestruck with this peice of work. But really, I am somewhat open to rethinking this film if there are bits I've missed, however, none of what has been written has shed any new light on what makes this film important.

[–] Bitter_Almonds 18 years ago

If you saw the movie as "a family that commits suicide" as the entirety of the plot, then you missed the forest for the trees. Don't you think that the fact you saw "little characterisation for these folks" might have something to do with the totality of the plot of the movie? In this instance, we are given a voyeuristic perspective into the family. If we did not end up getting to know these characters - deep down - it is because they were devoid of personality; slowly and slowly they lost the essential qualities of what made them who they are (spiritually or otherwise). What made it shocking to me is that the little girl did not come to realise the seriousness of this event until it was too late. I was kinda shocked at that - the notion of killing your own kid out of hopelessness/depression/ideas about life/etc. should be something profoundly disturbing.

Do The Mussolini! Headkick!

[–] Rurik_Snorri 18 years ago

There is a fundamenal flaw to this film. A robot - which this family seems to be like, utterly devoid of emotion - will not choose to comit suicide.

Having said that, this is probably the most terrifying film I have ever seen, on par with Mouchette but even more disturbing.

[–] przgzr 18 years ago

I wrote a bit about this machine-human relation in my comment. But I prefer comparing this family with a machine; machine would never comit suicide, but as I wrote - a machine has no instinct for surviving. So there is no problem for a machine to just stop operating. Machines do it all the time. And I compared this slow but thorough process of self-destruction to shutting down the computer: terminating programs one by one, closing windows... everything goes step by step till a dark screen appears.

Yes, a robot probably wouldn't do it. Especially if Asimov's three laws of robotics are implemented. Siebente Kontinent shows that dehumanisation of modern society decresed value of human being under the level of robots.

The question is... would HAL or Dave win and survive in the world of today? Or none of them would care?

[–] Bitter_Almonds 18 years ago

To commit suicide was the only way to tell this family had a choice - that they were not automatons.

Do The Mussolini! Headkick!

[–] spartafan2002 15 years ago

they have qualities of a "robot" and automatons, but they're clearly human. a flaw in your argument is that they aren't actually robots. they are human. they've become robot-like, yes, but that human part in them is still there. shrunken, neglected, and malnourished, but still there. what's interesting is it is precisely this human part of them that motivates them to end it all, when the instinct to survive and thrive is considered inherent in all creatures. the family's humanity basically mercy-kills itself, before it is completely destroyed. better to destroy yourself than to be destroyed.