Fate seemed to be in Jack’s hands, but he couldn’t hold on to it. Because he counts on exact technology in a world where things are swayed by human “error” – or something more sinister.
The conflict between needing to open up and having to protect yourself brings fatal consequences in contemporary urban life.
Scarface shows what success means in his adopted country: people trying to snatch as much as they can handle. And even more.
De Palma’s over-the-top violence is exhilarating, because it’s true. Latin America is the playground of savage violence, funded by US dollars. Scarface brings it home.
Scarface has the most colourful cast of sleazy characters since the spaghetti westerns. They are irresistible caricatures who wave their oversized hands around. A lot.
Snake Eyes is set in an isolated environment, which acts as a micro-version of the world we live in. There we see people relentlessly chasing after their dreams, even if it means stomping over their brothers and sisters.
The magic trick with the hands, drawing and hiding the disk, is a display of supreme confidence in the hero’s own abilities. Which is just about all that he has left.
Would you change your fate, if you could? Don’t worry, the director will do it for you.
While men are hoping to hold the situation firmly in control, the universe tends to prove them it’s not quite so easy.
In US political reality, the eyes (shown in a shattering closeup) are a voiceless witness and the lost conscience.
The famous “Steam Control” scene exposes it all.
Bloody arms shown on TV (video transmitter) are used for proof about a dramatic event. Like the manipulated news on mass media.