Hostel 2-aka Why I'm afraid of rich white people
The heart of the American body is capitalism. If that heart were to have a malignant tumor , it would be titled Hostel 2. I just got out of the theater from an advance screening with the director. Ok, first off, if you hate slasher films, don’t go see this movie. If you love slasher flicks, the then gods of blood and gore have blessed you and Eli Roth is your prophet.
Hostel 2 picks up exactly where the first leaves off, both literally and symbolically. In the vein of The empire strikes back, Evil dead 2, and Superman 2 it truly is better than the first one. Those who know Eli Roth’s work (Cabin Fever, Hostel, and the Thanksgiving trailer from Grind house) are familiar with his cinematic lexicon of straight ahead harder, faster, longer death, blood and gore. Hostel 2 can easily be seen as his master thesis on the semantics of the decapitated and disemboweled. The coup de grace which I will not be a prick and spoil for anyone, will leave some feeling vindicated and others just plain sore. But rather than focus solely on the gore of the film, (There will be debates about whether such a film, but really they will mean genre, is necessary when the country is at war, children are killing other children, and a little white girl is lost somewhere in America. The answer of course, is Yes) I choose to look at the unstated terror the film represents: Rich white people.
Anyone familiar with Hostel 1 or Hostel 2 knows the basic premise, people pay to kill other people in the middle of central Europe. Now while the first movie warned stupid white children against taking advantage of the economic desolation of the white third world, this sequel allows for a clearer analysis of those paying for the privilege of killing. These are affluent white (in one case Asian) people with PDAs and corporate jobs who play golf and have families. They sniff cocaine in moderation and jog in the morning, all the time thinking about the type of power they will radiate once they’ve killed someone else. At one point a character, a potential killer, asks his friend whether or not they are sane. His friend replies of course they are sane. In places where there are no laws, “Like Chad or New Orleans…” people kill each other all the time. Yes, he said like Chad or New Orleans. Now its easy to be disgusted by such a statement, but I personally appreciate the honesty. See, a lot of times people don’t understand why some white people scare me. I’m not afraid of all white people, just rich ones who feel like they are lacking something in their lives. What they could be lacking is witnessing the death of a crazy negro with dreads who writes rambling blog entries. You know, like you’d find in Chad or New Orleans.
I won’t spoil the ending of the film by giving you the moral of the tale. Suffice to say the justice meted out in the film speaks to the reality of heart of not only the United States, but also the world. Not for the feint of heart, Hostel 2 is the best, and most potentially thought provoking slasher flicks I’ve seen in years.
posted by afrogeek at 12:25 AM
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