University of Virginia Library

Why

Why? What was the purpose of it? Better
yet, why did the movie come back to
Charlottesville to insult us again?

I think the most important message of
the movie had something to do with the
mind of the revolutionary. This is especially
relevant in light of the radical students over
the country advocating revolution.

Director Brooks wants to show us that
the loonies in the asylum are as crazy as the
revolutionaries. Why, the radicals murder
even more maliciously than any torture De
Sade could think up.

The picture of the destruction of the
French Revolution is desperate. We see
people purifying the movement with uncalled-for
fanaticism. All the characters in
both the play and the real thing are seen as
men with problems, each struggling to do
what he can for himself, yet visibly
professing the revolution as his Messiah.

The end of the play, when everybody in
the insane asylum starts screaming and
attacking the guards, the nuns and all the
authorities, is the most biting comment of
the whole movie. Maybe the student leaders
at the University are not quite as guilty of
this as others, but I know some other
should see Marat's eulogy before they burr
down their own administration buildings.