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THE KING IS ALIVE

“Negativity Thrives”

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

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Violence
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What You Need To Know:

THE KING IS ALIVE is another movie based on a Neo-Marxist cinematic movement from Denmark called Dogme 95. Dogme 95 calls for minimalist, pretentious filmmaking of the worst sort and that’s exactly what viewers get in this tale of a bunch of rude Western tourists stranded in the North African desert. Miles Anderson plays Jack, an actor who suggests to his stranded companions that they perform Shakespeare’s KING LEAR to pass the time. The group soon descends into backbiting, lunacy and sexual jealousies.

THE KING IS ALIVE doesn’t have a worldview so much as an atmosphere, and the atmosphere here is one of negativity and pessimism. Furthermore, little light is shed on the psychology of the characters, unless you count the psyche of a conceited middle aged who manages to get Jennifer Jason Leigh to fornicate with him. To quote another Shakespeare play, the story is mostly “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Naturally, this is a low-budget affair, but that’s no excuse. Movies like THE BASKET also are low-budget, but they manage to use their money to create well-photographed, well-edited works of art

Content:

(HH, B, PCPC, LLL, V, SS, NN, AA, D, MM) Nihilistic humanist worldview with minor references to God & political correctness regarding Third World people versus Westerners; 54 obscenities, 5 strong profanities, 5 mild profanities, & poisoned woman vomits; murder by deliberate poisoning; depicted fornication, married woman cheats on husband & sexual taunting; partial sexual nudity; alcohol use & drunkenness; smoking; and, jealousy, psychological blackmail & lust.

More Detail:

THE KING IS ALIVE is another movie based on a Neo-Marxist, anti-capitalist cinematic movement from Denmark called Dogme 95. Dogme 95 calls for minimalist, pretentious filmmaking of the worst sort and that’s exactly what viewers get in this tale of a bunch of rude Western tourists stranded in the North African desert. Miles Anderson plays Jack, an actor who suggests to his stranded companions that they perform Shakespeare’s KING LEAR to pass the time. The group soon descends into backbiting, raw emotions, lunacy, and sexual jealousies.
THE KING IS ALIVE doesn’t have a worldview so much as an atmosphere, and the atmosphere here is one of negativity and pessimism. Furthermore, little light is shed on the psychology of the characters, unless you count the psyche of a conceited middle aged who manages to get Jennifer Jason Leigh to fornicate with him. To quote another Shakespeare play, the story is mostly “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Naturally, this is a low-budget affair, but that’s no excuse. Movies like THE BASKET and Billy Graham’s ROAD TO REDEMPTION also are low-budget, but they manage to use their money to create well-photographed, well-edited works of art.