Category: documentaries

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Room 237

This is a review of Room 237, directed by Rodney Ascher. Room 237 is a documentary about conspiracy theories that focuses on the movie version of The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick. There is a miniseries of The Shining, also, but we shall not speak of that. You can find my review of the Stephen King novel, here.

Short summary: The Shining is one of the greatest horror movies of the 20th century, but it is an ordeal to watch. Kubrick described his movie as “the story of one man’s family quietly going insane together.” None of those family members are very likable or pleasant. Jack Torrance is verbally abusive, his wife Wendy’s coping mechanisms are grating, and Danny is subject to fit and seizures.

Kubrick packs a bunch of subliminal imagery into The Shining. There is Freudian stuff involving mirrors, mazes and doppelgangers, along with lots of fairy tale imagery. Some of the imagery means something, such as when Wendy wears the same clothes as the Goofy sticker on her son’s bedroom door. Some of the imagery might mean something – based on recurring bear imagery, one can make an argument that Danny was being sexually abused by his father. Some of the imagery doesn’t mean anything at all, or might mean things the author never intended.

But it is still there, and viewers pick up on it. A side-effect of all the subliminal imagery in The Shining is that it might give people the impression that there’s something happening that they are missing. I am one of those people. Some might invent narratives based on what they think is missing (I am not one of those people), and that is the subject of Room 237.

This documentary asks the question, what is the line between lucidity and lunacy? Spoiler: we don’t get an answer. Does the number 42 pop up everywhere in The Shining? Yes, that is undeniable – Jackie Robinson (No. 42), The Summer of 42, Room 237 (2x3x7). Does that mean Kubrick was commenting on the Holocaust, which is one of the theories espoused by the interviewees? Debatable!

Does the fact that Danny wears a rocket ship sweater mean Kubrick created footage faking the Moon landing? The Overlook itself is a labyrinth with an impossible window. Does that make Jack a Minotaur? If you watch The Shining forwards and backwards, what will you see? Is there a cloud with Jack’s face superimposed on it in the beginning of The Shining? I couldn’t see it, but someone else did. Was it real?

Parts of Room 237 are a slog to watch, but I have never seen a better documentary illustrating why people believe in conspiracy theories. Recommended for conspiracy theory buffs and fans of The Shining!

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Unseen

Unseen is a documentary about Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell, who murdered eleven women. This movie reminded me of another documentary called Tales of the Grim Sleeper. The subject matter of these documentaries is eerily similar, drugs, prostitution, poverty, mass murder and the apathy of the authorities.

Unseen consists of interviews, mostly with the women who encountered Mr. Sowell. Many of these women were prostitutes struggling with drug addiction at the time. There is also news and police footage. There are no interviews of law enforcement authorities in Unseen, and after watching this documentary it’s not hard to figure out why.

Mr. Sowell was not careful about covering his tracks. An awful smell permeated the streets near his home, which residents thought came from the local sausage shop. When police entered his house, they found four decaying bodies. A few of Mr. Sowell’s victims escaped, and he let a few of them go. One tried to press charges and was unsuccessful, even though Mr. Sowell was a known sex offender who spent fifteen years in jail. Another jumped out of a second-floor window to get away from him; authorities thought he was her husband because he rode in the ambulance to the hospital with her. According to the documentary, none of the disappearances of his eleven victims was ever investigated.

Unseen is the type of movie that makes you think the world is a piece of shit. The guy who owns the convenience store next to Mr. Sowell’s house says on camera that Mr. Sowell was doing the world a favor. We see police footage. The investigators are eating potato chips while interviewing Mr. Sowell.