By Keri O’Shea
Often times, the thing that makes or breaks a dystopian horror is its level of plausibility. Could we – honestly – foresee a scenario which at all resembles that which is depicted in our film? Is it all a little too close for comfort? It’s a fine line to walk though; too familiar, too everyday, and that note of alarm won’t be heard. Too improbable, and we won’t engage with it in the manner intended. The Purge, overall, manages to weave an effective dystopian yarn. At times, its plot is too heavily signposted – however, this isn’t enough to overpower a very interesting premise, which for the most part is explored entertainingly on-screen.
We find ourselves in an America which has, by all accounts, overcome some very dark days: economic depression, social breakdown and high levels of crime had blighted the country until the intervention of the so-called New Founding Fathers, who introduced radical social changes, the notion of ‘The Purge’ being one of them. This means that, from 7pm until 7am on one day of the year, all crime – including murder – is completely legal. The success of this policy has been widespread because now, crime is at an all-time low, the economy is strong and society is running as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. People can get all of their hatred and loathing out of their systems in one designated time-slot, and then, exorcised, they can go back to their lives. The Purge works.
The Purge also provides scope for entrepreneurship, satisfying that most fabled element of American life – the American Dream. James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) is a very successful home security system salesman; protecting others (or at least those rich enough to pay) has meant James Sandin is wealthy enough to provide his family with a lavish home in an affluent neighbourhood. We meet the Sandins on the night of The Purge, and together James, wife Mary (Lena Headey), tech-geek son Charlie (Max Burkholder) and inexplicably-Catholic-schoolgirl-uniform-clad daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane) are preparing to go into lock-down until it’s all over. However, when Charlie, who is ‘too young to understand’ the necessity of Purging, lets a terrified, fleeing man into their home, those hunting him come to reclaim their quarry. Moral dilemmas and mayhem ensue.
I had assumed, upon reading the basic premise for this film and the idea that the whole of America was free to partake in a day of violence, that it would play out as a pursuit through lawless streets, so I was surprised to find instead a home invasion movie (although, with another Purge movie already on its way, it’s certainly possible that the different angle could happen in future.) And, as home invasion movies go, this is actually a pretty good one, despite the fact that The Purge feels the need to oh-so clearly delineate several of its plot markers at the beginning (‘What’s that, son? You’ve built a remote-controlled video camera with night vision?’) and thus comes across as a teeny bit patronising in its initial stages. Once the screenplay feels assured that the audience knows what’s going on, though, it begins to play with some more sophisticated ideas. The briefest of TV bulletins here, a snippet of radio there is enough to set up the premise; at the time of writing, it’s hardly as if we need too much help to imagine a world struggling through economic meltdown and mass social protests, so the film is free to move into its fantasy of what could be done to put things right, without feeling the urge to break down its political meta-message into monosyllables, at least once it feels it has our full attention.
Of course, the idea that human violence can be isolated and compartmentalised into society-friendly outlets is not a new one. The Purge reminds me in a few ways of a science fiction story entitled ‘The Seventh Victim’ by Robert Scheckley; in Scheckley’s imagination, society has permitted those who wish to indulge in violence to sign up to become ‘assassins’; thus murder is legal, but only for those who choose to partake – and they are only allowed to kill other, designated assassins, thus making society safe for everyone else. The Purge mirrors this in several respects, including rendering down the violence itself to something quite minor when compared to the implications of legal murder overall. Although the film has some brief, very bloody interludes, this definitely ain’t The Raid on two storeys. The Purgers who arrive at the Sandin home – part Manson family, part finishing school drop-outs – emanate threat more than they act upon it. The decision to personify one of this group and to turn him into a spokesperson is in some ways an odd idea (why wear a mask you are so happy to remove?) but you can’t deny that Rhys Wakefield in this role has a certain psychopathic charm.
The Purge does have some issues in how it opts to defuse on-screen threats, and at times it settles into a mode whereby you know exactly how we will get from a scene of peril to one of vindication, which is unfortunate, as it is also capable of some effective about-face scenes. All told though, the film may have some questionable elements, but for the way it provides political commentary without preaching and generates tension – even if sometimes by familiar means – it remains a succinct, competent home invasion movie with an intriguing contextual story. It’ll be interesting to see where we go from here, since we already know that we will be going somewhere…
The Purge is in selected UK cinemas now and will be released in the US on 7th June 2013.