Fight for your Right! (To be heard). Review on Fight Club (1999)

There is no dearth of reviews on Fight Club and some of them are quite well written, so you might wonder why I felt the need to write one now, particularly when most people have already seen the movie (I am guessing). Well, I was told by some, that this wasn?t a kind of movie that would appeal to the fair sex, owing to the fact that all girls care about is makeup and mushy love stories. I beg to differ. I think most women decided to steer clear of the movie, thanks to its title, assuming that it must be another action flick (read guy movie) with mindless violence and unwarranted nudity.

Contrary to what the name suggests, the movie is not merely about a club who?s members like to knock each other?s lights out, but rather about the defiance of ?collective individuals? (a paradox) towards the society that sees us as insignificant worker ants with no personal aspirations and when we acquire a bit of wealth , we are expected to play the role of passive consumers willing to buy anything new that comes in the market and ready to compete against each other to see who can squander money faster.

It is this discontent with the hollow materialism that leads the ?club? to plan its first mission, aptly named ?mayhem?. In the context of the movie, it is not about being destructive and doing away with all man-made structures and institutions but about letting go of inhibitions and fears that have turned us into soulless zombies, quite like that surreal Pink Floyd video (Another Brick in the wall). Forgive me if I seem to have deviated from my course but I think the movie is primarily about the loss of ?identity?, and it seems that there is a whole genre of movies (matrix, for instance) that address our generation?s growing concern with human predicament and the precarious position of man in the fast changing world.

Amidst all this man looses his touch with ?reality? and then arises a need for something to jolt him out of his stupor. In the movie it is ?pain? that serves this purpose. We notice the protagonist (?) has this morbid obsession with ?pain.? Is it that he thrives on physical pain since it relieves him of his mental anguish? Or is it that it makes him feel alive and ?real?, just as you ask someone to pinch you when you find yourself questioning things around you.

This is a very relevant movie for our times because it conveys an important message which is that we have to be willing to even ?scream? or ?shout? if we have to, to make ourselves heard above the cacophony or droning of the faceless masses, or else we might be left with no choice but ?chaos? as seen in the movie. Things need to be changed for good or we?ll keep producing more men like Timothy Mcveigh, (Oklahoma bomber) who see nothing wrong with committing gruesome murders. The following are his words and throw some light on what he felt was a justification for his crimes. I leave you with these lines in the hope that next time you watch the movie you do not fail to appreciate the superb portrayal of the modern man and his dilemma.

?Out of the night that covers me

I'm the captain of my soul.?

(The final statement of Timothy Mcveigh, the Oklahoma bomber.)