We already wrote about Joker on our Italian version of this website. Joker is a movie directed by Todd Phillips with Joaquin Phoenix as the main character. Phoenix won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at Oscar Academy Award. A prize he fully deserved.
Plot
“Joker” is an original, standalone story. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.
Review
This movie was released last year. And we can say it’s a real masterpiece. Usually, I don’t like superhero movies. I avoided almost all of them. But can. we define Joker only a superhero movie? Absolutely not! We can clearly find a social condemnation about a blind society and an invisible disease that stagnate in the human soul until comes out with its putrid stink and corruption’s stench.
And this is what we are going to speak about.
From Arthur Fleck to Joker. A street to madness.
We are starting our analysis from the main character. Arthur Fleck is an outcast. And the world around him won’t give any assistance to escape to drowning. His mother has a mental illness like him. And this is like a higher weight on his shoulder. He had to bury himself and his feeling when he needs to interact with her. We can say that Mrs Fleck is an escape from that reality that abandoned her and just shows violence and pain. Her react was closing the door to all whole world and create a different one on her own.
But this had consequences on her son that experiment the same violence and same cruel destiny. But Arthur reacts in a different way. And here born his disorder and the fool and unstoppable laugh.
His adult life isn’t even better. His responsibilities intensify. He found out himself outcasted and mocked-up like he isn’t even a person. Until the day he found out a gun in his pocket and shoots one of his aggressors.
Until a little while ago, it was like nobody ever saw me.
Even I didn’t know if I really existed.
[..]
For my whole life, I didn’t know if I even really existed.
But I do.
And people are starting to notice
And here the character born. Arthur Fleck changes himself in the Joker. A desperate screen “I exist. The whole world will notice!” A self-affirmation act in the only way he knows. A disturbed and violent way the world used on him. It’s a crescendo that reaches the highest point of madness. The Joker became a symbol, a martyr of class war. A war against the rich who step on the people.
An extraordinary performance
At the beginning of this article, we said Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at Oscar Academy Award. His performance is extraordinary. His acting, his facial expression, body’s movement, the nervous tics fit perfectly to the character. Phoenix is perfect. Plus, the soundtrack emphasizes the atmosphere following the inner path of the main character until the final explosion of his rage.
A wonderful movie to watch with conscious and analyze deeply. And maybe we can learn something as often the pain is hidden behind a laugh and how blindness to people’s needs can bring consequences.
