Don't Breathe (2016)
Starring: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette Daniel Zovatto
Written By: Fede Alvarez & Rodo Sayagues
Directed By: Fede Alvarez
Release Date: August 26, 2016
Rating: A
Summary: A group of friends decided to break into the home of a blinded war veteran and steal a fortune, things take a turn for the worst when he decides to fight back.
My Thoughts:
The most frighting thing about Don't Breathe is the feeling you'll get once you leave the theater. It's the implication that what you know and believe to be both right and wrong may not, in fact, be correct. It's a film that twists your expectations on what's to come next and shocks you in ways that are different from other films within the genre. It's a film that leaves you with a "happy ending", but one that you may feel a little uneasy about once the credits roll.
What we're given here is the story of Rocky and her friends who decide to rob the house of a blind war veteran. However, what they least expect and what we least expect is that this man isn't as helpless as we all think he is. And it's once they enter his house and all hell breaks loose that we forget that they're robbers. We fear for their lives, as if they were our own, even thought they don't quite deserve our sympathy. That line between right and wrong is blurred because they deserved the fight they got from him because initially they broke into his home and tried to rob him, but all that is forgotten as the events that occur in this household unfold and being able to do that without much dialogue is quite a feat. There's not much background to any character except the blind man and Rocky, as for everyone else, there's no exact reason to feel sorry them, we just do, even though they don't quite deserve our sympathy. And like the Blind Man, we're blinded too the real horrors of this film because of the fact we're so invested in these criminals staying alive even though we know they were doing was wrong, we just choose to ignore this fact.
This primarily occurs because of Alverez' camerawork. From closeups on the people's faces and once they turn around, they're face-to-face with the blind man to the wide shots of this lonely, desolate neighborhood in Detroit, Alarez uses these kinds of shots to create a cramped, claustrophobic atmosphere and I don't just mean within the house. We're face-to-face with the danger just like they are, so we have no choice, but to want them to stay alive. During every scene, the character's line of sight is towards a way out, like a door or window, but each and every single time they think they've found a way out, the blind man is right there behind them and that line of sight is as if this house is tiny and the Blind Man is just chasing them around a single room, but that's not the case. The house in actuality is quite big, but time and time again, the man is right behind them, he just can't see that they're right there. And even Detroit seems oh, so entrapping. There's a single house, in a single neighborhood and that house is their ticket out of the dank, cramped area that is Detroit. The wide shots of the house make it seem like this house is the entire world and for a moment, it seems that way. Even when Rocky makes it out of the house, she's seemingly going no where in the foggy area surrounding this neighborhood. So, even though there's some sort of civilization out there and we know there is because we've seen it. Alvarez takes us out of there though and places us in this box, this box that is the Blind Man's neighborhood and an even smaller box within that being his house and even when Rocky gets away, she's hitting this barrier. She's going nowhere. She's trying to get out of the state, believing she'll get somewhere in life and that'll she'll somehow see the light and find her way out of dark path she's headed down. But just like when the Blind Man shuts all the lights off in the house and we see the blank stare in Rocky's eyes as she fumbles around in the dark, Rocky's still fumbling around down that dark path in her life because even when she get's away, she'll still that selfish girl who chose to rob a blind man. She's still the reason for her friends death and she's going to still be trapped by that fact no matter where she goes. And the scariest fact of the film is that the monster is not the Blind Man chasing these kids around in his home, it's the kids we're rooting for throughout the whole movie, and more importantly, it's us.