Sex and war in an extremely sarcastic and intelligent film.
This film is one of the best of director Stanley Kubrick's career, and is also one of the most iconic and acidic satire that cinema has ever seen. Inspired by a tense novel that was published in the same period, and by the political and military events that were taking place at the time, the film shoots in all directions to give us the most absurd and ridiculous image of the rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union. Despite everything, and all the points in favor, I don't think this film is a true comedy. To me, honestly, it didn't make me laugh, although I absorb and understand the acidic irony that is here.
The script begins with a very serious incident that could be true (and the US even reviewed its military strategies in order to prevent something similar from happening in real life): after inventing, in his troubled mind, a crazy conspiracy theory according to which the Soviets are poisoning American drinking water, a crazed general initiates a pre-orchestrated military protocol designed to retaliate against a Russian attack with the full force of their nuclear arsenal. But with one detail: there was no Russian attack, which would make the Americans the aggressor country, and responsible for a holocaust of biblical proportions. Informed of this, the president meets with his generals and, in direct articulation with the Kremlin, tries by all means to prevent the worst.
What's extraordinary about this film is the way it ridicules the sexual arousal that several characters have around nuclear war. For these characters, the end of the world, total war, is an absolute fetish, portrayed in almost erotic detail. The most obvious cases are Generals Ripper and Turgidson: each, in his own way, vehemently expressing the mental connection they make between sex and war. Whether by the way they speak and express themselves, or more implicitly, by holding phallic elements that are increasingly evident, they are men who are horny in war. In the same line of thought, the commander of the American aircraft, who becomes a cowboy on horseback in the bomb, as if this were an extension of his male phallus. And what about the character of Strangelove? His name says it all! He is a Nazi scientist in the service of the Americans, and the way he tries to contain his excitement in anticipation of the end of the world is evident, for example, in the idea he suggests of a bunker where the survivors, handpicked (the Nazi idea of the eugenics is very present here), would spend their time having sex to save the human race.
This is one of the great films in the career of Peter Sellers, a British actor who is famous for comedy. I've seen several of his films, and I already know his ability to play more than one character in the same film. Here, he gives life to three of the main characters, always with the same quality and professionalism. He is so good that it was really difficult to recognize the actor. George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden are also to be congratulated for the work they did in this film, which was certainly one of the ones that most immortalized them as actors.
The best technical aspect of the film is the cinematography. Kubrick used various techniques to convey his erotic-military message, such as the opening credits, where an in-flight refueling becomes a symbolic copulation. The camera framing was also thought out in detail, with strategically placed close-up scenes, some characters very well highlighted and others reduced to the smallest expression of themselves (the American president, who is portrayed as incompetent, like his army is able to control). The film is a true lesson in black-and-white cinematography. The sets and costumes are also excellent, and the attack on the air base is one of the best and most realistic combat scenes I've seen in a modern war film. The soundtrack, finally, is one of the most ironic there is, and it perfectly matches the tone of the film. Highlight, of course, for the opening and ending themes.
