King Kong: a review.

"The history of the world, as it is writen and handed down by word of mouth, often fails us completely; but man’s intuitive capacity, though it often misleads, does lead, does not ever abandon one. And so, for instance, the tradition of the seven wonders of the world has always had associated with it the rumor that there was another, an eight wonder of the world, and concerning this eighth wonder there were various, perhaps contradictory, statements made, the vagueness of which was explained by the obscurity of ancient times." - Franz Kafka

     I love King Kong, let's get that out of the way. It may be my favorite movie of all time, at least the original 1933 RKO King Kong. To me, Willis o' Brien's animation on the film created film's equivalent of Hamlet to the medium it was executed in. The way the gorilla in the film is the most sympathetic monster ever created. Now you may write this off as pretentious hyperbole, but there is something about the creation of identity in the animation of kong, that still amazes me in a way that I can not explain. The nuance of the creature as it blindly chases after Ann reminds me of my own blind rage to not be alone.  But the sadistic brute that plays with the dead t-rex jaw is more akin to a mafia hitman, or a tired old boxer shocked that he could still beat a man to death even if that is what he set out to do. The film is a fairytale parable about how the reality we live in is a machine that doesn't kill fascists, but anything it does not understand, and that fascism is so pure even a child can understand it. Kong is about an actual alpha male that is held accountable for things that are higher than him. Things that are out of all of our control. There are no fair fights only a system that wants to take more than we can give.  And when we can't give what it wants, the system makes us provide even more. Even if that means something is lost unto the world and like all wonders, we fade into history, so be it.