Sutherlands belief in the power of film stems from a double-bill he watched in Toronto in 1954, aged 19: a state of bliss cast by Federico Fellinis La Strada dissolved by Stanley Kubricks first world war drama Paths of Glory . When I came out of that movie I was grabbing stones, pieces of gravel, anything, and throwing them at the street, so much was the rage at the injustice that I felt. One reason The Hunger Games has been so successful – the first film, directed by Gary Ross, made nearly three quarters of a billion dollars at the global box office – is that the allegory can be read multiple ways. A critique, for instance, of central government trampling states rights. Sutherland instead sees a critique of Tea Party-led excesses but he does note a parallel between his character and Barack Obama, whom he supports. I think he realises, like Coriolanus Snow realises, that to exert authority and to control a situation it is necessary to make certain expedient decisions that you would not normally make. I dont think its in his nature to send Predator drones. I thought it was in his nature to get out of Guantánamo, but people prevented that. Its not been easy for him to govern, because this is a very racist society. Sutherland does good villain – sadistic foreman in 1900, sadistic warden in Lock Up – to the extent that a Los Angeles neighbour who saw him as a Nazi spy in Eye of the Needle accosted his wife and asked, appalled, how could she live with him. (His wife, the French-Canadian actor Francine Racette, replied it was his job.) He says he loves the amoral President Snow. I have huge affection for him. I know the turmoil and the trouble thats in his head. Can Snow be redeemed? Sutherland shakes his head and replies with a personal story. We had a housekeeper in Canada, a wonderful woman, whose father raped all of his daughters. She went to see him when he was dying and said, Im here to forgive you. He said, Forgiveness for what? It was my right.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:44:20 +0000
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