Agenda Movie Club: Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983

Anand Tucker

2009

So, here is the end, and it’s not nearly as bleak as I expected. I gather the books are a bit tougher.

Still, I’ve used the words “rot” and “filth” a lot when talking about the webs this series weaves, and they’re just as appropriate here. The major revelations aren’t as much of a mind-fuck here as they were in 1980, but we do find out that the horror of what has been happening touches pretty much every part of society. What a deeply fucked existence.

I don’t want to talk about it, really, because it would be a shame to give it away for people (most of you) who haven’t seen these films. I will just say that what we learn is both unsurprising and disgustingly shocking.

I’m not always too fond of happy endings, but I have to admit that the one here was a welcome relief. As bleak as this series was, a little light at the end helped me not to see all of humanity as a disgusting mass of vomit.

This really is an extraordinary series, though very difficult. This one, of course, made reference to the others in small ways (in 1974 I noticed a man walking on a hill in the background of one scene– a very striking image– and now we know what was happening and it gives that first scene a much larger, far more ominous context). I don’t really feel like any of these could be watched on their own and be fully understood. You’re probably best off just thinking of the three films as one very long movie.

But just be prepared.