The Babadook

Hi Guys! I just watched The Babadook. Well, I'm not really a horror/scary/ghost fan, but since this was recommended by a friend, I gave it a try. This movie was written and directed by Jennifer Kent - an Australian actress, writer and director. I loved her take on the scenes. There are usually three parts to a certain scene. For example, there is a door knock, she walks to the door, and opens it. I loved that she always truncates the middle part. Its artistic to take away almost all of the middle parts. There were plenty of them. The son pushes the cousin down the tree house, next scene - in the car. Its not really considered a montage, but I like it when repetitive scenes are repeated with only the essential parts - such as her son's daily nightmare. I haven't read any reviews yet. However I will provide my fresh opinion about this movie. There are a couple of themes that are embedded in the plot. I'll try to discuss as many as I can.

First, its about loneliness. Her husband died, driving her to the hospital while she was in labor - as it was repeated by her son, plenty of times. Some people can't get over death and separation even if they want to. This is seen when she saw a couple kissing on television, and she immediately rushed for her vibrator - and even that she couldn't finish because her son barged in the room. Also, the hallucination of insects, its a sign of loneliness because insects travel in groups. Plenty of movies use this insect hallucination - some of which I can remember is Old-boy and Martyr. She wasn't able to talk about her late husband, just indicates that those areas are still inflamed. On top of all of this, she had really poor support from her family and peers, and also a really annoying old lady as a neighbour.

Second, which came first - the chicken or the egg? Well, in this movie, the Babadook or the Breakdown. The loneliness was not only experienced by the mother. It was also experienced by the son. Before Babadook came about, the mother didn't really have any hallucinations. However, her sleep was already being disturbed due to her loss. The triad of insomnia, loss of a loved one, and the duty of having an overly-curious-down-syndrome-looking kid equals paper cuttings in a book getting their own life. So the breakdown came first. The Babadook tale, was just a correctly timed trigger. The schizophrenia usually takes a form. Her violent self took the form of Babadook and the murderer took the form of her husband wanting his kid back.

Third, love heals? The only reason the son stayed and the mother fought back was all because of love. She had the strength to fight back because she still had a reason to live for. With all her might she fought the Babadook in her, in order to protect her son. It was a really touching moment when the son told the mother "I'm not leaving you, you said we'll protect each other." Well, to say love heals isn't so accurate, because she actually didn't get rid of Babadook, she came to terms with it. The basement signifies that its deep within herself. However, I was unable to get the meaning of the bowl of worms. I think the soil is indicative of pica as a replacement of her violence, but worms are considered living things. Maybe the bowl of worms just signifies shes feeding her hallucinations to keep them alive because she can't really get rid of it. 

Fourth, nobody actually cares. Well, nothing new here, but psychiatric patients really need help and its difficult for them to admit so. I thought the fact that it took weeks to get an appointment with a doctor, only happens in places like my country's government hospitals, however it happens there as well I guess. At one point, I just wished someone would call the social services and take away the child and deem the mother unworthy of taking custody of the child. However, no one bothered to call. Her friends and family didn't care, and the police - well no one can blame them. I'm not entirely sure why, but at one point I wished Babadook should have killed the old neighbor. Shes one of those purposeless characters, where without them there would be no change to the plot.

About the visuals, I really liked it. I loved the fact that there were no jump scares, and terrifying music. I actually really like it when the ghost or hallucination creeps up silently, and stays there or moves closer to the actor/actress slowly. I liked the auditory hallucinations also. It consisted of many voices and occasional meaningful sentences. Finally, Essie Davis did a really good job in her acting. The extremely fatigue look, and the change when Babadook completely took over when she killed the dog, was near perfect. The possession-like scene in the basement with the son - where she was conflicted with herself on killing the son, was beautiful. The saturation, color and contrast of the video together with wooden furniture, old wallpapers and weird basements were all suited to enhance the level of creepiness, and it was successful. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, and it kept my muscles tensed throughout! See ya!