I was in college during the beltway sniper attacks. The nature of the killings was fascinating, it was so clean it looked like people were dropping dead on the street, murdered by the invisible man himself. What was it exactly: the cleanest serial killing or one long, elaborated mass murder? The directorial debut of Alexandre Moors BLUE CAPRICE is a courageous examination of what lead to this trail of death and paranoia. The taboo nature of its subject confined the movie to niche markets, but it doesn't take anything away from its quality. Not only BLUE CAPRICE is a profound, fearless introspection on a moment of ubiquitous fear, but it's a chilling, eerie visual meditation on violence in the heart of men.
Nobody ever really paid attention to who John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo actually were. Even after their trial, they symbolized evil in men. They got locked up and the key was proverbially thrown away. John Allen Muhammad has been executed since, in 2009 *. I don't know anybody aside from Alexandre Moors who challenged themselves to find the beltway snipers human qualities. BLUE CAPRICE examines how Muhammad stumbled into Lee Boyd Malvo's life as a much needed father figure. He showed an abandonned kid the ways of the world, raised him according to his distorted vision of things. John Allen Muhammad was a psychopath looking for revenge on the American Dream and found what he was looking for in Malvo: a devoted soldier.
I dare you to read some of the negative reviews of BLUE CAPRICE on Rotten Tomatoes. They are so unfair, they somewhat heightened my enjoyment of the movie. One movie critic slams the film for not making a statement about violence. Another one gave it a negative review for not giving the viewer a sense of catharsis or closure. What the fuck? Since when does a movie have a responsibility to make you feel good? BLUE CAPRICE looks at a cold, hard truth: John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo killed innocent people because they American Dream didn't drop at their feet when they stepped on U.S soil, the land of opportunity. It also exposes another, more frightening fact: they were going to continue. They had a plan to overthrow the system. It was a psychopathic, highly unrealistic plan, but it was not stupid. That, ladies and gentlemen, is scary as hell. Not every movie would've let that threat linger by the time credits rolled.
So what does BLUE CAPRICE do if it doesn't judge and condemn the actions of two nefarious killers? It stands as a silent witness to the banality of evil. It depicts how John Allen Muhammad's ideas came to life: how he poorly dealt with his own failures and built a righteous narrative for his cause. The most striking scenes are those where extreme violence rubs shoulders with the every day life. The scene where Muhammad talks about shooting pregnant women and children in a supermarket, for example. BLUE CAPRICE also depicts one of the shootings and the contrast between the world in the crowded parking lot and the world inside the killers' car is downright fascinating. The minimalist portrait of violence in BLUE CAPRICE is striking. It leaves the same otherworldly impression as when you're faced with extreme violence in everyday life.
There is a good chance you didn't know BLUE CAPRICE existed until today. Don't feel guilty about that, I didn't either until Josie pointed it out to me on Netflix. It's a movie that's already been thrown into oblivion for all the wrong reasons. People don't like to feel responsible for what they can't fathom, so being empowered with the possibility to form an unbiased opinion about such hated figures. The path of least resistence is always to condemn, forget and go on. BLUE CAPRICE is a nagging reminder that the world is a violent, chaotic place and that death can assume any identity. It's more than that. It's a patient and minimalistic movies that draws its power from details. You will find strong influences of Gus Van Sant in Alexandre Moors' style. Both directors don't exactly care about how well you sleep at night, they care about making beautiful movies and remind you of what they believe is important. BLUE CAPRICE is visually beautiful and it's an important movie in its own way.
* On my birthday. Creepy.
There is a good chance you didn't know BLUE CAPRICE existed until today. Don't feel guilty about that, I didn't either until Josie pointed it out to me on Netflix. It's a movie that's already been thrown into oblivion for all the wrong reasons. People don't like to feel responsible for what they can't fathom, so being empowered with the possibility to form an unbiased opinion about such hated figures. The path of least resistence is always to condemn, forget and go on. BLUE CAPRICE is a nagging reminder that the world is a violent, chaotic place and that death can assume any identity. It's more than that. It's a patient and minimalistic movies that draws its power from details. You will find strong influences of Gus Van Sant in Alexandre Moors' style. Both directors don't exactly care about how well you sleep at night, they care about making beautiful movies and remind you of what they believe is important. BLUE CAPRICE is visually beautiful and it's an important movie in its own way.
* On my birthday. Creepy.