Freaks Out 4K 2021

I came across this Italian film quite by accident, and was immediately struck by the direct translation of its title: Freaks Out. Of course, the film is about a circus, but not a circus of freaks or madmen or a “gang of monsters.” This circus brings together a special quartet of characters with bitter pasts and difficult presents. Meet them: Sencho—a man who controls insects, can use a jar of fireflies under his command as a flashlight, can pull a scorpion out of his mouth, and can tame dangerous bees. Next in the quartet is Mario – a man whose magnetism causes all spoons and forks to be attracted to his bare body, the third Fulvio – a man with atavism who clutches a gun on stage, but not according to Chekhov's principle of drama – “if there is a gun, it will be fired,” but in order to bend it in half and thereby amuse the audience. And then there is Matilda, a bright representative of the circus craft, who has the gift of lighting light bulbs, which later becomes the main climax of the war and the key to the development of several plot lines, including the love story. The head of the Piotta circus is a mysterious Jew named Israel.

The war begins with an explosion at the show of these lovely and eccentric people. And immediately the director shows us the main villain with six fingers on both hands, Franz, a virtuoso pianist in the rival Berlin circus, who performs one of my favorite Radiohead songs, for which the film deserves special honor and respect, but the very appearance and fascist will in the heart of this character causes rejection and disapproval. He receives the ether, knows everything in advance, and wants to create an army of freaks like himself and present it as a gift to the Führer. He cruelly treats people with abilities, corrupts them, and then tortures them in various ways, suffocating them with poison gas and splitting their skulls with a hammer.

The sworn trio falls into this trap: Fulvio, blinded by the people's money and lust, Sencho, who pretends to be brave, and the unfortunate Mario. Matilda, on the other hand, chose her own path by joining a partisan detachment hiding in the forest wilderness.

The essence of war: it turns the best into the worst, while Matilda is presented by the director as nothing less than Christ to the people.

An important moment in the film is Franz's brain, fried by the ether, when even Steve Jobs' creation calls him directly from the future world, where the prophecy comes true - the end of fascism.

The film I watched taught me not to be afraid of anything and to live according to my heart's desires. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the train with Jewish prisoners is set free, the mighty four are reunited, and the story ends with a reconciliatory embrace. Union and the beginning of new or old love.