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When Guy Maddin’s Rumours gets heavy with absurdist humour and presents a group of world leaders as inept, this movie may well be his most bizarre to date. That’s because of the setup: these folks have gathered to deal with some unknown global crisis. And as for whether the mud people they discover is part of it or not, that’s a mystery they’ll have to figure out, if they don’t kill each other first! I suspect these subplots had the help of co-directors Evan and Galen Johnson during filming, and reminded me of the classic soap opera, Dark Shadows.
By the time everyone agrees on how to enact a plan against some strange mauraders, it’s too late. Here, we meet German premier Hilda Orlmann (Cate Blanchett) trying to keep it together, but I suspect she’s ready to crack. And the people who are there to represent other extremes include Antonio Lamorle (Rolando Ravello) from Italy; Maxime Laplace (Roy Dupuis) from Canada; Sylvain Broulez (Denis Ménochet) from France; Tatsuro Iwasaki (Takehiro Hira) from Japan; Cardosa Dewind (Nikki Amuka-Bird) from the UK, and US President Edison Wolcott (Charles Dance). While most of them are caricatures of certain leaders we know in our world, the folks who don’t get lost in the shadows.
That’s because what’s happening is a result of an archaeologist digging around in the grounds where this summit takes place. These presidents and prime ministers find him shifting through dried up peat marshes and trying to ascertain why one peculiar corpse got mutilated. None of them are keenly interested, and simply move on. But as the world gets weirder by the minute, little do they know that what got unearthed is going to nibble on their toes pretty soon! That’s when staff starts to disappear, reporters leave to chase after another story, and security goes missing.
You’d think each world leader would at least keep one personal bodyguard or aide nearby, but they’re all too self absorbed to care. Laplace and Dewindt disappear off to have a private moment, and all Wolcott wants to do is sleep. When Broulez leaves, chasing after documents blown away by the wind, he notices the sudden change. When he returns to tell the others what’s going on, nobody seems to care or ask how a corpse can come back to life?
As for whether they are zombies, I’m unsure. The details are rather scant regarding what’s going on in the background, but for this group, the issues they are trying to address sounds like they are circling the problem rather than addressing it directly. That’s pretty much real life politics for you and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When they were going through a list on what to do to escape this invasion, I was chuckling.
While this retreat seems vast with a properly built chateau in one corner, a gazebo in another and nothing but forest elsewhere, my choice is obvious. But when these folks still can’t figure out what’s going on, what’s presented is almost like Shaun of the Dead. That is, everyone is too oblivious to the larger problem. But for this motley crew, the question of who is willing to talk to the leader of the walking dead means figuring out who is the bravest of the lot.
After all, these are the world’s most elite diplomats, and they must be saved. But when nobody is calling them (it seems everyone doesn’t have their smartphone handy) to check in about their situation, that’s when bigger questions arise. Where have all the people gone? As a comedy of errors about a bunch of inept statespeople incapable of doing anything without their advisors, this film’s pointed stab at how politicians think should feel very real.
Eventually, when the clues pile in, it’s up to the viewer to decide what’s going on. One individual believes that they are stuck in the middle of a ritual gone wrong. Sproul recognises the signs and warns her friends (in Swedish) that Astrid, The Night Queen, is coming! I’m fairly sure this person doesn’t exist in Scandinavian folklore and as for why the musical stylings of Enya play by the third act, I’m curious. When the word faeries is said multiple times, I figure what the dig uncovered is more than an ancient grave site.
Maybe this third race has always lived here and isn’t too pleased about humans taking over their spot, much like how the Americas got ‘conquered.’ What they’re doing isn’t violent, and therein lies the mystery. Instead of fighting them, they’re attacking the world, and like many movies concerning the apocalypse, only few will survive to renew the world when the fires are snuffed out.
What makes Rumours great is that the folk horror elements are presented in bits and pieces. We’re supposed to figure out what they all mean. I think this film is addressing an age old issue that has yet to be resolved. Western Civilization is broken up into lots of nations, and not all of them truly get along. Until there’s a huge threat to unite them, these countries will always be bickering over one thing or another. When faced with something truly unusual, there better be an Abe Lincoln around to help unite the factions. And as for whether that happens or not, that’d be saying too much.
5 Stars out of 5
Rumours Movie Trailer
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