SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

The book is always better: that goes without saying. But where to begin with a review of Slaughterhouse-Five? For starters, the film is based on the novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut. I mention this because I thought that everybody would know this, but was surprised when people looked at me blankly when I mentioned the movie. I could see from their vaguely disgusted expression that they were thinking that it is some kind of horror movie . . .

Well, it isn’t. Slaughterhouse-Five is usually mentioned in the same breath as other great post-war American novels such as Catch 22, Portnoy’s Complaint and The World According to Garp. Is it any good? It’s brilliant and if you haven’t read it then I urge you to dash out now to buy, borrow or steal a copy to read. Would I urge you to do the same with the movie? I’ll get to that . . .

What’s it about? Well, that’s very difficult to even begin with. It basically follows the adventures of a character called Billy Pilgrim who, as an American POW during World War II, survived the Allied bombing of Dresden.

Dresden will perhaps go down as the biggest case of aerial bombardment in history: some historians estimate that more people probably died in Dresden than when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Considered a non-military target, Dresden was mostly left defenceless to bombardment by the British and Americans towards the end of WWII. (A good book on the topic is David Irving’s non-fictional The Destruction of Dresden, which I would also urge you to read as sort of a companion piece to Vonnegut’s novel). Later on, Billy Pilgrim will get "unstuck in time" (his own words) after being held captive in an intergalactic zoo along with a porn star by aliens . . .

Anyway, like I said I couldn’t even begin to explain. Read the book. See the movie? I don’t know. Essentially Vonnegut’s novel is unfilmable yet the film (directed by George Roy Hill, perhaps best known for directing The Sting and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid) does a reasonable job at capturing its essence.

I can complain about especially one sequence in the novel (which lent itself very much to cinematic adaptation - if you have read the book you would know what I’m referring to) being left out, but it is really to no avail. I have a vague suspicion that people unacquainted with the novel might find events in the film bewildering although some people who have seen the movie but not read the book I spoke to said that they thought it was very good. In my case it made me feel like rereading the novel again . . .
 

• Hugo Award Winner (1973)
• Tagline: "A Man Becomes Unstuck In Time In The Film That Became A Classic."
• Fact: Kurt Vonnegut Jr., author of the book this film was adapted from, was a Prisoner of War in World War 2. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge while a battalion scout with the 106 Infantry Division on December 22, 1944, and used these experiences in his novel when Billy Pilgrim is captured by the Germans and sent to a POW camp.

Sci-Fi Movie Page Pick: The book's better, but this isn't bad. You'd be better off reading Kurt Vonnegut's off-beat classic of the same title, but this film adaptation will at least make you want to read the book to more clearly understand on-screen events.

Voted
 # 99
 of the
 Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies
 of all time
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