Megalopolis, the filmmaker’s return to the big screen, came into the world after years of fermentation and reinventions, with the great ideal of being considered the great masterpiece of Coppola’s life. On this matter, I will leave it to the discretion of each of you, readers, so that after your visits to the cinema and after absorbing this article, you can establish your own opinions about it.
At first, we could not fail to retrace the trajectory of this work to cinema halls around the world. Francis Coppola, one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century and responsible for some of the biggest box offices in the world, had to invest around 140 million dollars from his own pocket to finance the production of his new work, Megalopolis.
Yes, we know that the world is a large sphere full of injustices. Consequently, we see Hollywood’s ingratitude for the names that made this industry what it was and what it is on a global scale. It’s no wonder that personalities like Scorsese and Woody Allen constantly fight to have their films shown on a large scale, in addition to the lack of investment that would be necessary. In other words, cinema is another great real-life dystopia, of which Coppola is just another victim.
What does it represent?
Every day, in Brazilian movie theaters, we have films like Aquaman or Deadpool & Wolverine, but very rarely do we have an irreverent work with personality like Megalópolis. Does that mean it necessarily makes it good?
No. However, a name like this, with all the contributions to the history of the seventh art, should be, at the very least, a reason to make you go to the cinema and enjoy it without the pure obligation to like it.
In the first ten minutes of the film, it is already possible to know what it is about, and this will be reaffirmed several times throughout. For example, the criticism of consumerism, economic inequality, mass alienation, objectification and the search for power. Then, with all that combined, journalism is being used as a control tool inside a system that is faithfully concerned with taking advantage of people’s images. Those are some of the ideas that we can capture at first and the question is how willing each of us is going to buy into those topics initially.
A kind of trilogy of deadly sins is portrayed in each one of the characters, including ambition, lust, power, greed, envy and pride. In this case, all roads actually lead to Rome, or better said, New Rome, which is adapted based on the very well-known New York City. The use of an explicit connection with ancient Rome is understandable, precisely because it collapsed, as well as what Coppola refers to, the future of modern democracies.
The film is divided into acts, which only further externalizes the feeling of watching a recorded theater play. I would say the same feeling as watching Dogville, by Lars Von Trier, at some points or Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, in others. Especially in the first few minutes, it is not possible to get a sense of the order of the facts. This could be due to the choice of the segment of the scenes or the way they were recorded. In several cuts, mainly those that had many characters and information in general, it is possible to feel a kind of rush to capture everything that he thought fit to show in a small space of time. The fact is that we are not talking about an easy-to-apply dramaturgy, but a science fiction production.
There is a difference between the way the characters were viewed by different actors. At this point, Coppola’s direction could have been the resolution for the harmony of some and the disagreement of others who did not fit into the playful and surrealist theme proposed. An example of this mismatch could be the couple that stars in the plot: Cesar Catilina and Julia Cicero, played by Adam Driver and Nathalie Emanuelle. While Driver delves into the visibly proposed universe, Emanuelle follows a more real and analytical path.
This fact may not make a big difference to many or even to Francis himself, as the love between the two becomes the central point of the plot, becoming the answer to all the chaos around them. The passion between Cesar and Julia, the daughter of his opponent, is the personification that through respect for their differences and their critical outlook, society will walk towards a better future.
The work is an unveiling critique against capitalism and its propagated creation of alienated consumers. And no, it will not be easily digested by many, especially because society, consumed by the alienated themselves, is accustomed to basic entertainment, as well the easy ones.
The feeling is that Megalopolis, in the industrial and cinematographic scenario, is the personification of the utopia desired by Cesar on the screen. In other words, the desire for the film to be considered a great return for the filmmaker can be seen by many as a break in expectations, in the same way as for many in the film, Cesar’s utopia is seen as a break for himself. So, it is possible that there is a great disappointment with Francis’s comeback, because it is not about the expectations of others, but of what he felt the desire to achieve.
So then, Coppola’s desire for a utopia may have resulted in the fall of his own empire. Or in a more simplistic way, we are not dealing with the masterpiece of his career, but with a great revolution on his part, I dare say.
When we leap into the unknown, we prove that we are free. The phrase repeated several times by Cesar, may do justice to the freedom taken by Francis not to follow the men in suits who command his decisions in the cinematic scene, much less the standard established for his work.
Final thoughts
The fable may have flaws and criteria that do not adapt to current times, but we must reflect that we are dealing with a work that was parked for too long and that faced with many difficulties to become what it is. The criticisms against western democratic societies are vast, as well as against all those who made the leaders who have passed through the world become what they were. As well as the conviction that the human mind, capable of creating gods and laws, is unable to attribute to itself a sense of union and justice, which limits man to the role of the only possible enemy for himself.
What is a utopia made of, anyway? It’s made up of dreams. Dreams that we think we don’t deserve and end up being stuck in time. The big message could then be how we, human beings, can control the time we have and help each other face all the difficulties and differences that were created by ourselves. And of course, a device created by an architect, as in fiction, couldn’t be the answer to all the evils and injustices in the world. But since it isn’t, the point reached by Ford Coppola is essential, regardless of your like or dislike. And as the Lonely Planet Lyrics says, if you can’t change the world, change yourself. And if you can’t change yourself, change your world, just like Francis was and is trying to change his.
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The article above was edited by Giulia El Houssami.
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