Mammoth

When I went to see Mammoth yesterday I went without too many expectations on the film, no baggage to take with me into the movie theater, hadn’t read a single review or synopsis, and I’m very glad that this was the case. The director of Mammoth (2009), Lukas Moodysson is to a large extent Sweden’s own David Fincher, a director who tends to produce, whether it’s your cup of tea or not, stable and decent work every time out. Mammoth, his first film with major international film stars and a sizeable budget, is no black mark on his resume. Had Mammoth come out in 2008, I easily would have had it in my top 5 list, so it definitely has set the bar high early in 2009.

Mammoth more so than anything else critiques the confines of individual prisons that exist within the globally intertwined capitalist society. This is accomplished by showcasing a “modern” New York family, contrasting their individual hells in the race to succeed and obtain more, with that of their Philipino nanny who is in a similar position.

Having already, two hours prior to Mammoth’s showing, been and watched I.O.U.S.A (2008) at the Gothenburg Film Festival I had the perfect set up for this film. Mammoth is a film that intricately and slowly allows us to be aware of some of the insane ways society functions through capitalism, the faulty logic present therein. Moodysson as a director has, as a trademark, shown this typically through the eyes of children (Lilja-4-ever (2002), Fucking Åmål (1998)). It is not difficult again in Mammoth to understand the point that in the end it is always the children who suffer most. Amazingly, for a male director, is also the contrast Moodysson is also able to weave around “responsible” women characters against men who essentially are allowed to run a muck and have fun eventually falling victim to their own genitals.

Mammoth is probably the most engaging movie that I have seen since I’m Not There (2007), requiring one’s complete attention. This requirement, and subsequent lack of attention, was visible at the showing with people mucking about with their mobile phones half way through the film’s 125 minute run time, obviously disinterested at a commercial movie theater’s viewing of a film that is directly critiquing their existences and pursuits. Had I had the same chance that I did last year, that is to write a major academic essay on a film, I would have chosen Mammoth as my subject. Its exploration of the postmodern condition, that all identities and classes are essentially one and the same, suffering from similar ills would have been too meaty for me to pass on. I’m left with only one question that really requires a re-viewing for my theoretical “nerdiness” and that is, if in fact, the words “Intellectual Capital” are flashed across the screen at one point? Even if they are not, it is the perfect answer to the questions the film raises.