Mr. Freedom

William Klein
1969

This is the product of inputting politics into the category 5 hurricane that is William Klein's brain. The manic, meth injected, satire is low on any sort of nuance, subtlety, cogent message, or political thoughtfulness, and it's clear that Klein couldn't care less, instead putting all his OCD meticulousness into an expressionistic explosion of superhero jingoism, frothing cheerleaders, and bullets a-go-go. Klein must have pulled a decent amount of water in Paris as the impressive cast features an over-the-hill yet still sexed up Delphine Seyrig, big brother Donald Pleasance, and inflatable evildoer Philippe Noiret, amongst other wacky cameos and bit parts. The film comes off as a synthesized outputting of Klein's new found political convictions, and takes its distinctly lynch mob/carnivalesque pep rally form from his essence - the guy isn't Chris Marker, Ken Loach, or Sergei Eisenstein - he's the director of Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? Considering how gloriously elaborate and powerful Mr. Freedom's costume is (it makes the Power Rangers look like pussies) it's a little disappointing that his nemeses are so underdeveloped: Moujik Man is little more than a red foam blob while Red China Man (clever name) is nothing more than a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade mylar balloon. There is something distinctly late 60's about the ubber-shrill gatherings with their (not so) latent violence and sexuality, which is made all the more heady with liberal dollops of bodypaint and skimpy athletic costumes.