In 1982, when I was a kid in NYC, Angela Lansberry starred in the theatrical production Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Even though I never saw it, I understood enough of the plot to be terrified. In 2002, when the film adaptation hit theaters, I still wanted nothing to do with it despite thinking well of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Twelve years later, Depp made Transcendence, which I saw, and thirteen years later, I saw the trailer for Mortdecai. He owes me money, and I am still waiting for charges to be brought against him for crimes against humanity. Big mad! Fourteen years subsequent to its release, Burton revealed that he does not want my money because apparently my existence is politically correct, and it is more realistic for me not to exist in films, but a guy with scissors for hand…
So when Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was about to expire from my Netflix queue, I reluctantly set aside some time to watch it, and it was a solid movie. I did not love it, but I saw its merits despite all the baggage that I brought to the viewing. I don’t know how the story is normally told so I have nothing to compare it to, and it is my understanding that the story has changed over time, but I do miss when someone could just be evil. Burton and Depp humanize the titular character to create a morality play with the lesson that revenge will just consume everything that you love and consume you. Don’t be bad, kids. It worked for me, but I did feel a twinge of disappointment because I always just thought he was a murderer who robbed his customers and found his evil soul mate who not only cosigned his homicidal tendencies, but chimed in with her own improvements to the plan to be even more villainous and greedy. There is a lid for every pot.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is way more depressing than my version though my imagined version is probably more realistic (Google Russian cannibal couple). The film is filled with people unable to connect with the one that they love the most, and an almost pathological inability to recognize the person that they love the most. I thought that this was slightly unrealistic, but also theoretically possible. If you are so blinded by hate and going through the motions just to achieve revenge, you would lose sight of all the things that you do have. There is a deep sorrowful sense that not only has the world been manipulated by powerful men to cruelly exploit people, but those people are so traumatized and lost that they have forgotten who they are. They have literally lost sight of one self for something less than what they could or should have. While some people survive the end of the film, there is no happy ending. Everyone is traumatized and has had some part of them destroyed by experience, which will make that next connection even harder if not impossible.
I missed the Anthony Head cameo! I love him! The backstory is interesting, but again, I thought of a way more sinister version. I thought that the movie would reveal that the baker colluded with the judge to destroy her, but she didn’t. I hope that Burton paid some money to Labyrinth for the party scene because it felt like an unofficial, horrific sequel. The sepia toned look of the entire film really evoked the period. I just noticed that Burton always casts Helena Bonham Carter as the unrequited love interest of the hero in his films. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a solid film, but it is depressing to think that Edward Scissorhands became a murderer.