Mr. Freedom: William Klein

I wanted to like William Klein's Mr. Freedom. I really did. And, in some small capacity, I do. But overall, my feelings towards this film can be summed up in one word: disappointment. The film was bubbling with potential and obviously had the balls to be one of the most notorious films of the 1960s. However, it collapses under its own weight. The film is about a right-wing "superhero" named Mr. Freedom dressed in a conglomeration of various red, white, and blue sports equipment. He is sent to France to "stave off the advances of the mysterious French Anti-Freedom (FAF) organization." What is the FAF's goal? To stop freedom, of course! Mr. Freedom is joined by French agent Marie-Madeleine, a woman who appears to have invented Carrot Top's hair style. Together, with the help of a small army of supporters, they must also thwart the plans of their communist foes: the Stalinist Moujik Man and the Maoist Red China Man (which is nothing more than a giant inflatable dragon). The film is over-the-top to an unheard of extreme and acts as one of the most stinging criticisms of America ever committed to celluloid. However, it bites off more than it can chew. This became most apparent in an early scene where Mr. Freedom confronts Moujik Man and Red China Man for the first time in what appears to be a subway tunnel. The scene is filled with them exchanging bombast, ironic dialogue. However, because of the echo, it's almost impossible to understand what they're saying. From there on, the film loses more and more coherence as it becomes corrupted by massive gun battles, protests, and gauche symbolism. If Klein had toned the film down a bit, it would have succeeded in being even more inflammatory than it was in the end. It's too bad. I really think that a sequel could have been interesting...and perfectly ironic.

6/10