Carnage

What happens when four fiercely independent adults, each with an opinion of their own, meet for a coffee-table discussion about the brawl between their school-going kids? Well, if director Roman Polanski’s imagination is anything to go by, then the last thing that these parents talk about is their sons!

Famous for his previous hit films, including ‘Knife in the Water’, and ‘The Tenant’, Polanski once again attempts a masterpiece, with ‘Carnage’, an adaptation of a play by Yasmina Reza. The film starts on a lighthearted note, as the parents of a mischievous young boy, visit the parents of the boy, whom he hits in the playground. What begins as a formal exchange of niceties, soon takes an ugly turn, as the personalities of these four parents begin to clash.

The movie takes us from a wide gamut of emotions, intensifying to the position of one of them getting up to go, and even reaching the lift, only to return to give his opinion on the all-important issues. While some of these scenes have an unmistakable hint of humor underneath their seriousness, most of them will make you feel the palpable heated emotions. The film is intense and gripping in each of its shots, and has a profound underlying meaning, which is relevant to our lives. Scenes like a father admitting to having thrown his daughter’s hamster out of the window to its death make us ponder deeper on the incidents that define our lives. Stunning performances by Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz ensure that not even a moment goes past, without magic being unleashed on the screen.