The Ninth Configuration

Heavy, dark, intellectual, it's not for everyone. William Peter Blatty may have been good at a lot, but people only know him thanks to "The Exorcist". I read many reviews that said that this film was a kind of "author sequel" of that film. I confess that I do not agree with the idea. Even if it was Blatty himself who said that, I would agree because there is nothing in common between these two films, apart from himself. This film is at least unusual and highly philosophical: everything takes place in an isolated castle where the American army has installed a madhouse for Vietnamese soldiers who have gone mad, or who appear to have lost their minds ... yes, because it is not known if they in fact have gone crazy or are pretending so they won't fight. One of the patients, however, is an astronaut who had a mental breakdown during the count for the launch of his ship. The new person in charge of the asylum, eager to improve the patients, decides to allow them to carry on with their madness ... until the ex-astronaut asks him to prove the existence of God. The film attaches great importance to the characters, and there are a lot of strange and unusual characters here. The cast, made up of names I didn't know, was up to expectations, but it didn't shine particularly, just doing what it had to do. The protagonist falls on Stacy Keach, who gave life to Colonel Kane, a Vietnam veteran who is now in charge of the insane asylum but has his own secrets. At his side, Scott Wilson made the most challenging character in the entire film, in my opinion, in that he is highly questioning and even iconoclastic in his views and concepts about the world and divinity. He makes an impact right from the start and the dialogues between his character and Keach's are truly memorable. The film has a very well thought out and conceived scenario, good props and costumes, but a poor and very absent soundtrack, which makes the film more somber and heavy than it would be on its own. The slow pace and gray cinematography, with all that humidity and permanent cloudiness, don't help much either, and the first thirty minutes of the film can make many people give up watching it until the end. Outdoor filming was done in Europe and Eltz Castle was a smart choice, as were the script options for the end of the film. The film lives a lot of the created environment and a massive dose of philosophical and metaphysical dialogues. It is not a film for the masses or the commercial circuit, it is too intellectual and heavy, and that explains its forgetfulness today: most people considered it boring and strange. I understand that, that was also my first impression. But my persistence in seeing him until the end was rewarded: not being brilliant is good, in that it makes us think when it's over.