The Forever Purge: When the Night Never Ends
A Mexican couple illegally crosses the border to settle in Texas. Adela (Ana de la Reguera) works in a butcher shop, while Juan (Tenoch Huerta) is employed by a wealthy ranch owner and his racist son. After surviving the Purge Night in a bunker for immigrants, the survivors are forced to confront the fact that the 12 hours of bloodshed were not the end – reactionary forces in the guise of American patriots have ignored the rules and continued the street mayhem. The annual event has turned into a civil war, and Canada and Mexico have offered refuge from the crowds of marauders and psychopaths to those who can cross the border.
The fifth film in the horror franchise continues to anticipate the political direction of the United States. James DeMonaco, director of the trilogy and screenwriter of all five parts, has made “The Purge” not only a blockbuster but also the underside of the electoral race and political sentiments. The franchise about a 12-hour rampage of violence has become a kind of indicator of the social system, a portrait of the Trump era – a time when Americans seriously pondered the issues of racism, gun control, and dramatic relations with Mexico.
Still from the movie “The Forever Purge”
An important point: “The Forever Purge” was originally scheduled for release in July last year, but the pandemic disrupted the plans, and the horror release was moved forward a year. This shift completely knocked down the political spirit of the picture, because the fifth film corresponds to the actions of the White House under Trump. However, there was room for prophecy in it: in the new part, where the daily action has turned into constant terror, and white Americans demand the continuation of the “banquet,” it is easy to see an alternative version of the storming of the Capitol. Ultraconservative groups are not satisfied with “letting off steam”: legitimate violence gets out of control and develops into a civil war – even the actions of the police and armed forces do not give hope for a settlement of the situation.
Ana de la Reguera as Adela in a still from the movie “The Forever Purge”
It is worth admitting that the entire prognostic potential of “The Purge” (recall the third film, where the conflict of opposing parties directly indicated the electoral race of Hillary and Trump) is a rather understandable thing at the level of intuition, because DeMonaco collected stories by touch, from the popular aspirations and fears of a divided country, where people are afraid of repeating the scenario of 150 years ago. This time, putting Everardo Valerio Gout in the director’s chair, DeMonaco focused on racial conflict – the Purge Night ceased to be just a profitable financial enterprise, a bloody “disinfection” from the poor, but was charged with eliminating people of color: from Mexicans to Indians. America, according to populist slogans, neo-Confederates are trying to make great again, putting the extermination of uninvited guests on stream.
Lost in the Chaos: Where Did the Empathy Go?
And the first problem of the film is that the persecuted Mexicans in the center of the story do not evoke even a small fraction of the sympathy that we felt for the heroes of the first parts. “The Forever Purge” fills the screen with a large number of characters, from wealthy residents of Texas to armed Indians, but remains indifferent to its “citizens” – the death of members of the group is often not even noticed. The film suffers from the expansion of its own scale: there are no ingenious stratagems, claustrophobia, and genre games, as in the case of the 2013 film – the mess of blood and firearms that has engulfed the streets of Texas quickly turns into a mechanic with toothless action and exhausted author’s imagination.
Josh Lucas as Dylan Tucker in a still from the movie “The Forever Purge”
At the same time, the creators had room for maneuver: the harsh morals and landscapes of Texas, as well as horses in stables, could have catalyzed the setting, making the story a bloodthirsty neo-Western. But the script preferred a different path, putting the heroes in trucks and giving everyone an automatic weapon. “The Purge” went into a banal American-Mexican thriller with runs across the border and shooting in the desert. And to transfer the fierce fighting to the daytime is like forcing Batman to act in the morning rays of the sun, that is, the idea is completely unsuccessful. The creators politely ignored the costumed pomposity this time: instead of bright outfits – the equipment of cowboys and ridiculous rabbit masks, boring neo-Nazis in tattoos came to replace colorful psychos, and shootings filmed with a hand camera over the shoulder replaced spectacular reprisals. The franchise, although it never differed in excellent quality, refused to provide what it was loved for – now it looks like fan fiction with a heavily cut budget.
A Political Caricature: The Franchise Loses Its Way
Therefore, the new “Purge” has nothing to offer viewers, except for the right-wing slogans of the aggressors and a thick political caricature. The fifth series, which has completely gone into second-rate action, buries itself as an overly politicized product – there are much more topical comments here than thoughtful and subtle work with the narrative. Form and style suffocate under the weight of generalizations, and the genre blockbuster turns out to be a fleeting sketch of the American zeitgeist. Viewers can easily understand the characters of the film – everyone wants this Purge Night to be the last.