"Massacre at Central High" is a thought-provoking film about violence and power. To begin with, the setting of the film - a high school - should not be taken literally, because this is the most unrealistic high school you can ever think of. The teachers and other adult figures are absent except at the end, which means the students are free to build their own constructions of political order. The police are also not present except at the end, even though the nine deaths happening near the high school should have attracted the attention of the police.
Instead, the movie is an allegory about people living under a violent authoritarian system and how they respond when they are freed from such a system. Dutch writer-director Rene Daalder's message seems to be that a people's revolution that overthrows an authoritarian system is not guaranteed to produce a democracy. Instead, people living under authoritarian rulers have only known violence and fear all their lives and lack any understanding of freedom and how to preserve it. As a result, they will revert to the violence and cruelty of the toppled authoritarian leaders and create their own authoritarian system. This theme not only has relevance to 1976 when many Vietnamese embraced a communist dictatorship, but it also seems applicable to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
The movie begins innocently enough with David (Derrel Maury) trying to find the student lounge on his first day of school. He quickly realizes that something is wrong. The other students are too scared to give him directions, except for Theresa (Kimberly Beck). He also learned that a gang of four students (Bruce, Craig, Paul, and Mark) runs the school with an iron fist and punishes any perceived infractions by the other students with violence, vandalism, and even an attempted rape. David tries to contain his anger, but witnessing the rape attempt sends him over the edge and he beats up Bruce, Craig, and Paul. Tit-for-tat violence then escalates to the point where David devises diabolical schemes for killing all three bullies. Mark is kept alive, possibly because David secretly loves Mark's girlfriend Theresa.
Up to this point, this movie is an intelligent allegory on the psychology of violence and how it brainwashes the bullies and terrifies the victims. Yet the demise of Bruce, Craig, and Paul is not the climax of the story, because the movie then explores new terrain. At first, the fall of the bullies ushers in an era of hope and optimism. David walks around the school grounds and notices students talking to each other and playing. Then the era of hope and optimism turns into one of chaos, when a food fight breaks out in the cafeteria. When watching these scenes, I was reminded of the news coverage of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The streets of Baghdad were full of happy people toppling the statue of the reviled dictator and searching for their loved ones. Then these euphoric scenes were followed by looting and terrorist bombings.
At Central High, some students instinctively search for ways to reestablish order while operating under the handicap of knowing nothing about democracy. They revert to the methods of the bullies, which involve the use of violence and fear, to reestablish order and thus authoritarianism is resurrected all over again because no one at the school knows any better. Spoony (David Carradine) probably comes closest to becoming the next dictator. He explains to David that the students need "people to show them the way," adding that "you have a lot of influence." His female companions Jane (Lani O'Grady) and Mary (Cheryl Smith) chime in that they are strong enough to handle holdouts, like the loner librarian Arthur (Dennis Kort), and even kill whoever stands in their way. Much later, Spoony is bathing in the sunshine like a hedonistic despot and having sex with Jane and Mary. These scenes are not simply gratuitous, but also symbolic of students occupying the vacuum left behind by the bullies and rising up in the social hierarchy. A similar scene showing Rodney (Rex Steven Sikes) inheriting Bruce's red car and vandalizing the car of a "lower class" person carries the same message. David, suffice it to say, is appalled by how the students are reverting to authoritarianism and social hierarchies and soon other murders take place on campus.
"Massacre at Central High," in sum, provides an interesting subject for discussion. Are human beings hardwired by their biology to be violent and controlling and to organize themselves into social hierarchies? Or are human beings reverting to social hierarchies and authoritarianism because of an environment that teaches them that brute force and social control are the sole means of maintaining order? The great thing about Rene Daalder's film is that it raises deep questions like that, despite being financed out of a small budget. The movie has its flaws. Most of the characters are not well-developed, except perhaps for David's, with the result that we feel little sympathy for them. This flaw can be attributed to some of the faulty dialogue and the lack of strong performances. For instance, Kimberly Beck's Theresa comes across as simple-minded and seems to exist mainly to supply some of the film's love scenes. Another problem is the film soundtrack which undermines the suspense in the key scenes. In fact, when watching "Massacre at Central High," I was more interested in the plot as an intellectual exercise in allegory and I did not particularly care for the characters. Nevertheless, I do recommend Rene Daalder's film both for its ideas and unexpected plot twists which held my interest right to the very end.
Instead, the movie is an allegory about people living under a violent authoritarian system and how they respond when they are freed from such a system. Dutch writer-director Rene Daalder's message seems to be that a people's revolution that overthrows an authoritarian system is not guaranteed to produce a democracy. Instead, people living under authoritarian rulers have only known violence and fear all their lives and lack any understanding of freedom and how to preserve it. As a result, they will revert to the violence and cruelty of the toppled authoritarian leaders and create their own authoritarian system. This theme not only has relevance to 1976 when many Vietnamese embraced a communist dictatorship, but it also seems applicable to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
The movie begins innocently enough with David (Derrel Maury) trying to find the student lounge on his first day of school. He quickly realizes that something is wrong. The other students are too scared to give him directions, except for Theresa (Kimberly Beck). He also learned that a gang of four students (Bruce, Craig, Paul, and Mark) runs the school with an iron fist and punishes any perceived infractions by the other students with violence, vandalism, and even an attempted rape. David tries to contain his anger, but witnessing the rape attempt sends him over the edge and he beats up Bruce, Craig, and Paul. Tit-for-tat violence then escalates to the point where David devises diabolical schemes for killing all three bullies. Mark is kept alive, possibly because David secretly loves Mark's girlfriend Theresa.
Up to this point, this movie is an intelligent allegory on the psychology of violence and how it brainwashes the bullies and terrifies the victims. Yet the demise of Bruce, Craig, and Paul is not the climax of the story, because the movie then explores new terrain. At first, the fall of the bullies ushers in an era of hope and optimism. David walks around the school grounds and notices students talking to each other and playing. Then the era of hope and optimism turns into one of chaos, when a food fight breaks out in the cafeteria. When watching these scenes, I was reminded of the news coverage of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The streets of Baghdad were full of happy people toppling the statue of the reviled dictator and searching for their loved ones. Then these euphoric scenes were followed by looting and terrorist bombings.
At Central High, some students instinctively search for ways to reestablish order while operating under the handicap of knowing nothing about democracy. They revert to the methods of the bullies, which involve the use of violence and fear, to reestablish order and thus authoritarianism is resurrected all over again because no one at the school knows any better. Spoony (David Carradine) probably comes closest to becoming the next dictator. He explains to David that the students need "people to show them the way," adding that "you have a lot of influence." His female companions Jane (Lani O'Grady) and Mary (Cheryl Smith) chime in that they are strong enough to handle holdouts, like the loner librarian Arthur (Dennis Kort), and even kill whoever stands in their way. Much later, Spoony is bathing in the sunshine like a hedonistic despot and having sex with Jane and Mary. These scenes are not simply gratuitous, but also symbolic of students occupying the vacuum left behind by the bullies and rising up in the social hierarchy. A similar scene showing Rodney (Rex Steven Sikes) inheriting Bruce's red car and vandalizing the car of a "lower class" person carries the same message. David, suffice it to say, is appalled by how the students are reverting to authoritarianism and social hierarchies and soon other murders take place on campus.
"Massacre at Central High," in sum, provides an interesting subject for discussion. Are human beings hardwired by their biology to be violent and controlling and to organize themselves into social hierarchies? Or are human beings reverting to social hierarchies and authoritarianism because of an environment that teaches them that brute force and social control are the sole means of maintaining order? The great thing about Rene Daalder's film is that it raises deep questions like that, despite being financed out of a small budget. The movie has its flaws. Most of the characters are not well-developed, except perhaps for David's, with the result that we feel little sympathy for them. This flaw can be attributed to some of the faulty dialogue and the lack of strong performances. For instance, Kimberly Beck's Theresa comes across as simple-minded and seems to exist mainly to supply some of the film's love scenes. Another problem is the film soundtrack which undermines the suspense in the key scenes. In fact, when watching "Massacre at Central High," I was more interested in the plot as an intellectual exercise in allegory and I did not particularly care for the characters. Nevertheless, I do recommend Rene Daalder's film both for its ideas and unexpected plot twists which held my interest right to the very end.