Take Shelter

Something wicked, this way comes

The ancient Greeks would love Curtis LaRouche. He is the quintessential great man with the one tragic flaw. Unfortunately for Curtis, he inhabits a contemporary mid-western American town, where his paranoia and misgivings are not a tragedy but a potential prophecy/lunacy.

Curtis is an ideal protagonist. He is a loving husband and a compassionate father. A good friend and a smart worker, an upright pillar of the community. And yet, something sinister is stirring under the idyllic of the american dream. Or at least Curtis believes so. Bedevilled by dreams and hallucinations of impending doom that he cant shake off, Curtis is driven towards building a storm shelter for his family. He is using his very limited resources towards an enterprise that nobody, including his wife, thinks makes any sense.

Its difficult to surmise whether the film works as a metaphor, or is simply a study on human reactions to stressful situations. But the dread of the unknown works very well, as a statement of our times. Curtis feels a cataclysm coming, one that nobody is prepared for. He feels it in his bones. Showers of oil inhabit his dreams. He stands transfixed by the dance of starling murmurations. Thunderclaps and lightning are always lurking in his increasingly fragile mind.

Is his state of mind a muddy reflection of our own in these very trying times? I think so. The world has become unpredictable. Natural and financial catastrophes have blindsided us so often that most of us feel unprepared for whats to come, no matter our station. Like Curtis, we too have begun to question the nature of our alliances. We may not feel compelled to address it, but the film gives voice to an ineluctable sense of doom that pervades the air these days. As Curtis spends his time cleaning and mending the storm shelter, one wonders if the JFK generation felt a similar chill of uncertainty during the Cuban Missle Crisis? Will we survive the way they did? Or was the shelter locked down only to be opened again, this time for good?

Michael Shannon churns out another tortured performance as Curtis. The movie is often slow, but his natural brilliance along with the beautiful and very talented Jessica Chastain(Tree of Life) keep you riveted nonetheless. Something about Chastain's earthy eyes can lift even the darkest gloom. And we thank her for it.

Curtis thinks a storm is coming, the likes of which we have never seen. His friends and family think he's gone off the bend. They're probably right. But if they're not, one thing is certain. No one is prepared.