To be clear, I believe that this film has many impressive qualities, but I have a problem with its depiction of psychopathy. Malick takes the deeply poignant story of the Starkweather-Fugate murder spree in 1958 Nebraska and makes of it a pastoral. It looks at the murder spree from the disengaged, apathetic, and uncaring perspective of the killers. When I say poignant, I mean, of course, deeply poignant for the victims and the bereaved. The film conceals Starkweather and Fugate's intensely cruel actions and puts two very beautiful people in their roles: Sheen and Spacek have fine-looking, expressive faces, sympathetic, intelligent, and friendly. In a similar fashion, this was the case with 'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967) played by the exceptionally good-looking duo of Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. Their 13 murders are in effect airbrushed out of history. Their soulfulness is totally at odds with the 'actions' they depict, the actions of the originals, and this creates a sort of whimsical, trite frisson. This is the film's artistic alibi. In oil painting it is called teasing and is another word for deceit or artistic fraud. Check out the real photos of Charles Starkweather and Fugate. Charlie looked like a halfwit, Fugate, a complete dolt.
In a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle (dated May 8, 1974) the Zodiac Killer writes that that the newspaper's carrying "ads for the movie 'Badlands,'" showed its "poor taste & lack of sympathy for the public," that it was a "kind of murder-glorification."
The US loves its spree killers and serial killers. As with Bonnie and Clyde's body count, Starkweather and Fugate's 11 victims (including a two-year-old) are also airbrushed out.
A common assumption is that such killings have something to do with individualism and the exercise of sovereignty or something. In 1993, I read on IMDb, that 'Badlands' was selected for preservation by the American Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The American Library of Congress and the Zodiac Killer appear to agree on this one.
In a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle (dated May 8, 1974) the Zodiac Killer writes that that the newspaper's carrying "ads for the movie 'Badlands,'" showed its "poor taste & lack of sympathy for the public," that it was a "kind of murder-glorification."
The US loves its spree killers and serial killers. As with Bonnie and Clyde's body count, Starkweather and Fugate's 11 victims (including a two-year-old) are also airbrushed out.
A common assumption is that such killings have something to do with individualism and the exercise of sovereignty or something. In 1993, I read on IMDb, that 'Badlands' was selected for preservation by the American Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The American Library of Congress and the Zodiac Killer appear to agree on this one.