I thought about it for a long time before I decided to write a review of this movie, as an R-rated film that could cause physical and psychological discomfort, I didn't want to let bloody violence or even sex become its gimmick. Aside from these elements that are easy to attract audiences, it shows the psychedelic and broken state between immature and mature people with sensitive hearts. (Unlike some people who write about growing up, they are either beautiful and simple enough to be just a fantasy, or just superficial cruel messing and gratuitous decadence.)
In fact, the story of "Eat Raw" is very simple. The heroine is a vegetarian from a family of veterinarians. She is sent to a veterinary school to study, and begins the process of transformation under the guidance of the absurd and terrifying opening week education and the guidance of her sister. I want to talk about it from three aspects: "alienation", "transformation and acceptance", and "desire and restraint".
The term "alienation" was introduced from Western philosophy, and the subject developed to a certain stage, splitting its own opposite and becoming an external alien force. The German classical philosopher Hegel used it to express "the separation of subject and object", and Marx used it to express the abnormal development of human beings in capitalist production relations. "Alienation" is not an initial setting in the film, but is gradually recognized, the alienation of people and the alienation of the environment. The heroine, Justin, has always been an excellent vegetarian student. After being forced to eat rabbit kidneys at the beginning of school, she began to release her "raw meat" nature, and her sexual consciousness began to awaken. The brutish, beast-like self began to take over all of Justin over and over again. The most expressive of them is the metaphor of a horse in the dream being pulled by several ropes of forces from different directions, constantly trying to run forward, which vividly reflects the mental state of Justin's split and torn. And the part where she gnawed on her sister's finger, the right background music and the impeccable acting skills of the heroine made people feel the crazy release of the other side of Justin's inner alienation. The veterinary school in the movie is also an absurd existence. The director imaginatively constructs an enlarged sensory world with electronic music, slow motion, and strong romantic colors. Just like the sensitive, slow-down and fragile world in the eyes of people in a period of transformation, the director uses images to show the stream of consciousness. The French are really romantic.
As with all transitions, there is a side that is painful and difficult to accept. So "knowing yourself" is a lifetime thing. Justin's transformation made her disbelieving and even disgusting. She tried to break free but kept getting hit. All she can do, and all we can do, is accept ourselves and try to bring this transformation into a manageable range. Sister Alex seemed out of control, so she ended up in jail. But we are not qualified to judge anything, I have a special love for Alex, maybe because she is cool, she seems like a bad girl but there is a lot of love inside, she just doesn't know what to do, how to control, who Can it be done so well in the first place?
At the end of the movie Dad tells Justin that it's not her fault or her sister's. Her mother did the same, and showed her daughter the bruised breast that had been bitten. There is some superfluous here, because by the end the audience understands. Transformation and growth is not anyone's fault, no matter what it looks like. We are animals and we have very limited freedoms. Not everyone can handle it when their desires and natures are about to come out. Perhaps the older generation did not want the younger generation to suffer, and tried to suppress their desires, hoping that they would be spared the disaster. Desires are more primitive and fierce. That's why restraint keeps repeating the cycle from generation to generation. Can an indulgent man be called a man? I think so. Life without restraint is immortal and will inevitably lead to rapid demise. But there is also a tragic beauty.
View more about Raw reviews
