Review of Slaughterhouse-Five

What a weird yet compelling movie, it made me laugh how Juvenalian satire it is about life, death, and the time we have as humans. It doesn't take itself so serious, but the movie is so full of symbolism, imagery, and allegory that not only does the main character Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) feel tripping, but the audience watching this film as well. Slaughterhouse-Five directed by George Roy Hill is based on the Kurt Vonnegut's novel also known as Slaughterhouse Five and the Children's Crusade. Vonnegut loves the film as well calling it a flawless harmonious translation. The entire prologue in which Vonnegut decides to name his story 'The Children's Crusade' is omitted from the film to focus more on the film first-person narrative from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim, who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, such as the alien planet of Tralfamadore, Dresden during World War II, and life in Ilium, New York. The movie jumps around scene by scene between them, which at first doesn't make any sense, until the end. Still it can be a bit confusing, if not paying attention. It's hard to analysis the film as we don't know if Billy is time-tripping or suffering from post traumatic stress disorder due to him having survive two major disasters. The first disaster was surviving the Dresden firebombing by the Allies during the war. The firebombs were meant to destroy German morale. Kurt Vonnegut's slaughterhouse debates if the bombings were right or unmoral. The second is a plane crash that the film suggest cause Billy to lose his mind. The movie like the book is just of series of guesses. The book sequence in the novel where Pilgrim watches a movie about a bombing mission in World War II forward and then backward is also omitted from the film due to time constraints of the film would be nice to see why he thinks he time-trips. Several other elements of the novel are missing from the film. Kilgore Trout is a failed science fiction writer from the novel Breakfast with Champions who Billy meets. His visit with Billy might explain why Billy believes in Tralfamadore and aliens due to his sci-fiction background. Since the film doesn't mention him, the whole Tralfamadore idea comes out of nowhere and seem out of place with the WWII scenes. We the audience learn so much from them about time's relation to the world, as a fourth dimension, and death's indiscriminate nature. Tralfamadorians appear in several Vonnegut novels. Other Vonneguts novel characters are also guest stars in the film like Howard Campbell, Bertram Copeland Rumfoord and Eliot Rosewater with minor roles. Still, the film does keep some of the very interesting characters that made the book famous such as funny manic dog killing Paul Lazzaro, crazy driver wife Valencia Merble, and pornstar Montana Wildhack. The film does well in imagery as in one scene, Billy sees a pornographic film with Montana and later Montana happens to be taken by Tralfamadorian for him to mate with. He might have 'dreams' up Montana being with him due to his sex-less marriage with Valencia. In another scene Billy helps some of his buddies to collect a huge grandfather clock and get buried under the clock. Although the image created by this scene (the pressure of time on Billy Pilgrim) fits nicely into the plot, this part is also not found in the novel. In my opinion it's better than the famous Poo-Tee-Weet bird in the novel. Slaughterhouse-Five debates fate, free will, and the illogical nature of human beings. By naming the unheroic hero Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut contrasts John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" with Billy's story. Billy's solution to the problems of the modern world is to "invent a heaven, out of 20th century materials, where Good Technology triumphs over Bad Technology. His scripture is Science Fiction, Man's last, good fantasy". At its heart Slaughterhouse Five is the story of Billy's search for happiness. The film completely shatters the mold of traditional storytelling, and isn't restricted by a beginning, middle and end structure so in a way, it's works for this film. Check it out if u want, and you find yourself pilgrimage throughout your life asking the same thing.