A Movie about Passion

Sweeney Todd is a musical based upon human nature's tendency of revenge and never ending passion. It is a movie directed by Tim Burton, which as usual, implies that Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp will be part of the cast. Although the movie can be considered to contain a lot of gore, I actually am leaning towards finding the blood to be artistic. Even through the way that the blood is shed and spewed, you can see how much passion for life as well as death is existent within the movie.

In trying to see if this was true or if I was just crazy, I decided to watch the scene from the movie where Pirelli (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) decides he wants a shave from Todd (played by Johnny Depp) without sound. While watching, one of the biggest things I noticed was how muted the background and skin tones were and how vibrantly colored the blood was. This reminded me of a very old technique used by Alfred Hitchcock. He used to flash red in his movies so quickly that our eyes couldn't necessarily catch it, but just long enough to allow our subconscious to realize it was there. This red would cause fear and uneasiness. The bright red blood in Sweeney Todd reminds me of just that. When everything else is muted and seems diminished and depressing, the blood appears to be alive itself, colorful and flowing magnificently, demonstrating the passion and eagerness to finally make life fair.