Slaughterhouse-Five

1972 "Billy Pilgrim lives —from time to time to time…"
6.8| 1h40m| R| en
Details

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

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Reviews

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
framptonhollis The novel upon which this film is based is my all time favorite book, and the biggest flaw of its movie adaptation is that it doesn't really live up to the greatness of the novel. Of course, I do not believe that any movie adaptation good do Vonnegut's style much justice, and this film definitely makes an attempt and, for the most part, succeeds admirably. I know that it is somewhat unfair to criticize this film for not being as good as the book, but I do have a few genuinely good reasons to complain a little. There was plenty more great material from the book that could be adapted to the screen that is just simply ignored here (they could have done something very interesting with the character of Kilgore Trout). The book manages to be both more funny and sad than this film, which is a little unfortunate.However, this movie is overall pretty great. I loved the editing and visual style, it captures the structure of the book with sheer perfection while also being purely creative and original. The acting is also quite well done, despite a majority of the actors being mostly unknown. Everyone does a great job, especially Ron Leibman as Paul Lazzaro.Although I previously stated that this movie is not as funny as the book, it is still very funny. There are darkly hilarious bits scattered all throughout this dark classic, and it captures the essence of Vonnegut's brilliant satire and humor very well.Definitely recommended for anyone curious.
Hitchcoc I got hooked by Kurt Vonnegut early on. I must say that I thought to myself many times, you just can't turn these book into movies, from "Sirens of Titan" to "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater." I guess "Slaughterhouse Five" is Vonnegut's magnum opus. It is a wonderful book, but it banks on time travel and a kind of cerebral narration. The movie tosses these things around for us and we get to see visually what is going on with Billy Pilgrim, but it is disjointed and disappointing. There are striking moments, especially having to do with World War II prisoners and the cruelty of the Germans. However, Vonnegut was most taken with the Dresden fire bombing, where people suffocated as the fires sucked the oxygen from the air. The city was destroyed. I had the good fortune to visit Dresden this summer. It has been completely rebuilt to look like it did before the war. Remarkable representation of the human spirit. War is, indeed, hell. How I felt for those people who were really not responsible for that war but paid a huge price.
Jorgosch Life is but a random sequence of good and bad things happening. That is the premise of the story and that is how this film is structured. The director uses every trick in the book to put you on a roller-coaster of a ride with so many ups and downs in sequence that no eye will remain dry. Depending on what type of viewer you are, the tears will might come from laughing but much more probably from crying. Although the movie is partly tagged as a comedy, the humour in it film is very dark indeed.One might think that the lesson behind the story is that life takes you along on a preprogrammed ride and you best lean back, take it as it comes and enjoy the good parts, but that is not true. I think what author and director want to convey is that those in tune with others will find that some things are inevitable but just as many good moments are of your own making.The emotions hit you hard and relentlessly, but the end is conciliatory (at least, if you're male) and even whimsical. Not a movie for every day, but definitely recommended. 8/10
ironhorse_iv 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.