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drgraz
Reviews
The Visitors (1972)
Unsettling, wishful thinking and really Martha's comeuppance
I was unsettled by this movie!
I agree with the reviews that said it was clearly inevitable the visit was going to come to no good from the moment the visitors arrived. But the tension of waiting for that "no good" to manifest itself permeates every moment that follows their arrival. And there were some points in between to vaguely wonder if perhaps a tragic ending might not be inevitable.
I saw the characters of Bill and Martha as typical to the human condition. Martha clearly is unhappy with Bill and attracted to Sgt. Mike. That she knows what a horrible thing he's done and still gravitates to him embodies the wishful thinking of escape. His rape of her isn't shown as some kind of wish fulfillment but rather wishful thinking that Mike will rescue her from an existence she doesn't want (caught between her hyper-masculine father and "wimpy" boyfriend).
Bill is the only one presented with some kind of moral center to hold up as a possible standard; he did the right thing and is only persecuted for it. Is he really so obtuse he doesn't see how ominous the advent of the visitors is? Others have criticized the movie on this ground, but perhaps it was wishful thinking alongside Martha's that it could all be moved past. Perhaps he saw it all coming (besides Martha's role) and saw it as his comeuppance for "turning traitor". A viewer has to wonder why he doesn't tell the visitors to leave or stand up for the choice he made during the war. In any sense, he comes off as having run from making a major stand of any kind ever since which lends itself nicely to the inevitability of what happens.
Less a comment on the Vietnam war than on WAR itself (the father is a veteran of another war and bonds with the visitors over blood lust) and letting who these people really are unfold. Martha is really the revelation of them all, the others are pretty clearly drawn early on in their appearances. She is the catalyst in a way that no one reviewing here has caught onto yet!