Sweeny Todd

Our older daughter is a big Johnny Depp fan. We have followed his career since Edward Scissorhands. As a result, when Sweeny Todd came out, we didn’t think twice about taking her, even though it had an R rating. After all, how bad could a movie based on a Broadway musical be? Well, this one is really dark. That is not to say that it is a bad film. However, it takes a strong stomach to watch random people having their throats slit and then being baked into meat pies.

A little explanation is in order. A lascivious judge caused an innocent barber to be arrested and convicted on a false charge so that he could take the man’s wife. Fifteen years later, the barber returns to find his wife gone and his daughter taken by the judge as his ward. He hatches a plot to take revenge on the judge and reclaim his daughter.

However, he has a tenuous grip on his sanity and an all too strong grip on his silver razors. After an initial killing of a blackmailer, the Depp character sings his view that everyone deserves to die because they are either evil (and thus deserving death) or miserable (and thus likely to be released by death). While waiting for his opportunity to kill the judge, he proceeds to kill all of the single men who come to his shop, while his accomplice bakes the men into meat pies and sells them to an appreciative public. In the end, Sweeny Todd’s thirst for vengeance destroys him and those around him, with bodies dropping as in a Shakespearean tragedy.

The role of Sweeny Todd is well suited for Johnny Depp. He has made a career out of playing characters who are a little off. This character is certifiably around the bend. However, Depp’s star power is also a weakness. Depp’s character, who gleefully slits the throats of guilty and innocent alike, does bad things. However, the film’s focus on its star causes it to walk a fine line between celebrating the violence and condemning it. While we were watching the movie, there was one lout in the audience who laughed hysterically whenever a victim was dispatched. In the end, the movie shows how the title character’s excesses lead to his downfall. However, the final shot clothes his death with a nobility denied to his victims, thus clouding the message. As I said at the beginning, this is a dark, disturbing movie, but one which is well made.