Review of In the Company of Men (1995) by Davey M — 02 Apr 2009

I don't think any movie has caused me to scour my conscience in the way that this one has. LaBute takes what initially sounds like a very clever and very cruel premise with a great degree of shock value and turns it into something a lot better, a lot more profound, and a lot more powerful--essentially, "In the Company of Men" is a character study of Satan, a horrifying investigation into the despicable hideousness that exists somewhere inside all of us, and in our terrifyingly competitive, egotistical nature as human beings, how that destructive impulse manifests itself in the workplace and in the way misogyny so often masquerades as romance, and how every day atrocities like this occur, if on a less overt and dramatic scale.

It's painful to watch--it left me battered--but I also couldn't look away, because, in spite of its extraordinary premise, it's actually very, very, very believable. Neil LaBute is one of the most important moralists in the arts today; I don't know how he survives this life spending so much of his artistic career exploring this kind of revolting social sickness and exposing ourselves to ourselves over and over again, but, as horrid and as frightening as his plays and films may be, and as much as he's an artist that is definitely needed in moderation (or we'd all be so endlessly tormented with terrified self-loathing we'd probably never get anything done), I think we can be better people for them.

In my mind, anything that can bring me to really examine how I've lived my life and sincerely want to be a better person is more than worthwhile. So thanks, Neil.