Review of Room 237 (2012) by John M — 19 Oct 2013

A crackpot conversation starter. This is a documentary detailing a number of opinions on what the subtext in the classic film The Shining is really saying, to differing degrees of outlandishness. Have you ever seen The Number 23? If you haven't, it's about a man who loses his sanity and sees the number 23 everywhere because he's looking so hard to see it.

That's sort of what this movie is like, with aficionados who have clearly spent too much time with the material, seeing what they want to see, and hearing what they want to hear. Now I don't think this is a bad thing, because it does make for insightful commentary that gives you a new perspective, albeit a sometimes far stretched one.

Obviously, this is a wonderful companion piece to The Shining, and it worked out just aces for me, as I had literally watched it the prior afternoon. No, I do not think The Shining is really about the Holocaust, the faking of the moon landing or crimes committed against Native Americans, but it expands your capacity of thinking about it, which is not a bad thing.

It brings your attention to things you would have never thought twice about, and being how anal-retentive Kubrick is for details, coincidence or continuity errors seem unlikely. If you are a fan of the film, you should by all means give this a watch, if only to give yourself something to mull over.