Review of Room 237 (2012) by Amanda S — 01 Apr 2013

The Shining is a film I have viewed so many times I can't even begin to count. Every time it's on TV that's what I change the channel to, and sometimes I pop in the blu-ray because I'm just always in the mood for it. Is it one of my top five favorite films? No. Have I spent restless nights pondering over it? No. Am I even that big of a Kubrick fan? Absolutely not. Is the haunting allure/effectiveness of the film something I ever thought would warrant a documentary? Definitely not, but now that it exists I completely understand why.

The documentary itself is presented in a refreshing way, as opposed to the usual talking head interviews mixed with footage, the entire thing is told on voice-over, over footage of various other films including The Shining. To reflect on the various theories people have created, they run from "I could buy into that" to "completely grasping at straws", but they give fair respect to each one, but none of them are 100% believably accurate (but I'd argue that's the point). Some of the depths that fans have gone to, to investigate their claims are quite fascinating, for example one person created highly detailed maps of the hotel based on footage alone.

Two segments I found particularly compelling was the theory that the film points out many times that the moon landing was staged, and the theory of the significance of playing the film seperately one forward and one backward overlapping the eachother. One concept that blew my mind was that Kubrick filmed The Shining in a way that dreams play in our minds. Also the most prevalent themes seem to point to the clear influence of the holocaust and the violence of American history.

Most of the theories rely too hard on what were most likely simple continuity errors, and I think the reverance of Kubrick boosts him to be this omnipotent film god, when in reality I doubt he had every single thing everyone noticed in mind. It should be remembered though that this is a piece of art that is open to interpretation and the film's ambiguousness gives a lot of leeway for that so you can't say absolutely no or absolutely yes to anyone about it. Is it the most organized representation of a beloved film that answers most of your burning questions or puts any theory to rest? Sadly no, but it's above all very interesting and worth your time if you appreciate the source material. I don't know about everyone else, but I will definitely be watching The Shining more closely from now on.