Review of The Dead Don't Die (2019) by Cristoparado — 15 Nov 2019

In "The dead don't die" Jim Jarmusch delivers a zombie apocalypse movie that doesn't shy away from making obvious that zombies in pop culture have been for a very long time a quasi-perfect allegory for consumerism, self-infatuation, and social alienation; in fact he celebrates his self-indulging in it. Besides the cynicism, the other aspect that makes the movie different from most other zombie movies is that its stance in the face of our self-inflicted demise seems vague, its up to each member of the audience to decide if the overall tone of the movie is optimistic or pessimistic.

It runs smoothly on very simplistic jokes on the impotence of human nature, references to cult movies, clichés, and pretty little details worth keeping an eye out for, in fact one of the characters recommends to be attentive to details for therein lies the beauty and "perfection" of the world. The dead that won't die aren't only the zombies, but their unquenchable appetites, the archaic notions they fight to keep alive, the lies they depend on to justify their willful ignorance and inaction, and their subconscious symbiotic relationship with authoritarian power.

Salvation from the end of the world is reserved to those who have denounced it either by retracting to its margins or by living in perfectly disciplined asceticism, thus emancipating themselves through individuation; and surely this salvation seems so impossible and uncharacteristic of the world and its inhabitants that it will necessarily come from out of it as the materialization of the sophisticated iteration of messianic help of our times. All things considered "The dead don't die" is definitely worth watching, and think about for a while afterwards.