Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a Stanley Kubrick film, has an intricate composition where each detail of the movie creates a specific atmosphere that makes this a genius dark-humored film.
“It’s all very elusive and very rich. There’s nothing like trying to create it. It gives you a sense of omnipotence.” - Stanley Kubrick
Characters in all films contribute to the plot and storyline of a film. In Kubrick’s film, he makes these characters right on point. General Ripper, a crazed war general, is a strong personality authority figure and is illuminated as so by the sharp camera angles on his face and the consistent cigar dangling from his mouth. The lighting and mood surrounding him creates his controlling and overpowering aura. General Ripper’s complete opposite and executive officer, Mandrake, is driven by reason and is cast as the good-conscience soldier. He tries to appease General Ripper. But, when Ripper reaches his final point of insanity, Mandrake pulls through and does whatever he can to stop most of the bombs in the end.
“As I kept imagining things the way in which things would really happen, ideas would keep coming to me, which I would discard because they were so ludicrous. I kept saying to myself, ‘I can’t do that - people will laugh.’ But after a month or so I began to realize that all the things I was throwing out were the things which were most truthful.”
-Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick constantly uses a play on words to poke fun at the situations of war and unnecessary violence. For example, he places a bill board with the phrase “Peace is Our Profession” plastered over it when there’s gun fighting going on right in front of it. Also, one of the characters, General Turgidson, has a folder throughout the whole film which says, “World Targets In Megadeaths.” Kubrick’s word play really emphasizes his dark sense of humor towards the nuclear arms race and how useable nuclear weapons were to the government. Kubrick utilizes all aspects of compositions to make this film one of the best of its time.
