By Rodney Mansour and Jeremy Ambrose

The famous American film critic Leonard Maltin said that if ever a film deserved to be seen again then this was it. When one considers how many times they have watched the same movie, then this statement truly stands out. Some movies do that to us. They exist as a collection of so many enjoyable elements performing to their natural ends so harmoniously that spending 2 hours revisiting an experience is most definitely time not wasted. The Manchurian Candidate is one such film.

Here, John Frankenheimer creates a nightmare that succeeds in remaining shocking and compelling no matter how many times you revisit it. The nightmare itself is all the more frightening because, while the events depicted on screen may seem outrageously implausible, they are rooted in the reality of the human condition, the fears and the insecurities that afflict every man.

The characters on screen roam through life, but the undercurrent of a nightmare is ever present. Even in broad daylight and in the mundane routine things, nothing is as it seems. No character in the film ever feels entirely comfortable to rest their heads. This is never more the truth than with Raymond Shaw. He is unquestionably a tragic figure, and finally it dawns upon him, just how entangled in the nightmare he really is. He is alienated and lonely, like so many people in the world, yet his very alienation is built upon deception and manipulation. He is deceived by those who should be closest to him such that his ability to depend upon, trust and even love, have been darkened. Family, politics, ideals, beliefs & relationships are tested and found wanting. His experience of love is manipulated and drives him to great despair. He loses the woman he loves because of the diabolical control applied over him by his own mother, and his degradation through being used is too much for him to even believe that his life is worth living. The great tragedy of his character lies in the fact that his natural experience of loneliness is exploited and used as a tool to control him. We all fear loneliness and yet this human experience is taken to monstrous proportions, such that the experience transcends the individual person and becomes a threat to the whole of society. The game of ‘Solitaire’ is inverted to become a weapon of destruction and Raymond is made an object of war, an instrument of sinister ambitions, and a man controlled for these wicked ends.

A time of great political instability and insecurity, the film connects the Cold War climate to the insecurities of man and his ultimate desire to be loved. While Americans today distrust their government, and Western Society distrust the Christian culture that guided them through history, this feeling of paranoia is localised in the person of Raymond and is played out through his relationship with his mother. In this nightmare, the most natural bond becomes the most frightening.

When released in 1962, US relations with the Soviet Union were hot, to say the least… Winning the hearts and minds of human beings to subscribe to one’s world view was a real struggle of considerable importance and immediacy. This would not be lost on the audiences in the midst of this political scope. To conquer in this struggle may be to steal someone’s mind and body, hence their soul. This film considers the quest for control as disturbing and takes it to an absurd but maybe even logical conclusion. Once Raymond puts an end to those who have literally ruined his soul with the same aforementioned political zeal, he takes his own life. The movie wants to highlight the danger of misguided beliefs, ideas, motives and what happens when we fuel our consciences with blinding ambition. The best part is how all this is disguised as a thriller.

Bennett Marco, portrayed perfectly by Frank Sinatra, becomes a true friend to Shaw as he discovers the manipulation that he has undergone. Already unlikeable, Shaw is ‘reprogrammed’ by Bennett to be more self aware as a person and thus finally given the opportunity to determine his actions with true freedom, and be human again. Unfortunately it seems freedom has come too late and Raymond has lost all hope in the value of life for himself. When Bennett describes Shaw as “poor, friendless Raymond” at the end of the film, whilst the rain falls, one can’t help but be moved by the great violation of dignity that Shaw has experienced throughout his life.

The film’s director, John Frankenheimer, was one of America’s most respected film makers. He honed his craft working in live television, like so many directors, that his ability to construct captivating moments set him high above others. The use of hand held cameras produced a frightening verisimilitude that made the events of the movie play out with shocking relevancy. What is worth celebrating is that this technique initially brings the audience in and then couples it with moments of nightmarish and bizarre psychological occurrences that heighten the tension of this film.

The best example of this is the first flashback where the captured men think they are at a Ladies’ Flower Convention. The reality within the nightmare is that they are being showcased as brainwashed US soldiers programmed for assassination by Communist politicians. This is horror presented with casual almost unassuming reality that audiences must no doubt gasp at, seeing the evil on display. We may be witnessing the height of political paranoia that plagued people during the Cold war. This is displayed by an astonishing set piece that transitions seamlessly from flowers on display to Communist elite discussing serious subversion. Perfect cinematography, expert editing, solid set design, perfectly crafted sound, with masterful acting are the elements going to work in this scene and thus, under the guided hand of Frankenheimer, materialize ideas that still shock modern audiences.

Things so familiar, like old ladies and flowers, becomes a nightmare and objects of control. The game of solitaire is likewise exploited by the enemy to uncompromisingly take over Raymond’s life. Its connection with Raymond’s own solitude and loneliness suggests that a more enlightened force comes out of the darkness to restore purpose to the disenchanted – the force being Communism in this context, but really could be anything that enslaves man under the guise of freedom. Higher powers reach out to Raymond this way and destroy him. It is the principalities of evil operating overtime and thus succeeding in winning a soul for their own use. It may have been the relatively safe and tame use of cards back then in 1962 that were used to inject horror into everyday life whereas today it could be technology like social media. Human nature does not change. All we seem to do is invent technology that supplements and aids it whilst also opening the door to it being hijacked for nefarious reasons.

One only has to look at the political climate today and the battle against terrorism to concur that the Manchurian Candidate exposed parts of human nature that still rear its ugly head even in our modern, supposedly more enlightened times. Loneliness survives, as does the possibility of its manipulation, such that lonely men find community through terrorism and blow themselves up. The nightmare continues…