The holy testimony of movies has spoken again. It has ranked and marked the best amongst the best to ponder into the eyes of the beholder. None other than, the website that has a symbol of a tomato which goes by the name Rotten Tomatoes.
It is the holy land for those cinephiles who want to know, want to argue, and want to criticize, thus holding on to the role of a cultural arbiter and lamenting the landscape of the moments.
Rotten Tomatoes is like the one teacher every student wants to impress. However, Rotten Tomatoes is like the one teacher who doesn’t know you exist.
Credits: Studio Binder
Through aggregating other’s reviews, the site has transformed itself into a tastemaker for the masses. If said in a cinephile manner, the site has become the Godfather. The site is pretty simple- they usually spit down the percentage score and the reviews, surfacing whether the movie was good or bad.
But is the site always right? Does it know the elusive 100% score? Rotten Tomatoes always has the best-curated selections of movies including the best horror, sci-fi and even Alfred Hitchcock movies. Rotten Tomatoes has recently turned its light into the best war movie ever.
If you look into Google and find the list of the top 100 greatest war films, it would be difficult to miss 2 incredible movies- Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and A Man Escaped (1956).
However, What does the RT mean for these movies?
It is important to understand that Rotten Tomatoes with its percentage score is not examining or reviewing the film, rather it is taking in the response of the critics who have viewed the movie.
For both movies, it isn’t the screenplay or the direction that pleases the site, it’s the people who use the site to view their interests. For the movie Grave of the Fireflies, there is a ranking of 9.40 out of 10, whereas for the movie A Man Escaped leads with 9.50.
On the other hand, it also makes one wonder why these movies are considered the best of war films and here’s why.
Directed by Isao Takahata, this 1988 film talks about the story of siblings and war orphans Seita and Setsuko and their struggles during the Pacific War under the production of Studio Ghibli.
This movie mixes the turmoil of war and the impact of war on the children leaving trauma. The film also deviates from the natural colors that Studio Ghibli often presents through its other movies like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Coming from a semi-autobiographical perspective, the movie captures its audience through its style and story plot.
Credits: Toho
The director makes the character within the narrative use writing as a coping mechanism, which everyone does at a point in their life, thus relating to the character and his loss and suffering.
However, the movie is universally acknowledged for its animation and as a major contribution to Japanese animation.
A Man Escaped
A prison film, drawn from the memoirs of Andre Devigny of the French Resistance is the only answer one needs.
Set in the year 1943, the story shows Fontaine, a member of the French Resistance escaping, later held in prison where he hears repeated gunshots as his inmates are executed. Written and directed by Robert Bresson, the story is considered a jailbreak, because of its technique and concept.
Credits: Gaumont
The movie boldly expresses the yearning concept of freedom and individuality along with his instinct for survival. Through the mastermind directory and narrative, Bresson talks his audience through the character of Fontaine, making it a perfect war film.
Therefore, Rotten Tomatoes can be argued as a tough site when it comes to good films because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the site considers our personal favorite not to be in the top ten.
It simply guides the cinephiles and helps us make sense of the good, similar to Google helps us find resources.
