“We have met the enemy and he is us.” It’s hard not to invoke Walt Kelly’s self-reflective catchphrase upon confronting your own brutal doppelganger. It wasn’t until primitive Lupita Nyong’o answered her more refined twin’s “Who are you?” with a strained and raspy, “We are Americans” that I realized the title wasn’t a mistake. Us is not just about the horror that lies within ourselves; it is also about the self-reflective horror within in the U.S. itself.
I’m getting ahead of myself. The Wilsons are a nuclear family of four on vacation at Santa Cruz, a place where mom (Nyong’o) is still trying to live down some scary childhood funhouse memories. Ever seen a hall of mirrors? Imagine being there, alone, and meeting a perfect reflection of yourself – yet while the image is decidedly yours, the reflection is actually not. This image is alive, real, and seems to have an agenda … a counter agenda. Tell me that’s not some deep shit.
At the beach, the Wilson’s spectrum child, Jason (Evan Alex), encounters a man doing “Hands Across America” by himself, blood dripping from his extended fingertips. What’s that about? Later that evening, a family shows up in the driveway of the Wilson’s rental house. Ok, that’s not weird. Dad (Winston Duke) decides to be a tad aggressive with the strangers. That’s a mistake. Pretty soon, the Wilsons are captives in their own home at the hands of barbaric versions of themselves all wearing orange jumpsuits and toting large scissors for the purpose of violence and nothing less.
Well, that’s quite a nightmare, huh? Say, uh, me, what do you want?
Right after the “Americans” line, this all clicked: this is America, right now. This fictional surreality is a reflection of our current state of politics and unhappiness: the “good” versions of ourselves have been taken over –and in many case murdered— by our violent and primitive reflections. This is trolling; this is Trumpism; this is our country going to crap because the better angels of our nature are losing to the assholes within Us. Turn on the TV; open up FB; it’s there plain to see.
It is painfully hilarious how much of a reflection this film is upon white supremacist marchers chanting “We will not be replaced!” Oh, the irony. Sparky, you have been already been replaced, quite clearly, by the worst version of yourself. This is exactly the subtext of Jordan Peele’s film. I suppose many will take the NRA route of simply asking “Why didn’t the Wilsons just have guns to shoot themselves? This horror could have ended early on.” That response kinda entirely misses the point of you being your own enemy, doncha think?
The film briefly explores the roots of the doppelganger takeover dated in flashbacks to 1986 and the failed attempt at national unity, “Hands Across America;” yes, that sounds about right. The time of Reagan is the historical era in which Republicans slowed -if not stopped altogether- worrying about Russians and decided instead that liberals and Democrats were the foe to be conquered. “We have met the enemy …”
At the end of the day, the more practical concerns with respect to both film plot and national dilemma become: “How do you outsmart yourself?” and “Assuming a successful dispatch of your twin, how do you stop from becoming exactly what you defeated?” I suspect the latter is a question this country will be answering for decades to come.
Us can be enjoyed as both horror and political allegory. Eventually, the horror has to take over because, well, it’s a movie, not “60 Minutes.” As the politics of Us are far more subtle than Peele’s Get Out, it’s very possible most audiences will ignore them and concentrate upon a pretty scary and, the rarest of rare, intelligent horror film. Let us not, however, discount Peele’s appeal as societal commentator; this is a man completely in control of what he’s saying and doing. While the material is now well beneath his established oeuvre, The Purge and Purge Pals should have been Peele’s workshop; I cannot tell you how much better those films would be in the hands of somebody who has something to say about the politics that gave rise to The Purge. Jordan Peele has quickly become one of my favorite writer/directors and I surely hope he has at least another dozen films in him before he’s done.
♪Ooh I’ve been to Cruz, and sipped some booze and played all day on the sand
Met a dude who was pretty crude with blood dripping from his hand
Oh yeah I got frustrated with our house raided and longed to set my fam free
I’ve killed time, more or less, but I’ve never murdered me♫
Rated R, 116 Minutes
Director: Jordan Peele
Writer: Jordan Peele
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who get what Peele is trying to do here
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those who don’t recognize their dark halves
♪ Parody Inspired by “I’ve Never Been to Me”
