Split Image

I'm bloody surprised, if bloody dumbfounded, 5 people have only reviewed this film. First, there was Kotchef's First Blood. Then this. Both are fine movies. Split Image really offers something different, where by the end of the film, you feel drained or put through the ringer. This must be a very overlooked film, and that would be an understatement. Though SI, isn't without faults, unlike how the taut and tense, First Blood was handled. There's a bit of sloppiness to the film, as in the skipping part structure. The story revolves around a promising gymnast Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe). He has everything going for him, but his new love becomes his ruin, when he gets mixed up in a cult where young people are suckered into a new life on a plantation camp behind closed gates. It's run by a older guy, Kirklander in a surprisingly underestimated and somewhat creepy performance by Peter Fonda. Let me be honest, he's the best actor in the movie, where the other performances are bloody good too, especially from Keefe, and his new found love, Elizabeth (Karen Allen). On the other side of that coin is James Woods as the deprogrammer who has a hatred for Fonda, that's so immense, it's worrying, even slagging on black and white photo of his nemesis. Keefe's parents are played by Brian Dennehy and Elizabeth Ashley, Ashley the better performance of the two who enlists Wood's services, who not really won over, or even show a liking to this lowlife character, who likes to flash his tongue at college girls, while at work with his team, ready to snatch, save- de programme the next mind altered kid. His view on college is interesting too. What's great about Split Image, is we see the views of both sides, like really get inside the life of these cults and how they are run, and it's an interesting duration and insight, I must say. The other side is that of Keefe's family, offering some funny moments, before he's snatched, and then the helplessness, we so much feel for them. The duration of the deprogramming of Keefe, kept captive in an attic, is of course the strongest part/real heart of the movie, as we want so much for this character to be saved, and it's quite a grueling watch, where O'Keefe shows off his best acting in this part, sometimes too convincingly, it's hard to watch. What really didn't convince me, was how easily led Danny was into this cult, which is a sick business, but if this is all it takes, it's frighteningly alarming or sickening, kind of like these young kids being brainwashed into terrorism. The only other issue I had with the film, was the deprogramming bit in the attic, as I strongly feel it would of taken much more time and effort, to bring O'Keefe back to his original self, where to be frank, some kids would be that far gone, they wouldn't be able to be saved. Kotchef makes good films. Christ, he even made Weekend At Bernies, where Split Image, deservedly earns it's place beside them. Check it out. Don't overlook this one. Please.

Gripping story to watch, and Fonda and Woods are both perfect fits for their roles here.

And this movie is uncanny in its parallels to politics here in year 2019.

Today's analogue to Fonda's cult would be contemporary political "progressivism". A veneer of sentiment of love and utopian hopes for mankind masks an underbelly of self-righteous smugness and dangerous naivite about human societies and the destructive consequences of public policy based on wishful thinking.

The populist conservative movement is the analogue to the cult deprogrammers. Offering a crude and harsh sounding message in an attempt to dissuade people from succumbing to the cult's suicidal dogma.

And the icing on the cake is that Woods and Fonda both are activists today that parallel their roles in this movie.

Progressives will no doubt be aghast at this opinion.

This is a very good movie and scarily realistic even in 2023! I love that Danny 'Joshua' Stetson starts out as a smarmy cynical young man and his transformation feel quite credible.

A few things about the cult are implied but never made really explicit, e.g. How they use hard labour and malnutrition as tools for control. How they use religion as substitute for sex. I wondered if Kirklander was drugging his disciples because Danny 'Joshua' Stetson mentioned that he doesn't shave anymore and no longer has any sex drive, and Rebecca mentioned that she and the other girls no longer get their period. Was this physical transformation induced by drugs or was it a psycho-somatic phenomenon? Other topics were mentioned in passing but not fully explored, e.g. When Charles Pratt mentions that Homelanders are in fact collecting money for charities that don't exist.

The theme of duality - foreshadowed earlier in the movie by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - continues here by making us ask the question: Who are the 'good' guys? And who are the 'bad' guys? Is Homeland really such a horrible place compared to the materialistic world outside? Is Kirklander really such a bad guy compared to Charles Pratt?

The de-programming scenes were the best part of the movie! Especially the scene where the cult attacks the safe house and the aftermath of that; the exchange that Charles Pratt has with Danny 'Joshua' Stetson's family is very powerful & revealing stuff!

Anyone who is unfavorably commenting about Peter Fonda's performance seems to forget just how much of a trippy hippie he himself was in the 60's. His role here was absolutely brilliant as the manipulative Neil Kirklander. James Woods; well, as usual, simply stellar! My favorite roles for him are exactly personified in this one: sleazy, unrefined, unkempt, easily angered and irritable, and doesn't care what the world thinks. He makes being disgusting look like such fun (when he spits on Kirklander's picture as a sort of de-programming method for Danny). O'Keefe and Dennehy are equally superb and convincing. Karen Allen is as we always expect; vulnerable and adorably sensitive. Fonda takes it all on this one for me, the man who gave John Lennon "I know what it's like to be dead." Excellent!

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was terrific, with a lot of nuance and subtlety conveyed by the actors all around. The plot was interesting and it felt very authentic.

Whether or not this is how cults recruit/operate, or how intervention deprogramming happens, I don't know. However I suspect it is close to real life. My parents sent me to a fundamentalist church camp one summer when I was a teen and it was eerily similar to this movie. As a teen it felt like pure (albeit very strict) love, but as an adult looking back many decades ago, I can now say that my summer camp experience was creepy and inappropriate. In any event, because of insight from my personal experience, this is why I suspect that cults operate similar to what was portrayed in this movie.

One funny thing about this movie is the musical score which sounds is really dated. It was neither distracting nor annoying, but, my gosh, it just sounded like it was 100 years (even though it's only 1982).

This movie is definitely worth a watch for the entertainment value, plus it's a very well made movie overall, considering the period and content.