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The Chocolate War (1988)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
5/20
5/20:
Featuring a parade of assholes, The Chocolate War is an unlikeable mean-spirited picture.
There's nothing wrong with actor-turned-director Keith Gordon's direction; if that's how Robert Cormier's book (I
never read it) went down, then so be it. The problem is that the material isn't appealing, but yes, I recognize the issues
and have encountered them all my life.
The premise is too simplistic. There are only two teachers working at the religious private school,
so where are the parents? Don't they have some influence? Tim Hunter did a much, much better job of getting away with the
absence of authority in Over the Edge and River's Edge.
The other is more of a "what?" It's just fucking chocolates, and it's so boring to sell them all the time. I'm sure
these idiots can try to be more creative by branching out to other areas for fundraising such as car wash, lawn mowing/snow
shoveling service, book fair, talent show, ice cream social, and raffle. Think about it: 400 students and each mows a lawn
for ten bucks; this comes to $4,000 easy, and that's 10% of the goal. Best of all, it's useful and serves a purpose.
Amazingly enough, given the high quality production values, The Chocolate War drew a budget of $500,000 yet only
grossed mere $300,000 at the box office. That's bad enough when it could've had success at any point of time in the last ten
years given how negative the country has been including the disgusting rise of utterly pointless hazing practices at
university fraternities.
If there's any consolation, none of the actors went on to be stars despite the film serving as a possible springboard
for many. There's one I'm familiar with, and it's Wallace Langham who played a writer, along with Jeremy Piven, in
The Larry Sanders Show.
All in all, drawing a lot of parallels with Lord of the Flies, The Chocolate War isn't effective enough to be a
teaching tool.