Jordan Peele’s horror social criticism
“We” celebrates its premiere on free TV
Ada (Lupita Nyong’o, left) and her children are scared to death.
© RTLTWEI
With “We” by Oscar winner Jordan Peele, a horror film that is as clever as it is haunting is coming to free TV for the first time.
After his Oscar-winning horror blockbuster “Get Out” from 2017, comedian and director Jordan Peele (43) delivered an equally haunting strip two years later with “We”. At the center of the story is not just an Afro-American family of four who have to deal with evil doppelgangers. Once again, Peele does not skimp on symbolic social criticism. That’s why not only horror fans should zap into RTLzwei on September 18 from 10:30 p.m.
We good, you bad – that’s what it’s all about
Little Ada visits a Santa Cruz fairground with her parents in 1986. In an unsupervised moment, she goes into a gloomy hall of mirrors, where she meets a scary girl who resembles her to the last hair. After the traumatic experience, the little one suddenly stops speaking.
About 30 years later, the adult Ada (Lupita Nyong’o, 39) not only found her voice again. She is now married to Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke, 35) and has two children of her own. When the family heads to a vacation home not far from where Ada once witnessed the horror of the mirror maze, disturbing events begin to unfold – until four people in red overalls suddenly appear in their driveway. It is their respective doppelgangers who are out to kill the Wilsons.
Genre mix with a statement
“Wir” is a nerve-wracking mystery thriller over long stretches, which, especially in its final act and in the best slasher manner, doesn’t skimp on fake blood or violence. At the same time, Peele once again delivers a strong message without beating it in too violently with a sledgehammer: the gap between top and bottom, between rich and poor is not only widening in the USA. But not everyone is willing to accept this without violence.
If you are confronted with this social injustice, you will also notice that those “up there” and “down there” are not so dissimilar, in “We” they even resemble each other like peas in a pod. It’s just that some people are luckier in life, while others don’t even get a chance.
Admittedly, “Wir” may not be blessed with that element of surprise compared to “Get Out”. Nevertheless, Peele also delivered a twisted story with his second horror film, which appeals above all, but not only to horror fans.