Fear and Desire w/SLIP

Fear and Desireis the ambitious first feature film by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory,Full Metal Jacket). In this existential dramawhich has the feeling of a waking dream rather than a conventional war filmfour soldiers return to their senses after crash-landing in a forest behind enemy lines. Blindly navigating their way back to their unit, they attack an isolated cabin occupied by enemy soldiers, then apprehend a peasant woman who is tormented by the deranged young soldier assigned to guard her. On the verge of freedom, they discover an outpost of enemy officers, and must decide whether to slip silently past or stage a violent confrontation with their doppelgngers. Upon its initial release, Kubrick was stung by negative audience reactions and immediately decided to tone down the philosophical aspects of the film. These edits made the film less of a metaphysical experience and more of a conventional war film. For decades, this 62-minute version was all that existed ofFear and Desire, until the Library of Congress came into possession of a 35mm element of the original 70-minute premiere cut, which has not been seen since its interrupted theatrical run in 1953. Now, we can finally seeFear and Desireas it was first released, and witness the blossoming of a 23-year-old cinematic genius.