Room 237

Four out of Four Stars

When you think of The Shining, what first comes to mind? Is it the mass genocide of Native Americans, the Apollo Moon landing, or Jack Nicholson smashing in a door shouting “Here’s Johnny”? Most of you would think of the third example, but to the commentators/die-hard fans of The Shining, there is more to the picture than meets the eye in the documentary Room 237. Directed by Rodney Ascher, the film is a series of clips of The Shining narrated by five fans of the film and talk about their first time seeing the film, as well as dissect Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic.                                                                                   

                  

The theories posed by the five commentators, who we do not see throughout the documentary, are wild and unique since Kubrick was infamous for his obsessive compulsive eye for detail and did not reflect the details over his films during interviews leaving many forms of speculation.  One of the commentators shows two copies of the film; a copy being played from beginning to end and another copy being played from the end of the film to the beginning to point out the connection between Hitler and Jack Nicholson’s character. Another commentator discusses how The Shining is an overarching metaphor over the slaughter of Native Americans based on the décor of the Overlook Hotel, its history of being built during an attack by Native Americans, and how native American symbols can be seen during the shining sequence between Danny (Danny Lloyd) and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers).        

        

Some of the theories go beyond the pale of rational fact, yet the speculation into a film that Kubrick rarely commented on makes the documentary a worthwhile watch for anyone who loves The Shining, or is fascinated in film studies as BBC film critic Mark Kermode gave Room 237 its subtitle, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Film Studies.”