The music throughout District 666 is also excellent, with the synth score adding a sense of sonic urgency to the countless scenes of people talking on old phones in front of computers. These sequences of individuals at desks talking to video screens or on the phone further add to the isolation of the narrative. Whether this was due to filming during COVID restrictions or an intentional device to criticize those restrictions is up for question. Also, hats off to the English dubbing, as it is the best I have seen in decades.
The script by Nascimento and Gilberto Perin does an excellent job of dystopian world-building in a short time. Paying homage to the father of the near future genre, there are Orwellian touches like constant surveillance and the same picture of an unnamed dictator hanging in everyone’s apartment. The not-so-distant science fiction genre allows writers to highlight current problems by portraying a grotesque vision of what may happen tomorrow if left to run amok. The writers here focus on the tyranny of mask-wearing taken to nightmare gulag levels. Not shying from taking a controversial stand, the filmmakers are not afraid of alienating the millions of people who have lost loved ones to COVID, including the relatives of the over half-million dead in Brazil. Some will question whether the North American target audience for this anti-mask message will accept it.
“…a highly diverse cast and focusing on the importance of books…”
While sporting a highly diverse cast and focusing on the importance of books, District 666 lacks car chases or explosions to keep viewers’ attention. The anti-lockdown theme creates a quandary similar to evaluating the artistic merit of the many European productions of the 1970s that glorified pedophilia. While atheistic and technical achievements can be noted, there is the taint of intent as well as an overall repugnance of the target market’s desires.
However, District 666 has one of the most classic finales of the new century. It is a magnificent coda that reaches Ed Wood levels of hilarity. I have not laughed so hard since the pandemic began. It was a deep belly laugh with tears rolled down my face, not unlike Night Beast on mushrooms. Even though the controversy will nauseate many audience members, if they hold out until the end, the pay-off is a transcendental giggle riot. It is like eating delicious bad clams and then finding out your breath smells excellent after vomiting.
"…a magnificent coda that reaches Ed Wood levels of hilarity."
