Probably one of the weirdest films i have ever watched due to the pure surreality of it and how the gravity of the situation changes very dramatically between each scene. The film is about a journalist and his psychopathic lawyer going to write a report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race taking place in the Mojave desert just out side Vegas. However during the first few scenes it becomes abundantly clear that the motorbike race has take a back seat as we are shown a suit case:
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get into locked a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and i knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon
- Raoul Duke
The story then starts to become more about the effect of these psychedelic drugs on the human body and what effect the environment they are consumed in has on the taker. The trips experienced by the two focal characters (Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo) are often very explicit and often quite alarming due to the fantastic detail in the costumes and make up.
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| The scene where they enter a bar and the mescaline and LSD begin to kick in and they people in the bar warp and twist into these demented garish lizard like creatures which he believes are going to eat him |
The heavy trip on this ridiculous drug cocktail then continues as Raoul cowers behind the bar in the room while a rival reporter attempts to discuss the race with him. This is obviously impossible due to the shear volume of drugs coursing through his system make him see the reporter as solider in vietnam with explosions and flashes going off all around him.
The film clearly states the consequences of abusing drugs to this extent and shows why there is such a thing as 'too much' but the film also outlines the glorious period of time which was the 1970s.
San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.…
- Raoul Duke
What he is essentially saying is that it should be worth noting the time you live in and where you are. Its worth taking a second to realise that when everyone was having the time of their lives you can say that 'I was There'. He also goes on to say how words and memories and music cannot describe that feeling when you were 'There' and how incredible it was to be there.
One of the most important parts of the film is that the further into their drug fuelled haze they go their objectives and goals become less and less clear and by the end you are unsure of what is actually there and what is just a fragment on their imaginations. Fear & Loathing is clever like that because as they lose their sanity you get the feeling you are losing yours without actually losing it.
One of the most important parts of the film is that the further into their drug fuelled haze they go their objectives and goals become less and less clear and by the end you are unsure of what is actually there and what is just a fragment on their imaginations. Fear & Loathing is clever like that because as they lose their sanity you get the feeling you are losing yours without actually losing it.
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