The Doors (5 Stars)

It's been a long time since I last watched this film. More than 10 years, since it hasn't been mentioned on my blog. The title of the film is "The Doors", but it's really about Jim Morrison. The other band members hardly get any screen time, and their characters aren't fleshed out enough for us to get to know them.

I enjoy the film a lot (as should be obvious from my rating). Val Kilmer was an excellent choice to play Jim Morrison. He's fascinating from his early years (1965) until his death (1971). He was doubtlessly a genius, based on the poetry he wrote. Were the drugs that he took (mainly LSD) an inspiration or a hindrance for his poetry? They were probably both. LSD opened his mind to new thoughts, but as he continued the drugs took control of him and stifled his creativity. Added to the problem is that he mixed drugs and alcohol. There may be different opinions on the harm or benefit of several recreational drugs, but one thing all experts agree on is that alcohol and drugs shouldn't be mixed.

The film has a dreamlike quality. Jim Morrison's trips repeatedly bring back memories of a dead Indian (Native American) that he saw in a car crash as a child. He considers him to be a shaman. I don't know whether this actually happened in his life, but it makes the film more fascinating.

Today, after watching the film, I read that the film has been heavily criticised by those who knew Jim, in particular the other members of the Doors. They think that he was portrayed too negatively in his later years. I can't comment on this. I just know that the way he's shown makes a good film. It could have been called "The Rise and Fall of Jim Morrison". In his 27 years he lived more than most people live in a hundred years.

I might have written more about this film, but the bugs in the new Blogger interface take a lot of the joy out of writing. How long will it take for Google's Blogger team to fix the critical bugs, let alone the minor bugs?

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