RHINOCEROS
Kino International, $29.95 In Rhinoceros, a loveable schlemiel named Stanley (played by Gene Wilder) watches as everyone he knows, including his best friend John (played by his The Producers‘ co-star, Zero Mostel), willingly turn into rhinoceros. They argue that joining the herd is only natural and right, even if it means losing their humanity. The film is based on a play by French-Romanian absurdist Eugène Ionesco, who intended it as a satire of European fascism; director Tom O’Horgan’s 1973 adaptation takes specific aim at Nixon’s moral majority. This is dark political humor at its least subtle, and these days it’s wonderfully therapeutic. (Now I understand why the skin of our elected officials is looking a tad gray.) Wilder ostensibly plays the lead, but it is during the scene when Mostel transforms into a rhinoceros — mostly improvised and without a bit of make-up or special effects — that the movie provides sheer comic bliss. It’s a challenge to bring Ionesco’s somersault prose to the screen, but Mostel matches the heady absurdism with pure slapstick fervor. In short, he goes completely goddamn rhino, apparently exorcising some inner demons in the process. Ionesco and Mostel were both victims of political persecution: Ionesco exiled from his native Romania by Ceausescu and Mostel from his native Hollywood by McCarthy. But don’t expect the DVD extras to offer any deep revelations on personal politics. There is a text-based interview with Mostel included, but it is more improvised absurdity. The filmed interview with O’Horgan, who directed Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, includes a nice anecdote about a failed attempt to use a live rhino. But don’t rent this DVD for the bonus material. There are already a number of reasons to check out this fabulous film, and they all add up to Zero.
This article appears in May 30 • 2003.