Ibnu Asad

Set in 1765, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is an eccentric adaption of Steven Sondheim’s musical. The dark arts begin when Sweeney Todd (Johny Depp) glides up the Thames, in the dead of the night, camouflaging himself with his pale face against the pale water. As the ship sails under an eerie London Bridge, it becomes quite clear that Tim Burton was born to direct this film. With many morbid yet humorous productions under his belt, such as The Nightmare before Christmas, The Corpse Bride and Beetlejuice, who else should take on Sweeney Todd but Tim Burton himself?

The masterpiece unfolds like a ‘Grimm’ tale. Sweeney Todd returns to London after 15 years of torture. Eyes dead, voice silent, his painful life story emerges through haunted, hollow songs and expressive off-key melodies, uncovering his intent to murder the man who condemned him and his family, to a life of sadistic suffering. Wearing his past like the sentimental shield, encapsulating his soul from the rest of the world, Todd finds himself back at Fennel Street above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie shop, where he and his family once lived their over-joyous lives, unaware of the evil events to come.

London, itself, was never a glorious place, but Tim Burton manages to take it one step further and drain London of any life and colour that may have been contained within it’s walls, at some point in our past. Cold, cobbled streets set the scene as dark, dead sets fill the screen to bring the perfect effect. The chemistry between Depp and Helena Bonham Carter’s genial cockney Mrs. Lovett is awesome. Lovett’s un-reciprocated passion for Todd is depicted consistently throughout the film. The idea of stuffing her pies with the outcome of Todd’s enchanted razor skills haunts you throughout most of the film. The violence and gore definitely sets him apart from the any musical-gone-movie I’ve seen, and this certainly isn’t a family film.

The pace of the film is elegantly laid out and it surprises you. Burton has pruned Sondheim’s arias to develop the tempo of a thriller, undertaking brilliant editing along the way. The villains are less stocky, yet more menacing. Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen), is Todd’s unisex rival, with plans to blackmail him. judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), is a sinister, “pious vulture”, ready to pounce and bend the law, because he can, top obtain his desires. Lastly, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), is a fantastically ultra-violent ’side-kick’, who succumbs to his lord’s every will.

I worship Burton’s ability to emphasize blood and gore in a musical, to the extent that it actually sticks in your mind for days to come. Overall, the sound of skulls splitting as they hit the basement floor, as Todd’s victims take the last descent before being disfigured and served up, is not for the faint hearted, yet Sweeney Todd is the best musical-turned-movie I have ever seen, and it doesn’t surprise me because Tim Burton really is an established genius. This movie really has captured the years “Surprisingly Excellent” award and I whole-heartedly recommend you go see it.

+ IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/