Enemy (Jake Gyllenhaal) - Review + Quick guide to understand this convoluted movie. (SPOILERS!)

REVIEW:

The enemy within. This should probably be the title of the movie. The original book written by Saramago is called The Double. The movie is exactly what you'd expect from a Saramago novel. It's tortuous, convoluted, unexpected, weird, making you think for long periods of time before you get a whiff of what's going on. That said, this movie isn't for everybody. Don't go in thinking it's your typical hollywood cheap blockbuster, packed with action and sex. This is a make-you-think movie.

The message of the book, I assume, is trascendental. The movie makes a poor job at transcribing the message, though. If I were to compare it to another movie of the same genre, highlighting the same message, I'd say Fight Club beats this movie's butt in that sense. The message in the latter is clear.

Although convoluted, I really enjoyed this piece.


QUICK GUIDE (SPOILERS!):

Enemy is the name of a movie based on a book called The Double. This piece is by Jose Samarago, an author from Portugal. He won a Nobel Prize for Blindness.

Saramago's writing is not classified as an easy, quick-snack read. It's actually the entire opposite. Long-winded sentences, convoluted messages, it all sums up to a literature filled with amazing literary figures, yet quite difficult to grasp.

To understand this movie you might want to remember Fight Club. The message behind it is fascinating, on how a man with a boring life creates a character he would very much like to become. Enemy is no different in that sense. The main character would seem to suffer multiple personality disorder, and is a little maniac from time to time. That said, the actor Jake Gyllenhaal did an amazing job carrying out the main character's struggle.

Unlike Fight Club, the "imagined" character in Enemy isn't a different person. At least not physically. They are one and the same. Albeit, they have a different personality, lifestyle, job, etc. Let's break it down.

The same person has two personas:

Adam - The history teacher. Lives in a low-life apartment. Hates blue-berries. Has a nice girl-friend. Is sweet and docile.

Anthony - The actor. Lives a fast-paced life full of vice, rock-star sentimentalism, and attends a weird reunion with other adult males watching prostitutes masturbate. He is married. His wife is expecting their first child. He loves blue-berries.

The argument:

Anthony lives an intense life. His acting career is stuck being the bellboy and other subpar roles in three movies in which he has appeared. He loves going to some nightclub to watch women masturbate amongst the company of other perverts. He is married yet cheats on his wife. He lives a rock-star type of life.

In his discontent of the low-acting career he has, he creates a character of lower intensity that seems to meet his needs of self-worth. The character created is a History Teacher going by the name of Adam.

Adam has a girlfriend (the story he tells himself to sleep with another women without feeling guilt), and lives a low intensity lifestyle He is sweet and docile.

When the two personas have acquired enough substance to be entirely different persons, shit hits the fan. This is when the matured character of Adam realizes there is another man just like him--HIMSELF, or the other persona. Of course this all happens in his own mind, as he probably hallucinates while adapting the role of Adam or Anthony. The confrontation is inevitable. In the end the rock-star wannabe, Anthony, wins over Adam--the sweet side of him.

The spider takes a huge role in the movie. The tarantula is a scary yet non-aggresive creature. It actually represents diligence, which makes sense once you get to the end of the movie.

At the end:

His wife tells him, "Your mother called." knowing she is talking to ADAM, the character she likes best. When Anthony responds (the character she fears), "I'm going out tonight," adopting his rock-star persona, she becomes a giant tarantula. The tarantula is cornered, fearing THE ROCK-STAR persona. Why? When he becomes this persona he is volatile, violent, unpredictable, and a cheater.

The tarantula represents diligence--his marriage. His marriage is afraid of him since his cheating threatens to destroy what they as a couple have built.

I hope this helped you to better understand this movie. If you watch it again after reading this, you might find more sense into it. I'm a fan of Samarago's literature. This is why I enjoyed breaking down this movie. Enjoy!