Just Another Blog
Monday, June 26, 2006
 
Watching

Cannibal! The Musical
by Trey Parker and Matt Stone

Genius. Pure and bloody simple genius. And most hilarious. This predates their South Park series and is actually more tame, at least in terms of language and overt offensiveness. There's some high quality, if still b-movie, gore, but it works with the story. Parker and Stone are, I think, the greatest comedy minds of our generation. This early work with its thick satire; ridiculously obvious foreshadowing; clever anachronisms; Parker-Stone-typical, over-the-top send-ups of types like westerns, musicals, and even the sets of music within musicals; made up words; and zany lyrics is a fine example of their genius.

The movie follows the story of Colorado legend Alfred Packer who was sentenced to hang for murder and cannabalism in the 1880s after a trek from Provo to Breckenridge brought hard times in the Rocky Mountains. He was never hanged thanks to legal loopholes and a sympathetic Denver Post reporter. CourtTV offers this excellent, long, in-depth review of the historical evidence of what really happened. The evidence paints a somewhat different picture than the film, but the film does capture a lot of what is known to be true and offers up a deeper story that perhaps goes beyond what we can see from the evidence. And it does so in a most frickin hilarious, musical manner. This knocks Moulin Rouge from the top slot in my list of favorite musicals, though, admittedly, it's a short list.

Now that I know he's buried in Littleton, I look forward posting a photo soon.