Sleeper (Woody Allen Wednesday make-up)

My best friend's mom apparently recommended I watch this movie after she found out I loved Woody Allen. According to my friend, and I'm paraphrasing here, "have you seen that one where he's frozen? Apparently that's good."  For all intense and purposes, she was right.  Sleeper was one of Woody's earlier films, not long after Take the Money and Run and both had the same slap stick quality to them that I have come to love as classic Woody Allen humor.

The introduction quite clearly lays out a future in which an organization wakes a man who has been frozen since the 70s, Mile Monroe, played by Woody Allen.  The organization bestows upon Miles the duty of gaining government secrets and stopping the "Aires Project" since he does not have an identity in society and thus can infiltrate the oppressive government structure without notice.  Along the way Miles is forced to go undercover as a robot servant where he meets Diane Keaton's character Luna. Luna is happy with the structure of the government being as how she is basically programmed and lied to in a society based on sex and drugs.  Miles kidnaps her and introduces her to the underground, anarchist movement to which she becomes a major part in.

The political undertones, while not necessarily relating to anything in actual society, were reminiscent of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.  If you are familiar with the book and you may be pleasantly surprised by how the two share similar government and societal structures.  Having said that, I love Allen's movie WAY more if only because the comical perspective was more entertaining.  If Allen himself were trying to make a political stance, I don't know, but it is quite clear that the government in this movie is too controlling and must be handled.

As I mentioned earlier, the comical partitives to Sleeper are quite note worthy.  As is the case with many of Allen's earlier films, Take the Money and Run, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Too Afraid To Ask, Bananas, and even Annie Hall, there is a classic set of humor that I can only classify as Allenesque.  As you get later into his filmography this comical undertone is still apparent  yet not as slap stick as it appears here in Sleeper.  I, personally, love the comedy found in these films and find their successors just as funny.  If you are not familiar with many of his earlier works you may be surprised by the amount you'll be laughing.

Sleeper had a Charlie Chaplin-esque feel about it as well.  Most noteworthy being the giant fruit scene in which Miles breaks onto a farm to steal a piece of giant food to eat while hiding in the woods.  The scene is filled with music as Miles scurries away back into the woods while supposedly being chased by the farm's owner.  One could watch this movie with the sound off and enjoy it just as much as someone who has the sound blaring.

For one of his earliest works I still consider Sleeper to be one of Allen's bests (yes, I do say that about everyone of his movies).  It is comical and interesting especially since we are almost living in the future that Allen tried to describe.  I can't wait until I have my robot servant though, maybe I'll dress up as one next Halloween.

My Halloween costume one year