Don't be next! Don Siegel was known to deny that "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) was about Cold War paranoia (or an anti-communist warning). Star Kevin McCarthy felt the movie protested the dangers of complacent conformity, and they're probably both right. When you step away from the horror of the foaming Brussels sprout pods and the noirish, nerve-wracking suspense of watching an increasingly distressed (but reliably handsome) Doctor Miles Bennell on the run, the film asks us to explore what it means to be human. Maybe it's a plot hole, but the fact that we don't seem to know if the aliens have any other plans for their domination of earth, means that they simply need to replace the people of Santa Mira to survive. And maybe these small town folk, now shells of themselves, become a mirror for audiences on that midcentury, nuclear (and familiar) edge, longing for safety and fearful of change. It's an appropriately unsettling film-length definition of the word 'uncanny' (boy, does it succeed - and thank goodness for the later addition of the bookmarking sequences with the always reassuring Whit Bissell). And like much science fiction, it reminds us that our humanity is what makes us truly alive, both the pain and joy of it.
When he's safely behind the blinds of his study as they fight to stay awake, Bennell sermonises thoughtfully to his girlfriend, musing, "All of us - a little bit - we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear." It might sound farfetched for what was an earnest B-movie thriller, but I like to think that somehow, maybe, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is about love Xo
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