The Manchurian Candidate - 2004

The Manchurian Candidate is a paranoid and political thriller which, in the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes.Captain Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor. Ben Marco is trying to regain and unravel his sanity. It refers to social context and tensions, and its purpose is to entertain as well as provoke thought. The film also stars Meryl Streep.
From watching 'the making of' the film, I have found out that the director aimed to elaborate and make the film bigger, sadder and darker than life. Questions constantly asked throughout the film is who is control, who has the power, and who is the enemy. 
The film plays with the idea that the human mind can be manipulated, which could maybe be applied to reality, the idea of which, is scary in itself. 


The 2004 differs from the original version of the movie, made in 1962, in a number of ways, one of which is the murder of Senator Jordan. In the original, the Senator is shot by Shaw, whereas in the newer version, he is drowned in a lake. The director said that he altered this scene from the 1962 version as he wanted it to represent and symbolize the feeling of drowning which the characters are feeling at this time. During this scene, the fog represents the characters lack of clarity. They are confused, due to information overload, and are experiencing a number of ambivalent dreams. The music used at this point enhances the tension, at the point which Shaw is approaching the lake to kill his victim. Shaw's hypnotic state is represented by the camera shots and simple editing. 


The final scene of the film is the shooting of Eleanor and Raymond Shaw by Marco, at which point the film reaches its climax. Raymond realizes his soul is corrupt, and the damage that could be done to America through him, and so he sacrifices himself and his mother to eliminate the possibility of him being manipulated and operated.
The last image of the film is a clip of Mount Rushmoor. The effect of this is that it opens the audiences mind to the possibility that the past presidents could have been corrupt.