Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been heralded as a work of genius…and while I agree wholeheartedly with this diagnosis, I would like to amend it just a tad.  I would rather think that it is a work of madness, which as the British poet John Drydon shrewdly observed, “Great wits are sure to madness near allied – and thin partitions do their bounds divide”.  In other words, can there ever be true genius without it being driven by a little craziness…it wouldn’t seem so here, as even attempting this film was craziness defined.

As director Tim Burton himself puts it, “it was an amazing thing that the studio, you know…you go, ‘were going to do an “R” rated musical, with lots of blood, with no professional singers, about a serial killer, and cannibalism’, and they go, ’Great!’”  And the fact is, not only was Burton and crew given the green light, but they managed to turn it into a film that would draw in a wide array of audiences, reinvigorate a dying genre (the musical, also done great service in 2007 by Disney’s Enchanted) amongst new and younger movie goers, and take home both an Oscar and two Golden Globes…one of which was for Best Picture.

Somehow, Burton has managed to spray the set with arterial flow, crush heads open on the ground, grind humans into meat pies and let Johnny Depp sing, and miraculously turned the whole thing into a phenomenally popular and critically acclaimed film.  But it is not by skill or luck alone, as this movie (and the stage musical it is remaking) is based on one of the most enduring stories of violence and mayhem in all of Europe’s history, and the story’s frightening murderous barber, whose tale has endured not only the ages, but the fact that he may never have existed at all.

As the lore goes, Sweeney Todd was a mass murderer, all the more dangerous for his lack of notoriety, as he silently and swiftly killed over one hundred people by slitting their throats in the very chair he used to conduct his barbering business…and with the very same straight razors.  The bodies of his myriad victims were given to an equally deranged woman in the shop across the street, who ground up the meat of Todd’s victims and baked it into some of the cities most beloved meat pies.  While the time frame varies little and the locations not at all in each of the stories incarnations, it still appears far more likely that this duo never truly existed, but instead had their fictional exploits read to small children as a sort of cross between Grimm’s Fairy Tales and the boogieman.  It is much harder to tell a lie or steal a cookie when your mother might hand you over to the Butcher of Fleet Street and your flesh would occupy a fat man’s pastry, I can assure you.

But regardless of the evidence to the contrary, the story is still believed by many to be true…and for those who have chosen not to believe the tale, there have been plenty of fictionalized accountings and sensationalized versions to entertain for well over a century.  Many penny dreadfuls (serialized printed stories) touted the barber’s acts for a full generation before the tale took to the stage.  Theatrical plays ranging from humorous to grand guignol had graced the stages of more than one European nation before Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story) found himself taken with the story and turned it into a Broadway musical.

By the time the myth of Todd had reached this point, it had been flushed out from its simple and terrifying beginnings and developed into a full fledged story of love, loss and the all consuming fires of revenge.  The barber was given a wife, who was lusted after by a wealthy and influential judge…a judge that would stop at nothing short of framing Todd and imprisoning him for a crime he did not commit.  During the barber’s incarceration there is nothing to stop the judge from moving in on the grieving wife…nothing except her tragic death as a result of the judge’s heinous actions against her.  Now Todd has returned to London to find his wife gone and his daughter in the care of the very man who destroyed his life, Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, Snape of the Harry Potter films).  With the help of the deranged Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter), Todd’s quest for revenge will make stops at deception, murder, and even cannibalism. It is from this developed rendition that Tim Burton decided to base what I truly believe is the most finely crafted and perfectly executed film of his career.

Having said that, I must voice my surprise.  I have always had a love hate relationship with Johnny Depp.  At times I have been a huge fan, singing his praises and waiting anxiously for his next work.  Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas all come to mind when I think of the times when Johnny was at the top of his game…but then there were the other times.  Benny & Joon made me want to stab myself in the spleen, The 9^th Gate was atrocious, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico ushered in a new, uninspired, and absurd low for this actor.  And, of course, I was sick to death of his Jack Sparrow 15 minutes into the second Pirates of the Caribbean film. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, I have the same sort of history with Tim Burton.  One of my favorite films of all time is Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands was truly inspired.  But this is the same guy who made Planet of the Apes and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…two complete destructions of their source material.  So great was my fear going into Sweeney Todd, a story I had great appreciation for before going into this film, that it took me three tries over many days just to start watching it.  Within 15 minutes I felt a fool, having nearly passed up not only the chance to see this in the theater, but to review it as well.  Now, I can’t even imagine not having seen it.

The music of Sondheim’s theatrical version not only melds seamlessly with Burton’s unique direction and visual style, but I believe is actually aided by the more natural voices of Depp and his co-star Bonham-Carter.  In fact, it is the film’s songs which I remember most fondly…more so even then the wonderful gore…and I like me some gore!  Sondheim’s lyrics add so much black humor and a wry but sinister wit into the picture that it is the musical parts which drive the story much more than the written dialog.  In this way, Burton has managed to give more weight to Sondheim’s songs then they ever had in their original form.

The London of Sweeney Todd is simply beautiful in its dark and deteriorating state.  With a main character so mired in his struggle for revenge the bleak cityscapes are right at home.  The choking chimney smoke, scurrying sewer rats, cracked and worn cobblestones, and dim, filthy interiors are never seen as bleak…instead it is the lavish interiors of the corrupt judge’s home and the gaily colored stage of the abusive rival Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen) that stand out as oppressive and evil.  This glorification of the darker side of the world is nothing new to Burton, but he delivers it in expert fashion and with the most convincing style here.

I have been a fan of Helena Bonham-Carter since 1990’s Hamlet…and not solely because of her beauty.  And while we have seen her in roles that were amazing, never before have we seen this much of her soul shine through; the power of the musical numbers clearly opening a hidden reserve of charm and presence.  And she is not the only one to benefit from these songs’s inspiration.  Depp himself does something I never thought I would see from him again…he acts with his heart instead of with his head.  After so many caricatures and hammed up “tributes” based on something outside himself, it is SO very refreshing to see the actor come back “out” of the man instead of being injected into him.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a little more on that gore!  Burton and team have invented their own unique brand of theatrical blood; one which delivers a healthy does of “Eww!” factor while remaining completely over-the-top like stage blood.  A brilliant crimson spreads across the streets, pours down shirtfronts and sprays wildly across windowpanes…all with a sense of stylish flare that pays homage to this film’s stage-play roots, but at the same time going so much further than anything on Broadway ever could.  The so bright it practically glows blood is almost another character in the film, making appearances from time to time to release tension or heighten the anxiety.

But this is exactly what is so indicative of Sweeney Todd’s greatness…everything in the film adds to it.  Speaking of additions, this two-disc set of the film packs quite a few of them in.  The first disc delivers the feature plus an inside look at just how Burton went about preparing and selecting his acting talent for this film.  I know what a lot of you are saying…these are the same people he uses in all of his films, and you’re right.  However, never have they been used this well or allowed to shine this brightly with the material.  Disc two continues the emphasis of the actors with a press junket Q&A, a Moviephone chat with Burton and Depp, and a “making-of” that focuses deeply into the actor’s craft.

Also included are several featurettes dealing with everything from the history of the Sweeney Todd man and myth, the music of Sondheim and the history of Grand Guignol Theater and its incarnations today.  A look at the London of Burton’s vision contrasts screen with a look back at the reality and designs of characters, sets and effects are explored.  Each bonus feature sheds just a little more light on what a passion this was for those involved and what a labor of love it was for Burton himself.

In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street there is nothing wasted, nothing taken for granted, and nothing sub-standard.  Were it not for Hollywood’s total aversion to anything that could be considered “horror” (Silence of the Lambs being the closest we’ve ever come), this film could have taken the big prize this year…it is simply that innovative, that original and that unique.  I can’t stress this enough; if you have not given this film a fair chance, don’t like the idea of a musical, or like me are just turned off for some other reason…you have to trust me.  Set those feelings aside and do yourself the favor of picking up this disc and catching up with what everyone but us seemed to know already…that this is an amazing piece of cinema. 

-aaron-