"Every now and then, a movie comes along that does the motion picture industry proud. … What seems at first to be a gently satiric nostalgia piece gradually turns serious when the twins introduce spontaneity and a dose of 90′s reality to Pleasantville’s pre-programmed denizens. This reality virus, manifesting as color, gradually spreads through the town. While this awakening adds color, knowledge and diversity to their previously rote existence, the unprepared citizens must also come to grips with such decidedly unpleasant scourges as intolerance, violence and racism. When that once-charming black and white 1950′s Main Street view transforms into B&W newsreel-like footage of a book burning, hatred-spewing mob chanting “No Coloreds,” the film certainly tempers our nostalgia – and cleverly fires its warning shots right across our bow. Sure times are tough in the 90′s, but it ain’t all bad and the “good old days” weren’t always all that good. This is an exquisite, timely film. It’s nice to know that occasionally, even Hollywood does something right."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Merle Bertrand, in a review of Pleasantville at Filmthreat (26 October 1998)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pleasantville
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Pleasantville
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