THE SALSA SCREEN
RIP James Caan. Long Live Rollerball?
Round and round the rollerskaters went chasing a ball of steel. Every time a circuit was completed, another body was dragged from the arena. Blood stains marked the surface as they were dragged off. If the fallen skater was lucky, a motorcycle wouldn’t careen off his head. It was the bloodiest of spectacles and the crowd were loving it.
This was rollerball.
In the nearby future (2018!), large corporations battle in a roller derby arena for prestige, pride, and ultimately more wealth. The corporations owned the players. The only way to break a contract was to leave via a body bag. With every passing year, the corporations demanded more blood, more spectacle. The bloodthirsty viewing public demanded more action. More sacrifice. This was a gladiatorial sport and nobody would leave the arena unscathed.
At the center of it all was one man, Jonathan E, a man determined to break free from the clutches of the body corporate. One last match. To the death. The winner takes all and Jonathan could have his freedom.
Bloodied. Bruised. Caan silently rolls around the arena one last time. He’s the only player left standing. Doggedly, Caan skates past the fallen victims, winning steel ball in hand. He’s victorious but at what price?
The recent death of James Caan, who played the role of Jonathan, had me reflecting on this futuristic blast from the past. Caan had the perfect look of a grizzled veteran unwilling to partake in one more game. A man hampered by his own moral code which nobody else was adhering to.
I loved this film from the moment I watched it. Actually, that was a lie. I forwarded my video player past the boring parts and watched and rewatched the rollerball scenes. I had entered my teen years on a diet of Dirty Harry and Death Wish and couldn’t get enough of gore or violence. Rollerball offered it all except for the talkie, over-extended dialogue, and long scenes that drifted aimlessly.
At least that was my early teen impression.
The idea of corporations ruling the world is no longer science fiction. We all know our data is harvested for the big corporations for them to sell and pass on as they please. The faceless corps have sold us the dream of super-connectivity when the reality has them dictating the rules while demanding tax breaks. When you have an Olympic circus navigating the globe every four years, are we really that far away from nation-states being demolished?
It all feels very prescient.
It’s a dystopian future where sports has become the battleground. There’s no more war but racial profiling still exists. The corps operates on racial stereotypes. Here’s the fearsome Japanese team. Kamikaze warriors willing to die for their corporation. The ultimate sacrifice for the honor.
And there’s Caan. Fighting to gain control. Wanting his identity back. A man struggling to come to terms with his contract for life. He is owned by the corporation and playing a game designed to demonstrate “the futility of individual effort”. How dare Caan ask for retirement. He’ll go when they say he can go. There are no rules when the public is paying a premium. One final match, jerry-rigged by the corporates in order to take Caan down. Bending the rules, they are effectively making it legal for the opposition to kill Caan. Make him a legend. Sell more merchandise. Glorify his death, but never, ever, make him a free man.
This is a match Caan can’t possibly win.
Having rewatched the film, a little older and wiser than my impressionable teens, it’s no longer as brutal as I remembered. Have I become more desensitized to violence? The action is tame. The dialogue is still yawn-worthy and it feels more like pro-wrestling where every sequence is pre-planned.
At least it’s miles ahead of the 2002 remake in which film critic Roger Ebert said:
“Rollerball” is an incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense. There are bright colors and quick movement on the screen, which we can watch as a visual pattern that, in entertainment value, falls somewhere between a kaleidoscope and a lava lamp.” Source Rogerebert.com
Ouch.
Still, James Caan is brilliant. The perfect role for a man who looks like he’s aged well before his time.
And what of that futuristic 2018? Are we far off from a future that has a gladiatorial battle?
Possibly not.
Have we already arrived at a point in the entertainment industry where the public demands ever more spectacle? Where Youtube creators do almost anything but kill for the spectacle? Where conflict drives engagement on all social media platforms?
The future no longer has James Caan or a rollerball derby but it still looks menacing. RIP Caan. A true legend.