Am I Kubrick’s Mandrake?  

I think I might have found my character.

I love the Challenges posted here. Peliplat has become a unique opportunity for me to share my love of cinema - and occasionally television - along with the chance to see what other media lovers have to say about new releases, classic television, and where this particular world is heading. I thought that this would be a first piece when I saw the round of offers this month, but instead I found it to be very difficult to settle on one character.

Where do I see myself?

I was tempted to choose a villain, a machine, or even an animated character (will save that for another time). And I really could not pick just one…until I went out on a Friday night to see one of my all-time favourite Stanley Kubrick films.

The Cinématheque Quebecois is running a program of Stanley Kubrick films for June. My plan was to see 2001: A Space Odyssey and maybe one other film if I had the chance. And that chance was a viewing of Dr. Strangelove - don't forget the subtitle - or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. This is the real start of the Kubrick we all know and love (Spartacus and The Killing seem to belong to a different director). And I seem to have missed something.

Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers), an RAF (Royal Air Force) officer in an exchange program with an American military base, discovers that his boss is obsessed with Russians, communism and the purity of his precious bodily fluids (Sterling Hayden in a wonderful performance as Col. Jack Ripper - yes, the names really are funny). Now, of course, it will be necessary to start World War III for his plan to work, and Mandrake has to find a way to call off the attack, stay alive and save the world.

Peter Sellers famously played three roles in the film (he was supposed to have four of them), and even more famously did not win the Oscar he deserved for his work. He is the President of the United States, Merkin Muffley, the title character, Dr. Strangelove, and Mandrake (Major ‘King’ Kong was also on offer, the famous bomb-rider of the film; I wonder how Sellers would have played it). With all of these roles, it was easy to miss out on just how close the audience is - or should be - to the British airman. He takes his time to get behind the ranting insanity of the Colonel and wheedles vital information out of him - the recall code for the bombing attack - to save the world, despite a raid, another intellectually challenged (okay, stupid) Colonel by the name of ‘Bat’ Guano (like I said, the names are funny), and the threat of the Coca-Cola Company (watch the film and you will understand that joke).

So, why do I see him in me?

Here you have a man who does his job, follows the rules, tries to guide people on the right path, and ends up almost being killed for his efforts. I have spent a lot of time among people who challenged my own sense of what sanity means, and I have also tried to surf their wave to survive the ride. Sometimes, I have succeeded enough to be a trusted ally; at other times, I was far too rational to be a part of their world. Mandrake is just one small cog in the film; you could even call him a hero…perhaps. And I think that he is the one role that seems slight and yet holds a lot of the story in his hands.

That's me, folks.

That is my cinematic familiar.