David Fincher
Seven

I really owe a lot to this film. It’s thanks to this film that I discovered Chaucer and Thomas Aquinas.  This film led me to these readings. That alone would be enough to give it a (personal) 5. 

Sometimes, I wonder if this film had been made by the Coen Brothers or Scorsese: today we would be tearing our hair out and competing to see who could shout “masterpiece” the loudest. Instead, many people consider it just a brilliant thriller. Unfortunately, many times, the director’s (or singer’s) name dictates the review. Obviously, in some points, Scorsese and the Coens would have been able to make the dialogues more “artistic.”

You all know the story. But it’s just a frame. 

Seven is a pessimistic reflection (unfortunately prophetic) on this world “where people now cultivate apathy as if it were a virtue,  and where love is missing because it requires effort and dedication.”  If I think about how much the world has changed in the last 17 years (when the film was made) I am terrified thinking about what will happen in the next 17. 

However, "Seven" is not a one-sided pessimistic film. This is clearly seen from a scene, which for its balance I rank among my absolute favorites. Go back and watch it all. 

We are in the bar, and Mills and Sommerset are discussing the state of the world. The center of this scene is the words of the naive Mills: “You say that people don’t care and then you say “I don’t care about people.” Don’t you realize it doesn’t make sense? You say this is a shitty world so let’s all go live in a forest. I can’t agree – not even if I wanted to.” These words carry weight and challenge the granite pessimistic certainties of the wise Sommerset, who changes his mind and decides to stay until the end of the case.  

This film teaches not to be naive – “because we can’t afford to be” – but also to not succumb to selfishness in the face of=current world selfishness – without expecting to see it change. 

Notable is the long car scene, where the evil John Doe tries to bring out the dark side within us. And the naive Mills falls for it.  

Watch it in the original language, fantastic actors (even Brad Pitt looks good, albeit a bit over the top at certain points). Morgan Freeman’s voice is truly beautiful, perhaps even more so than his voice-over in Italian, by Renato Mori.