John Waters
Pink Flamingos

The fake pink flamingo for the garden is the quintessential kitsch, the emblematic object of American bad taste. For this reason, director John Waters, a true pioneer of underground trash cinema (his first feature film, with the telling title "Mondo Trasho," dates back to 1969), by titling his film "Pink Flamingos," could not have chosen a more fitting title. Inspired by directors like Russ Meyer and William Castle, as well as Blaxploitation and 50s B-movies (and probably also by our Gualtiero Jacopetti with his "shockumentaries"), in 1972, he created what is still considered an incredibly ahead of its time work, as well as his greatest masterpiece.

The protagonist of the story (as in almost all of Waters' films) is Babs Johnson (aka Divine, an obese drag queen who seems like the pulp version of Platinette), the proud official holder of the well-deserved title of "The Most Disgusting Person in the World" and unanimously recognized as such. Raymond and Connie Marble, "two jealous perverts," do not share this opinion, thinking they have every reason to position themselves as the real standard-bearers of absolute filth; and one cannot say they don't give it their all: their main activity involves kidnapping young women, holding them prisoner in a basement, and having them impregnated by their servant Channing, then selling the newborns to wealthy lesbian couples. Of course, with the profits, they maintain their porn shops and finance edifying activities such as selling heroin in local elementary schools. When the Marbles decide to openly challenge Babs and her bizarre family (which includes an extremely obese egg-addicted mother, a sexually obsessed son named Crackers, and an ambiguous traveling companion, Cotton), a delirious feud erupts with the two family clans battling using every possible means, in a display of violence, disgust, and obscenity.

The intent is clear: to shock the viewer by any means possible, consciously pushing beyond the limits of what is showable and drawing heavily on everything that is morally dubious and/or socially reprehensible. Pornography, cannibalism, coprophagia, even the "rape" of a chicken and the hilarious (or chilling, depending on one's perspective) performance of a "singing asshole" (something rather difficult to explain in words, seeing is believing), everything is shown in detail and uncensored, to the rhythm of an exceptional soundtrack (with pieces from Link Wray, Trashmen, Bill Haley, Little Richard, and others). But the whole is not merely a gratuitous hodgepodge of filth; in fact, thanks to Waters' sick humor and his skill in sketching characters that are nothing short of "original," the film results in a brilliant grotesque comedy full of visual excesses, witty dialogues, and a healthy taste for provocation, well exemplified by what Babs states as her life's philosophy:

"Kill everyone now! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit!"