Saw 3: A Bleak Commentary

This weekend, after being outvoted on my movie pick, "Marie Antoinette," I sat through the most revolting, gruesome, twisted piece of cinema trash that I've ever seen. "Saw 3" the third installment of the Saw series tells the story, if you want to dignify the lack of plot enough to call it a story, of a murderous sadist, Jigsaw, his self-hating, psychotic female accomplice, and the hideous, grotesque, stomach-turning, and mostly fatal, suffering that they inflict upon a group of imperfect human beings.

The producers of this simplistic excuse for a parade of horrors would have us believe that there is a moral hiding beneath all the blood and gore, something about choosing forgiveness over vengeance. In the bleak world of Saw 3, Jigsaw is God, and he's coming after the sinners to torture them into repentance. Woe to those who might be grieving the loss of a son and wishing for the death of their son's killer, committing adultery to escape a painful marriage, handing down sentences for involuntary manslaughter, or driving by an accident without stopping. For their flaws, they are made the sadist's playthings, encased in barbaric contraptions, and forced to cause themselves, and others, unspeakable agony. And, after all that, in order to survive, they are supposed to forgive, and in so doing show themselves worthy of escaping death - at least according to Jigsaw's rules.

Don't allow yourself to be fooled. Despite Saw 3's indelicate protestations to the contrary, there's nothing high-minded about this movie. At it's core, Saw 3 is about a killer's sadistic pleasures. Even more disturbing than the fact that there are people out there sick enough to come up with this stuff, is the fact that there are people willing to watch it.