“Cathari Violence”: Why Kill Bill: Volume One is my feel-good movie | Kill Bill: Volume 1

HAccepting older siblings had its positives. The main reason was that I had early access to the best age-inappropriate titles – my brother and sister loved movies and our towering DVD collection was a sight to behold. Although I can’t remember my exact age when I first watched Kill Bill: Volume 1, I was young, maybe too young, and it was great.

Unlike most other movies I love, which tend to be endlessly quotable, there’s only one line from Kill Bill, emanating from a particularly obnoxious character, that I’ve always remembered clearly (“My name is Buck and I’m here to…” I’d hazard a guess). What He is The blaring soundtrack is unforgettable, the stunning visuals – that bright yellow tracksuit stained with ketchup red blood – and the stunning, stylized action that transports me away from any ordinary obstacle I face and into a fantasy revenge story.

In my early viewings of the film, Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic language was new territory. Released in 2003, Kill Bill: Volume 1 is primarily inspired by the 1973 samurai film Lady Snowblood, but its rich palette borrows from across Asian and Western cinema, with nods to films including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Miller’s Crossing; and Citizen Kane, as well as more obvious references to Bruce Lee films, exploitation films, and Japanese action films.

Although the timeline bounces around a bit, the plot is simple: A pregnant bride, played by Uma Thurman, is bludgeoned to death in a chapel in El Paso, Texas, while her groom and modest wedding party are gunned down.

This is the work of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, a formidable gang of trained assassins played by Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael Madsen, led by a mysterious, gravel-voiced boss named Bill (the late David Carradine). Lying on the bloodied floor as Faceless Bill draws a gun, the Bride begins telling Bill that her baby is his. Bell silenced her with a bullet to the head.

But the bride survives. Four years later, she wakes up in the hospital to find that she has lost her baby. We soon learn that her plan is to take revenge on the killers who tried to kill her, and that the Bride is not to be underestimated. In reality, she is a warrior who will go to the ends of the earth to obtain her bloody satisfaction. She writes a list of five names in pen and flies to Okinawa, Japan to obtain a custom-made samurai sword. Would it be a spoiler if I told you that everyone on her list has something else coming?

This may not be your classic comfort watch, but Kill Bill provides me with that warm, fuzzy feeling that only cathartic violence can bring.

Imagine if you could write down the names of everyone who wronged you and instantly open a can of curses on them all? And nothing can stop Thurman’s laser-focused assassin on his mission, neither a massive crew of goons in the form of Crazy 88, nor the rule of law – nor the laws of physics. Without any explanation, she was given a bright yellow motorcycle, a matching bike suit and got her katana through Tokyo airport security, no questions asked. Her hair often looks immaculate. so what? I’m happy for her.

In this regard, every time I rewatch Kill Bill, I’m always shocked to find that the portrayal of female characters, in the context of stylized caricature, comes under scrutiny. Although inevitably subject to Tarantino’s masculine gaze, these women play an integral role in the events—they are assassins, assistants, and bodyguards—and prove to be just as cool and skilled as any man, and even more so.

It is uniquely satisfying, then, what happens when it is objectified or belittled, which is routinely the case. When O-Rin Ishii, the head of Yakuza Leo, is interrogated by a subordinate member of her crime council, she gracefully decapitates him. When Thurman awakens from her coma, she nearly bites off the face of a man who was about to sexually assault her and uses a door to smash the skull of the hospital worker who orchestrated it.

Even the Texas Ranger who arrived at the scene of the El Paso shooting commented on how the bride — the potential murder victim — was a “good-looking girl” and a “bloodied little angel.” She surprises him when she sighs into her unconscious state and reveals that she is still alive and splatters blood in his face. The truth is that women rarely get such opportunities to break even. Thus, while Kill Bill: Volume 1 may have been designed as an homage to a film designed purely to entertain, it also gives a deliciously twisted form of wish fulfillment, one that I’m always happy to indulge in.