South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

South Park, Colorado, land of high-school killings and medieval anti-gay laws. Fade in to our ‘quiet little red-neck mountain town’, where Third-Graders Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Stan sneak into a new, R-rated comedy from Canada entitled Asses of Fire. The next day at school, they all happily repeat the movie’s signature song, ‘Uncle Fucka’ and soon every kid in town talks the filthiest talk, too: ‘How would you like to suck my balls?’ (that one’s for the teacher). The mothers of South Park and the US government declare all-out war on naughty Canada. Joined in hell and matrimony, Satan (in a sentimental mood) and sex-crazed Sadam Hussein believe that Armageddon has finally arrived… Packed with raunchy gags, insights and innuendo, and ‘paced like a bat out of hell’, as one commentator had it, this incredible film is already a verified milestone. A milestone in the history of Animation (minimalist design, maximalist information), the history of the musical genre (dirtier and more compelling in a classic way than any Disney musical) and the history of Social polemic: It acidly talks about censorship, parental guidance, political correctness and the media, while at the same time being a prime object in these discourses itself. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of this brave new world, have certainly secured their place in radical pop culture heaven (or is it hell?). (A.H.)