iron lung's genuine critics, who really do enjoy the film and all, still say something that is kinda dumb to me and that is "the film is too long."
i really don't think the film could've worked if it was any shorter. the mundane scenes. the slow pacing. the monotony. i don't just want to say that it's an atmospheric film, that it's SUPPOSED to be slow. because there is a why and it's one of the core themes of the film.
hell, it ties in with MANY of the core themes. the inevitability of simon's (and humanity's) demise. the hopelessness. the drudgery. the will to just keep fighting because maybe, just maybe, it's not hopeless after all. the significance and insignificance of human life, especially in the face of humanity's survival and the shear cosmic horror. the isolation as a result of being a criminal, a scapegoat, a tool, a survivor of a large-scale disaster. the bending of reality as secrets are withheld, as one's own humanity is denied, as one is isolated for literal days on end, as the unknown is twisting and turning.
it's like putting an ant in a microwave for an hour. to us, it's just an hour. to the ant, it could be much longer and for what purpose?
it's meant to be long so we have no choice but to sit in the depression and dread. i seriously don't think that could've been achieved had it been any shorter.