Comments on: The Big Issue

By: James

James — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 10:23:35 +0000

How tiresome. For some reason my responses to a bunch of comments as well as your comment on the Pub post, Dave, seem to have dissapeared. Lig, all I said was, see “Munich” and then tell what you think. Dave, an “Entertainment” post is in the offing. Then for the benefit of any US readers I’ll have to introduce a “Wildcard” subject.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:42:33 +0000

Oh, by the way… in your “categories” section, where’s “Entertainment”?

By: Liam

Liam — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 04:29:03 +0000

But – and bear in mind I haven’t seen the film – aren’t all the leads playing Mossad agents? Portraying members of the Israeli secret service as heroes could be seen as pretty contentious if you’re Arab.

I think if I watch Munich I’d like to see it in conjuction with One Day in September and do a little reading up around the event.

Bana is anything but bland in his first movie, Chopper, which I rented the other day. Absolutely cracking performance.

By: James

James — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 11:14:43 +0000

I suppose liberal is the word. Actually now you mention it I found “Munich” to be liberal in the sense that the filmmakers took great care to present a balanced view (maybe why they chose the bland and anonymous Bana in the lead and claimed that the story was only “based on real events”). “Syriana” seemed to having a bit more of a go at the U.S. even if that stance was complicated by noble deeds by American characters. Just complicated in general, actually!

By: Liam

Liam — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 06:53:28 +0000

The US is so polarised right now that almost every movie that isn’t total prolefeed is “political.”

In the current climate Hollywood is one of the few places where you will see a liberal point of view expressed, therefore the artists working there feel duty-bound to try to redress the balance. It’s worth noting that there are large chunks of the US where Brokeback Mountain would not play well. At least one cinema owner (in the Mormon mecca Salt Lake City) refused to play it. He did, however, play Saw II, which clearly upholds his Christian values.

To be honest, there are parts of the US which are just as racist and homophobic as they were forty years ago. A few years ago movies like these would not have been so much of an issue as they have been this year. Due to the lamentable rise of the religious right in the US, these liberal movies are now beacons which the American lefties flock to.

Note how all of the movies (with the possible exception of Munich) espouse liberal values. Right now no Hollywood studio would make a movie in which a man who kills abortionists is shown as a hero, but plenty of people in the US right now would pay to see it, and I can forsee a time when making such a movie would become viable in the USA.