Film as condiment

As long-time readers know, I watch a lot of films, mostly on DVD. Summer is not a particularly good season for film, though I occasionally catch a good one that I missed in the winter. Starting next week, I'm also teaching "Global Politics Through Film" again.

Recently, I read a review that was not at all kind to summer "popcorn movies." Indeed, in the June 16 edition of The Nation, Stuart Klawans wrote disparagingly of films like "Speed Racer":

And how does it feel to be the chimp, watching this nightmare of saturated primary colors? Save your money and find out at home. Have someone squirt ketchup and mustard into your eyes for two hours.

I missed that movie, but Klawans also turns his attention to one that I did catch -- the latest Indiana Jones. In fact, Klawans asserts that director Steven Spielberg's earlier "Jaws" "first laid the hot dogs on the grill" for such "filmmaking-by-condiment."

Even more vitriol is reserved for colleague George Lucas, as Spielberg is partly redeemed by films like "Munich" and "Minority Report."

Here are two specific criticisms worth noting in Klawans's critique of the latest Indy:

1. "Crystal Skull" revives a techno-Aryan-occult fantasy of the 1970s: the notion that pointy-headed visitors from Beyond must have built the ancient civilizations of South America, since the natives there are too stupid to use toilet paper.

2. To put forth an image of flaming youth, Lucas and Spielberg have reverted to their own, making Shia LaBeouf into the leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding rebel they admired fifty years ago when they saw "The Wild One." For the aging auteurs, he's cinematic Viagra.

I didn't like the film all that much, so I'm going to grant Klawans the last word. The latest Indy, he writes, is "new movie trash" that "comes out feeling old."

My summer pick of the week: "The Savages." The voters at IMDB give it a well-earned 7.5. The new "Indy" is rated 7.1, but I suspect that will go down in the long run. Indy enthusiasts seem the most likely to vote early (and often?).


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Culture Update: "The Visitor"

Earlier this evening, I saw a very good film with global political overtones: "The Visitor." This is the description from the Internet Movie Database:

Walter Vale (Jenkins) is a widower who teaches economics at a Connecticut university. No longer motivated by his work, he lives alone, struggling to find passion and meaning in his life. In New York to present a paper at a conference, he goes to the apartment that he has kept since his wife was alive (but hasn't visited for some time) only to discover a young couple living there, having been duped by an acquaintance who "rented" it to them. Despite their great cultural difference, Walter befriends Tarek (Sleiman), a Syrian citizen and drummer, and gradually builds a friendship with Esi (Gurira), his girlfriend from Senegal. One day, when returning from Central Park with Walter, Tarek gets arrested for jumping a stuck subway turnstile, despite the fact that he had paid. The police discover he does not have legal papers and transfer him to an immigrant detention center in Queens. Feeling responsible for and connected to Tarek, Walter stays in New York to help and support him. Not hearing from her son, Tarek's mother arrives from Michigan to find out why, and she and Walter support one another while they attempt to free Tarek.

The movie is a painful illustration of the inhumanity of the post-9/11 immigration policies and procedures. At the same time, it beautifully illuminates the wonders of friendship, kindness, reaching out, exploring life and finding meaning in a challenging world.

In some ways, the film reminded me of "Lost in Translation." In that movie, the lead character (a white late-middle-aged American man) makes a connection in Japan with a young woman from the US. In this film, the white late-middle-aged American makes a connection inside the US with characters from Senegal and Syria. Until those links are established, the protagonist is alienated from the larger world.

Towards the end of the movie, the widower becomes enraged at public officials from his own country who treat him like a child -- protecting him from a non-threatening friend, making him move away from a service window when no one else is in line, etc.

It is a powerful film.

Thumps way up!


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In the Valley of Old Men

Recently, my wife and I have had a Tommy Lee Jones film festival on DVD. Some weeks ago, we watched "No Country for Old Men," which won the most recent Academy Award for Best Picture. Saturday night, we watched "In the Valley of Elah." If you missed it, that latter film is about a father of a missing soldier just back from Iraq.

Except for the sappy song played during the flag raising near the end of the movie, I thought "In the Valley of Elah" was a better film.

In any case, "No Country for Old Men" would not have won our vote for Best Picture.


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Ducking out

Lately, at the Duck of Minerva, I've blogged about some topics that might be of interest to my regular readers:

• Yesterday, February 28: "Sage advice from the Prez." President Bush offered Turkey some advice about its military "incursion" in Iraq.
  
  
• February 20, I blogged "Cuba: El Tiante's pitch." The former pitcher Luis Tiant offers his view of the Cuban embargo.
  
  
• February 14, I wrote "PTL returns," which is about the latest Indiana Jones movie, forthcoming in May.

Enjoy.


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"May I speak?"

Today, I attended a campus screening of the documentary, "¿Puedo Hablar? / May I Speak?," which is about the 2006 reelection campaign of Hugo Chávez. It was very well done and worth a viewing if you get a chance. Here's a clip.

Young filmmaker Chris Moore was in the audience for a post-film Q&A. Some colleagues and I had lunch with him, so I had an opportunity to speak to him then.

I think the most interesting aspect of the documentary was the obvious parallel between the discourse of Chávez and the "war on terror" discourse of George W. Bush. Both demonize political enemies and play up real or imagined foreign threats. Compare "Against Chávez, Against the People" says Chávez; "you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" says Bush.


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Movies of 2007

I watch a lot of movies, though most are viewed as DVDs on my television. Because I do not see that many films in the theater, it can be difficult for me to write a post on the best movies (of 2007, or any other year).

Indeed, many of the best films I saw this past year were 2006 films that I missed in the theaters. Some were even older.

To make a 2007 list, I scanned the top 150 grossing movies of 2007, as well as IMDB's most popular titles for 2007 (and their most popular by average vote list). These were the only 2007 films I saw this year, so far as I know. Those marked with asterisks were viewed in a theater:

The Lives of Others
Michael Clayton **
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead **
Charlie Wilson's War **
Sicko **
Breach
Starter For 10
Zodiac
The Hoax
The Bourne Ultimatum **
Ratatouille **
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad
Eastern Promises
Hot Fuzz
Knocked Up
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story **
Enchanted **
The Astronaut Farmer
Live Free or Die Hard
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix **
Fracture
Meet the Robinsons
Music and Lyrics **
Ocean's Thirteen
Smokin' Aces
The Last Mimzy


And here's the annual list of movies I intend to see in the near future (but probably in 2008): American Gangster, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, Dan in Real Life, Darjeeling Limited, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Gone Baby Gone, The Great Debaters, Grindhouse, I'm Not There, In the Valley of Elah, Into the Wild, Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, A Mighty Heart, No End in Sight, No Country for Old Men, Once, The Savages, Stardust, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Talk to Me, There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma and Waitress.


Note to the readers who have recently clicked through my links to Powell's Bookstore: Thanks! The DVD links above will direct you to Powell's too.

Powell's is a great independent bookstore -- always a highlight of my trips to Portland -- with union representation, tremendous selection, and reduced-price used books.


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Charlie Wilson's War

I saw "Charlie Wilson's War" on December 25 and was thoroughly entertained.

The film is a sharp satire and offers a long-term critique of American foreign policy. Before reading further, be warned that this review includes plot spoilers.

Texas Representative Charlie Wilson was apparently fairly liberal on domestic social policy, but he was a vehement cold warrior. During the early 1980s, he literally and politically climbed in bed with a wealthy member of the religious right, Joanne King Herring (the sixth richest woman in Texas). For ideological reasons, Herring helped convince Wilson to support the mujahideen in Afghanistan.

Arguably, Charlie Wilson was a neocon.

The film clearly demonstrates that cynical neocon foreign policies can have counterproductive -- even disastrous -- consequences.

While the mujahideen's insurgency against the Soviet military undoubtedly contributed mightily to the red army's defeat in Afghanistan, the end of the cold war had multiple and complex causes.

The movie, in fact, reveals many of the dubious alliances the U.S. made during the cold war. In the case of Afghan policy, the U.S. teamed with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. As many cold warriors used to say, "They may be bastards, but they are our bastards."

In the film, as in real life, American officials simplistically characterize other states as good or evil -- and the designation seems arbitrarily to turn on a dime.

The average viewer of the movie may be tempted to cheer through the scenes when U.S.-supplied Stinger missiles shoot down Soviet jets and helicopters. However, by the end, the filmmakers clearly signal that America turned its back on Afghanistan and invited the blowback that led to 9/11.

Charlie Wilson's war didn't end the cold war -- and in many ways, his war continues to rage in Afghanistan.


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DVDs: Foreign Affairs

Lately, I've watched a number of good-to-great foreign films on DVD. Most were made in 2006.

The best, by far, was "The Lives of Others" (Das Leben der Anderen), a German film that was recognized earlier this year at the Academy Awards as the Best Foreign Language Film of 2006.

The film is set in the mid-1980s in East Germany. The state begins surveillance of a writer, heretofore known for his fealty to socialism. I don't want to reveal much about the terrific plot or ending, but I will note that the spying turns out to involve personal passions and leads to private rebellion. It is a great film and offers a brief discussion of the kinds of torture so often practiced in the war on terror.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw "Letters from Iwo Jima," which was Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language film about the World War II battle for the island. It was very good, but not without flaws. The most sympathetic Japanese military leaders all spent time in the U.S. earlier in their lives. Hmmmm.

"Black Book" ("Zwartboek") is Dutch film released in 2006, directed by Paul Verhoeven. This film is set during World War II and tells the story of a young Jewish woman's personal struggles against the Nazis. The plot includes a number of interesting twists, which I will not reveal. The director has traveled some distance from "Robo Cop," "Total Recall," "Basic Instinct," and "Showgirls," though he does find a problematic way to humiliate his beautiful heroine.

"The Valet" (La Doublure) is a light comedy about a parking attendant who becomes involved with a supermodel thanks to her rich married lover's need to deceive his spouse. As I wrote last month, "I would recommend it to anyone who occasionally enjoys French farce."

If you are in the mood for something a bit more suspenseful, view the old French heist film "Rififi" ("Du rififi chez les hommes"). I finally saw it a few weeks ago. One very long silent sequence is a classic piece of cinema. Who needs subtitles in a film that includes half an hour of uninterrupted robbery?


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Culture update: November 2007

Thanks to the writer's strike, there are no new episodes of "The Daily Show."

Baseball is long gone now, and the hot-stove news is depressing.

What to do?

I watched "LA Doublure" ("The Valet") this week and I would recommend it to anyone who occasionally enjoys French farce.

Also, checking this website is quite entertaining to me -- at least this week.

Rock chalk.


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Potter

Unlike my colleagues over at the Duck, I have not read the books in the Harry Potter series.

I have seen the five movies, however, and can give the latest a thumb's up with the caveat that it probably won't make much sense to anyone who has not at least watched the earlier movies.

Additionally, my household is caught up in Potter-mania as my wife has read all the earlier books to our youngest daughter and the oldest daughter has read the entire shelf multiple times. Yes, our reserved copy will be in-hand near the stroke of midnight tonight.

Once again, I'm going to hold out for the movie.

Hopefully, the family will enjoy Potter VII more than I enjoyed my latest read from a best-selling author.

Note: Photo courtesy U.S. Department of State.


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Arts and leisure

Sunday, I saw Sicko, which is both entertaining and eye-opening. If you haven't been paying attention, or know the film only by the associated activism, then you might not realize that this latest Michael Moore movie is NOT about the 45 to 50 million Americans who lack health insurance.

Rather, it is about the quarter billion Americans who have health care -- and pay too much, receive too little, and are incredibly vulnerable to the whims of the marketplace.

Much of the film, in fact, is about the comparatively superior health insurance systems offered in Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba (!).

I also watched the Venus DVD this week (thumbs up) and parts of the major league and AAA All-Star baseball games. I'm not a big fan of the All-star break, but the Ichiro inside-the-park homer was exciting and the 9th inning held my interest (despite all the walks).

Unfortunately, I missed the Futures game this year...it occurred while I was in the theater for Sicko.


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Predicting the Oscars

For the past few weeks, I've been entering a "Pick the Oscars winners" contest sponsored by my local newspaper. The deadline was yesterday, but I tried to vote on most days to cover various permutations. The contest allowed one vote per email address per day. I only voted once per day though I could have used several addresses.

According to TradeSports, a number of categories this year feature overwhelming favorites: Martin Scorcese for Best Director, Forest Whitaker for Best Actor, Helen Mirren for Best Actress, and Jennifer Hudson for Best Supporting Actress.

Eddie Murphy is also heavily favored in the Best Supporting Actor category, though the traders seem to think he faces the stiffest competition in any acting category. Alan Arkin would not be a longshot winner.

The great unknown is likely Best Picture: "The Departed" is favored, but both "Babel" and "Little Miss Sunshine" have a lot of support. I saw only the latter, though the "Babel" DVD is sitting next to my TV ready for viewing and I might try to see "The Departed" at the second run theater in town, which is still showing it. I did see "The Queen," but it appears to have little hope.

Given my strategic voting and the limited permutations (I marked Mirren on every ballot), I very much hope to have a winner. This is the first time the newspaper has had on-line voting, so far as I know, which means that they may have many more correct ballots than ever before.


2/26/07 update: I saw "Babel" Sunday afternoon. It was the globalization of "Crash."

Oh, and on my 9th contest entry, February 7, I had 6-for-6 in the above categories. I should be in the drawing for the prize.

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Oscars

The Oscar nominations are out and I've actually seen all the films in one category:

Best animated feature film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

I'm going to go with "Monster House," though I saw it on DVD and the other two on the big screen.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is the only Best picture nominee I've seen, so I guess there are some excellent films yet to be viewed from 2006. Add 5 more films from the Best actor category and four more from Best actress. Hard to believe that I see a lot of movies, eh?



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Movies of 2006

I'm a fan of film. This past fall, I taught "Global Politics Through Film" and I joined one of those on-line rental DVD companies, which delivers movies by mail. It is safe to say that I watch a lot of movies.

So, what were the best movies of 2006?

Well, many of the best films I saw this year were 2005 flicks that I missed in the theaters. Some were even older.

To make a 2006 list, I scanned the top 150 grossing movies of 2006, as well as IMDB's most popular titles for 2006 (and their most popular by average vote list), and these were the only ones I saw this year. Pictures marked with asterisks were viewed in a theater:

Thank You for Smoking **
Casino Royale **
V for Vendetta
Little Miss Sunshine **
Inside Man **
An Inconvenient Truth
A Prairie Home Companion **
Wordplay
Glory Road
The Break-Up
Superman Returns
X Men: The Last Stand
Mission Impossible III **
Nacho Libre
Monster House
Happy Feet **
Cars **
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

And here's the annual list of movies I intend to see in the near future (but probably in 2007): Babel, Blood Diamond, Bobby, Borat, Children of Men, The Departed, The Fountain, The Good Shepherd, The Illusionist, Kenny, The Last King of Scotland, The Prestige, The Queen, The Road to Guantanamo, A Scanner Darkly, Scoop, Stranger Than Fiction, and Who Killed the Electric Car?

I'll probably also end up watching United 93 and World Trade Center, though I cannot bring myself to rent either one when I'm at the video store.



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Global Politics Through Film, Fall 2006

This post consolidates links to the weekly blog posts I wrote during fall 2006 about POLS 552, Global Politics Through Film. This link should take you to a copy of the course syllabus (pdf version).

Note: the following dates reference the blog postings, not the class periods.

August 14, I announced the "Film class selections." The post includes the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) links to each film, as do the following posts, which were originally written for the Duck of Minerva group IR blog.

August 24, "Film class: week I" about "Casablanca" and sovereign nation-state involvement in the so-called "protection racket." Are states like the mafia and is IR like a series of real or threatened gang wars?

August 31, "Film class -- week 2" on "Twelve O'Clock High." We discussed the critical roles of fear and military power -- and the importance of real or threatened great power war -- in shaping interstate politics.

September 7, "Film class -- week 3." We watched "Saving Private Ryan" and discussed the tragic dimensions of great power politics. Does the structure of the international system force tragic choices on states, or do individuals make tragic choices because of their flaws?

September 15: "Film class -- week 4." We viewed "The Quiet American" and discussed Wilsonian liberal internationalism -- particularly in US foreign policy. We also addressed recent tensions in US and European relations.

September 22: "Film class -- week 5" the class saw "Black Hawk Down" and discussed humanitarian intervention during the 1990s. Can tremendous American military power be used for good?

September 29, "Film class -- week 6." We viewed "Breaker Morant" and discussed whether states (or empires) can promote democracy and other ideals through the application of force, perhaps by using even brutal means.

October 5, "Film class -- week 7" which discussed the viewing of "Red Dawn" and the role of nationalism in global politics. The class, for obvious reasons, considered the Iraqi insurgency.

October 15, "Film class -- week 8" focused on comedian Stephen Colbert's monologue at the 2006 White House Correspondent's Association dinner. It was fall break, so we didn't actually have time to watch a feature. Discussion centered around the role of the court jester -- and I offered a brief description of critical theory and its application to IR.

October 19, "Film class -- week 9." The class viewed Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" and discussed the power of ridicule. Facism, of course, is an easy target, but Chaplin's film does offer a meaningful alternative vision of world politics.

October 27, "Film class -- week 10." We viewed "Wag the Dog" and talked about Clinton's impeachment, the diversionary theory of war, and the Iraq war justifications.

November 3, "Film class -- week 11," about the brilliant dark comedy of the nuclear-age -- "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." Is nuclear deterrence a sham? Is it irrational?

November 10, "Film class -- week 12," which discusses the terrific satirical film "Network." This is the first film that places a lot of attention on powerful corporate interests. We also addressed the role of the media in shaping perceptions of threats, including terror risks.

November 17, "Film class -- week 13," was about "Ghandi" and the use of nonviolent political strategies in global politics.

November 26, "Film class -- week 14," which concerns "The Whale Rider." We discussed "warrior citizens" and feminist notions of global politics.

December 1, "Film class -- week 15." We viewed"Hotel Rwanda" and discussed human security and "the responsibility to protect" populations threatened by genocide or crimes against humanity.


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Cash is more convenient

According to Laurie David's November 26 op-ed in The Washington Post, she and other producers of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" were turned down when they offered to give the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) 50,000 copies of the film for use in the classroom.

Why would the NSTA refuse the offer? Even at discount prices, that is a half million dollar donation.

In the op-ed, David points out that the NTSA's letter refusing the offer said that the group did not want to bring "unnecessary risk upon the capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters."

Ah, it's all about the fundraising. And what donor, specifically, would be displeased by "An Inconvenient Truth"?

Her candidate is ExxonMobil, which has given $42 million this year to various organizations trying to influence the way science education is taught and $6 million to NTSA in the past decade. These are but small elements of the oil giant's huge PR efforts to influence the climate debate.

David notes in the piece that teachers' groups routinely accept free curricular materials from corporate America -- even some about environmental issues prepared by Exxon Mobil and Weyerhaeuser.

Don't those materials sound...what's the right word?

Ah: convenient!


David is the wife of comedian Larry David, as well as a Natural Resources Defense Council trustee and founder of StopGlobalWarming.org.

Hat tip to my spouse, who brought this anecdote to my attention.


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Film class selections

As I've previously mentioned, I'm teaching "(Global) Politics Through Film" this semester for the first time. For months, I've been trying to select the appropriate movies. Kudos to various readers for making suggestions -- and please accept my apologies for not selecting all films that were recommended. There were simply too many good possibilities.

Given that classes begin a week from tomorrow, this list is final, though the order could change a bit as I tweak the syllabus:

I. Realist view of world politics: the role of states, the importance of fear and violence in international political life, and the alleged "tragedy of great power politics."

Casablanca
Twelve O'Clock High
Saving Private Ryan

II. Nationalism, idealism and internationalism

The Quiet American
Black Hawk Down
Breaker Morant
Red Dawn

III. Critical perspectives: comedy and critique

The Great Dictator
Wag the Dog
Dr. Strangelove
Network

IV. Human security

Gandhi
The Whale Rider
Hotel Rwanda

You can probably tell from my list that I decided to screen primarily good (or even great) films. I decided to avoid, for the most part anyway, truly bad cinema.

My syllabus includes this disclaimer:

Many of the films are rated R and “feature” crude language, intense scenes of violence and naked human bodies. If that offends you, then please do not remain in the class.

Let me know if you think that should be reworked.


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A Jewish barber's Closing Address

This fall, I'm teaching "Politics Through Film" for the first time (good seats are still available). My colleague who used to teach the course retired and I will focus the course on global politics.

While I'll be loading up on some of my favorite war movies, I'm also looking for a few great comedies to add -- especially those comedies that make a distinct political point.

Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" seems like a prime candidate.

Chaplin plays multiple roles in the film, including an ordinary Jewish Barber and the title character. The barber is eventually taken for the dictator and has an opportunity at the end of the film to give a speech that would have been delivered by the dictator. I'd encourage you to read the entire speech, but I'm going to include a couple of excerpts. This is the beginning:

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible -- Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

And this is towards the end:

Let us all unite!! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise!! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Readers: any film suggestions? I already have a pretty good list and may discuss the ones I select over the next few months.

Potential students: this is going to be a fun course and you will definitely see some great movies that may not be familiar to you. I'm really looking forward to the class and have no plans to deliver any lectures. Students will write some film criticism, but the workload should not be too onerous.



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Filed as: comedy of IR

(Pop) culture update

I went to a club the other night to see Philly's Marah, but by 11:40 the band still wasn't on stage and we had a babysitter deadline pending. Meanwhile, "warmup" act Jackie Greene was terrific -- kind of a cross between Delbert McClinton and Bob Dylan. He's a versatile multi-instrumentalist in a porkpie hat, singing blues, rootsy folk, etc.

Saturday, I ordered Greene's latest CD, which was produced by Steve Berlin. In the '80s, many of my favorite albums either featured, or were produced by, Berlin, a veteran of Los Lobos and the Blasters. Greene's act and the entire "Americana" genre owe a lot to "American Music."

Greene will be back in Louisville Wednesday June 28, performing a FREE live show as the headliner down on the Waterfront.

I did finally catch about half an hour of Marah. They were OK...but too loud.

If you don't have a chance to see Jackie Greene, find out if "Inside Man" is still playing at a (likely second run) theater near you. It's a Spike Lee heist film starring Denzel Washington, Jody Foster and Clive Owen. Good stuff.

"A Prairie Home Companion" was much better than I expected. I have not read Garrison Keillor or listened to his radio program, but went to see it because I'm a big fan of other Robert Altman films. The film was quite entertaining: thumbs up!


Update: This entry has been expanded a bit since it was originally posted.

In comments, Ryan Clark Holiday points listeners to StreamJackieGreene.com. You can select the songs you want to hear in any order.

Dylan skeptics: give "Talkin' Midtown Woman" a listen.


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Merchant of death

"Thank you for smoking" is a very entertaining movie. It is well-written political satire with a very good cast -- reminiscent of "Wag the Dog" in some ways, but probably a better film overall.

Once again, I'm writing about a comedy in which the primary villain is an enormous transnational corporation. The villain is not entirely faceless, of course, as Robert Duvall plays "The Captain" of said corporation, and Aaron Eckhart plays the young corporate flack, Nick Naylor. In his own words, Naylor is the guy you know who can pick up any woman he wants...on crack.

However, "Big Tobacco" is the Freddy Kreuger of this film and the movie does a great job revealing its wicked ways: including nearly half a million American lives lost each year to tobacco-related illnesses and cynical manipulation of words and images to attract young smokers.

There's even a transnational element: Big Tobacco markets to millions of Asian smokers and in the film, at least, is willing to crawl into bed with an abusive third world dictator to pitch its product.

This film was based on a Christopher Buckley novel. I've read several of his other works and must say that I enjoyed this movie more than I liked those books. Hmmmm.


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Filed as: smoking