philosophy in film

[iambiguous]

Films of this nature tend to be judged as exceptional or not depending on the level of sophsitication employed in the narrative. And on the level of complexity in probing what for some is not complex at all. If you do this you are in fact Evil and deserve nothing but contempt from all the rest of us. And [at the very least] until the day you die. And then [for some] you will burn in hell for all eternity.

This is always a particularly tough subject for me because I get particularly upset when an adult harms a child—for any reason let alone this one. There’s a part of me that wants to lock them all up and throw away the key. But there is another part that recognizes all the variables that can come together to predispose us [any of us] to do all sorts of terrible things. I’ve done a number things I’m not to proud of myself…and I’ve come to understand the mitigating “past” here all too well. But to kids?

And it is made clear that he has not been wholly rehabilitated or “cured”. He is in fact still a threat.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodsman
trailer: youtu.be/sst041HiCUA

THE WOODSMAN [2004]
Written and directed by Nicole Kassell

[b]Boss: The only reason I’m doing this is 'cause I know you did good work for my father. So you be here on time. You do your work. I don’t want any kind of problem, period.

…

Vickie: You never spoke to me before.
Walter: I thought you were a dyke.

…

Vickie: I used to think you were shy…but now I think it’s something else.
Walter: What?
Vickie: Something happened to you.
Walter: Yeah?
Vickie: I’m not easily shocked.
Walter: I get that impression.
Vickie: So, you gonna tell me your dark secret?
Walter: Why do you want to know?
Vickie: Don’t you think I should know before we have sex? I don’t like to waste time. So, you gonna tell me your deep, dark secret?
Walter: No.[/b]

Later…

Vickie: So, what did you do? What happened to you? Walter?
Walter: Why do you want to know?
Vickie: Because I like you.
Walter: What’s the worst thing you ever did?

Finally…

[b]Walter: I molested little girls.
[Vickie laughs in disbelief]
Walter: 12 years in prison is no joke.
Vickie [after a long pause]: How young?
Walter: Between 10 and 12. Once a nine-year-old told me she was eleven. Once a 14-year-old told me she was 12. I always asked how old they were.
Vickie: What did you do to them?
Walter: It’s not what you think. I never hurt them. Never. Look…I want you to go now, all right?
Vickie: I told you I’m not easily shocked.
Walter: Yeah, well, you should be shocked…Or do you get off on this shit?
Vickie [she’s shocked now]: What?!

…

[repeated line]
Walter: When will I be normal?[/b]

And we know the implication of that.

[b]Dr. Rosen [to Walter]: You followed a girl. Perhaps you wanted to see what it felt like after so many years. Maybe subconsciously you were testing yourself. And here you are…talking about it with me. This is positive.

…

Walter: Remember when you asked me what my idea of normal was? Normal is when I can see a girl…be near a girl, even talk to a girl… and not think about… That’s my idea of normal.[/b]

Well, in this day and age is that normal?

Vickie: I got poked around here and there.
Walter: Jesus. Which brother?
Vickie: All three, in chronological order.
Walter: Why are you telling me this?
Vickie: I’m trying to tell you who I am, if you’re interested.
Walter: You must hate your brothers.
Vickie: I love my brothers.
Walter: No, you don’t.
Vickie: I love all of them. They’re strong, gentle men with families of their own. If you ever asked them about what they did to me, they’d beat the shit out of you. And they’d call you a fucking liar.

In some ways the same, in some ways different.

[b]Sgt. Lucas: Do you believe in Fairy Tales?
Walter: Fairy Tales?
Sgt. Lucas: Yeah, like Alice in Wonderland.
Walter: No.
Sgt. Lucas: Yeah, yeah, me neither. What’s that one with the Woodsman?
Walter: Woodsman?
Sgt. Lucas: Yeah, with the ax?
Walter: I don’t know.
Sgt. Lucas: Yeah, you know it. The Woodsman, he cuts open the wolf’s stomach and the little girl come out alive…
Walter: Little Red Riding Hood.
Sgt. Lucas: Little Red Riding Hood! That’s it! That’s it. The Woodsman, he cuts open the wolf’s stomach, the girl comes out without a scratch…You ever see a seven-year-old sodomized in half? She was so small, just broken. I saw 20-year vets on that job. Hard guys, they just broke down and cried. I was there, I cried…There ain’t no fucking woodsman in this world. I don’t know why they keep lettin’ freaks like you out on the street. It just means that we gotta catch you all over again.

…

Walter: Robin…
Robin [who is eleven years old]: Yes?
Walter: Would you like to sit on my lap?
Robin: What?
Walter: Would you like to sit on my lap?
Robin: No, thank you.
Walter: Okay. Doesn’t matter.
Robin: Do you want me to sit on your lap?
Walter: Yes. I would enjoy that. I know this place that’s really quiet…except for the sound of these tiny little birds.
Robin: They sound like finches.
Walter: Yeah, they might be finches. Do you want to see?
Robin: My daddy lets me sit on his lap.
Walter: Does he?
Robin: Yes.
Walter: Do you like it when he asks you?
Robin: No.
Walter: Why not?
[Robin starts to cry]
Walter: Are you two alone when he asks you? Does he say strange things? Does he move his legs in funny ways?
Robin: Walter…do you still want me to sit on your lap? I will. I don’t mind.
Walter: No. Go home, Robin.[/b]

But it could easily have gone the other way. And maybe next time it will. So I’m back to locking them up and throwing away the key. In this very imperfect world.

[iambiguous]

For a lot of complex reasons Tony kept to himself as a child. You could call him strange. I liked him immediately.

He finds something that he loves [illustrating] and his life revolves around it. And then he meets a woman who is equally obsessed with but one thing: clothing.

Really obsessed. And for someone like me who could not possibly care less about them it is astonishing to watch her consume them.

Then this very, very odd relationship begins to unfold.

Are we supposed to take it literally? Or is it meant to convey something about human relationships that transcends any particular one of them. Lessons in loneliness and obsession?

On the other hand, when an older [and not particularly attractive] man meets a very, very beautiful younger woman, lots of things about her can be rationalized. Unless, of course, I completely miss the point. After all, here is a self-contained man who, as a boy, recognized that he was never really lonely. Even in spending long stretches of time alone. And now suddenly he meets this woman and he recognizes instead just how lonely he really is.

Fortunately [or, okay, unfortunately] I’ve never felt that way myself about anyone. And I’ve never wanted to. And I’ve had lots of close relationships. Or perhaps I just never met someone who was able to make me feel these things.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Takitani
trailer: youtu.be/gxdQbc9L8KU

TONY TAKITANI [Tonî Takitani] 2004
Written and directed by Jun Ichikawa

[b]Narrator: Tony couldn’t fathom the value of the kinds of paintings his classmates argued over, painting imbued with artisty or ideology. To him such paintings were just immature, and ugly.
Tony: And inaccurate.

…

Tony: I’ve never met anyone who inhabits her clothes with such obvious relish as you.
Eiko: I feel that clothes fill up what is missing inside me.

…

Eiko: I am self-centered and I love to indulge myself. I spend almost my entire salary on clothes.
Tony: I never spend money on anything except paints and supplies.

…

Narrator: This lack of loneliness felt ever so slightly odd to Tony. Because now that he wasn’t lonely he found himself constantly terrified by the possibility of being alone again.

…

Narrator: In the presence of clothes, she was almost entirely unable to restrain herself.

…

Narrator: They had to order several large wardrobes, along with shelves designed to accommodate her shoes. And when that still wasn’t enough, they had to convert one entire room into a closet.

…

Eiko [after Tony asked her to cut back on her shopping]: I know I should. But even though I know better, I can’t help myself. When I see beautiful things, I can’t not buy them.[/b]

And here I have to admit how my own passion for music and film is exactly the same. And who am I to say what another should find beautiful?

[b]Narrator: Once the mountain of jazz records vanished, Tony Takitani was truly and finally completely alone.

…

Man: You’re Tony Takitani, right?
Tony: Yes.
Man: The thing is, I’m the guy Eiko ditched back then. I hear the chick up and died. Wasn’t that chick a pain?
Tony: She was not a pain, and I’ve forgotten. And stop calling her “that chick”.
Man: So you are dull after all…Just like your drawings. [/b]

[iambiguous]

TV Time!

Time to go back to the future…again.

Black and white only boys and girls. Here, there’s a proper place for everyone and everyone is in his or her proper place. And a happy ending is guarenteed. You know, like on The Truman Show.

Yawn?

You bet. And wouldn’t any cool kid wallowing in the mindless 1990s want to go back to the mindless 1950s and straighten them all out? One thing for sure: It’s as though the 1960s never existed at all. And, really, we all know that millions upon millions of actual folks out there would give an arm and a leg to have Don Knotts coming knocking on their front door.

Hell, even I wouldn’t mind going back there for a day or two.

It’s all a rather comical look at the idea that folks can be indocrinated [or here scripted] to live out their entire lives in particular ways. All of a sudden other folks from “outside” their world begin to introduce different ways of behaving instead. Sometimes its funny and sometimes its not. Most of the gags here [of course] revolve around sex.

On the other hand, it might go deeper. An attempt not to mimic the 1950s [or make fun of it] as to show it was less about the way it actually was back then and more about the way some would like to think it was. In other words, to remind us that 1950s television and the 1950s are not the same thing. In any event it steers clear of the experiences many in impoverished and working class families endured. And the way they introduced the theme of racial bigoty was to turn some of the black and white white people into “colored” white people. There wasn’t a single person of color at all here.

[Strangely, it reminded me that Star Trek episode where the Enterprise visits a Pleasantville Planet. Everyone always acts in complete conformity [like sheep] because they are being sprayed with spores from the pod plants! Once Kirk and the crew destroy the pods however all the folks are screaming at each other and getting into fights—chaos and calamity ensue. But that’s good. Why? Because that’s what it means to be human! The price of freedom]

In lots of ways, this is just as silly. And just as simplistic. The ending is particularly sappy.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasantville_(film
trailer: youtu.be/p_RfD-xTnV8

PLEASANTVILLE [1998]
Written and directed by Gary Ross

[b][Montage of teachers talking to David’s classes]
College Counselor: For those of you going on to college next year, the chance of finding a good job will actually decrease by the time you graduate. The available number of entry-level jobs will drop 31 percent over the next four years. Median income for those jobs will go down as well. Obviously, my friends, it’s a competitive world, and good grades are your only ticket through. In fact, by the year 2000…
Health Teacher: The chance of contracting HIV from a non-monogamous lifestyle will climb to 1 in 150. The odds of dying in an auto accident are only 1 in twenty-five hundred. Now, this marks a drastic increase…
Science Teacher: …from fourteen years ago, when ozone depletion was just at 10 percent of its current level. By the time you are thirty years old, average global temperature will have risen two and a half degrees, causing such catastrophic consequences as typhoons, floods, widespread drought, and famine.
[Cut to David absorbing all this grim information and looking really depressed]
Science Teacher [with a bright smile]: Okay! Who can tell me what “famine” is?

…

Kimmy [overhears David preparing for the Pleasantville marathon]: Oh, my God. He is, like, so pathetic. I can’t believe you’re, like, related to him!
Jennifer: Only on my parents’ side.
Kimmy: Yeah, but you guys are, like, twins and stuff. You must be from the cool side of the uterus.

…

Jennifer: I still don’t see why we’re doing this.
David: Because we’re supposed to be in school.
Jennifer: We’re supposed to be at home! We’re supposed to be in color!

…

Jennifer [as Mary-Sue in geography class]: What’s outside of Pleasantville?
Teacher: I don’t understand.
Jennifer: Outside of Pleasantville. What’s at the end of Main Street?
Teacher: Mary Sue, you should know the answer to that. The end of Main Street is just the beginning again.

…

David: One date, Jen. That’s all I’m asking. If you don’t go out with this guy…we could throw their whole universe out of whack!

…

Jennifer [looking at her boobs in the mirror]: Are you sure I’m supposed to wear this? I could kill a guy with these things.
David: It’s in your closet.
Jennifer: I’ve worn kinky stuff before, but…
David: He won’t notice anyway.
Jennifer: Why not?
David: They just don’t notice that kind of thing around here.

…

Jennifer: Oh, skip, you can pin me anytime you want to.

…

David: You can’t do this, Jennifer. I warned you!
Jennifer: So what’s the big deal? OK. They’re not good at basketball anymore. Oh, my God. What a tragedy.
David: You don’t understand. You’re messing with their whole goddamn universe.
Jennifer: Maybe it needs to be messed with, David. Did that ever occur to you?
David: They’re happy like this.
Jennifer: No, David. Nobody’s happy in a poodle skirt and a sweater set.
[pause]
Jennifer: You really like this, don’t you? No, it’s not like you think it’s funny or dorky. You really like it.

…

Bill: What’s the point, Bud?
David [as Bud]: You make hamburgers. That is the point.
Bill: No. I know I do. It’s always the same, you know? Grill the bun, flip the meat, melt the cheese. It never changes. It never gets better or worse.
David: Sometimes you just gotta do it because it’s your job. And even if you don’t like it, you just gotta do it anyway.
Bill: Why?
David: So they can have their hamburgers!

…

Betty: Mary Sue?
Jennifer: Yeah?
Betty: What goes on up at Lover’s Lane?
Jennifer: What do you mean?
Betty: Well, you hear these things lately… kids spending so much time up there. Uh, is it holding hands? That kind of thing?
Jennifer: Yeah! That and…
Betty: What?
Jennifer: It doesn’t matter.
Betty: No, I wanna know.
Jennifer: Well, sex.
Betty: Oh. What’s sex?

…

Betty [after Jennifer explains sex to her]: It’s just that…your father would never do anything like that.
Jennifer: Well, you know, Mom…there are other ways to enjoy yourself…without Dad.

…

Jennifer: Hey, can I ask you a question?
David: Sure.
Jennifer: How come I’m still in black and white?
David: What?
Jennifer: I’ve had, like, ten times as much sex as the rest of these girls, and I still look like this. I mean, they spend, like, an hour in the back seat of some car and all of a sudden they’re in Technicolor?
David: I don’t know. Maybe it’s not just the sex.

…

George: What went wrong?
David: Nothing went wrong. People change.
George: People change?
David: Yeah, people change.
George: Can they change back again?[/b]

[iambiguous]

A perfect world? This is Texas in the early 1960s. In other words, not even close.

Intriguing situation though. Convict escapes prison. Ends up taking a little boy hostage. The little boy and the escaped con then strike up one of those relationships that can only happen in an extra-ordinary set of circumstances. And, as luck would have it, they both share some things in common. They’re handsome devils, they like RC cola and neither one has an old man that’s worth a damn. And then there is more to Butch than meets the eye. He loves kids for one thing.

Nope, never seen one quite like this before.

One thing you do see lots of times though: the old style lawman getting stuck with the new-fangled “criminologist”. She [it’s a she this time] supposedly doesn’t know squat about real criminals out in the real world…and he supposedly doesn’t know squat about the more sophisticated ways to nab them. Dirty Harry [sort of] meets CSI [sort of].

And then there’s the Fed. And all the parts that are funny as hell.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Perfect_World
trailer: youtu.be/_Qm-UhA3b4g

A PERFECT WORLD [1993]
Directed by Clint Eastwood

[b]Sally: The idea is that an understanding of the particular behavioral case histories should, in parole situations, help the subject to avoid habitual traps and, in penal escape situations could, conversely, identify those self-same traps as an aid to apprehension.
Red: Let me tell you something, Miss Gerber.
Sally: Sally is fine.
Red: Let me tell you something, Sally. This is not a ‘penal escape situation’, this here happens to be a manhunt. And no talkin’ in circles is gonna fix all that.
Sally: And what will?
Red: That’s having a nose like a Blue Tick, pasa medulla, with an antenna and a helluva lot of coffee.

…

Phillip [after Terry snatches the car keys]: Why’d he take the keys?
Butch: So I won’t leave him.
Phillip: Would you leave him?
Butch: Oh, yeah.

…

Terry [after failing to find his cousin in a phonebook]: Must’ve moved. Probably couldn’t have heard him anyway, this goddamn ear’s still bleedin’. Don’t you ever try that shit again.
Butch [sternly]: What?
Terry [puzzled]: What?
Butch: You were in the middle of threatening me.
Terry: Ain’t a threat.
[holds up a pistol]
Terry: It’s a fact.
Butch: Here, kid, take the wheel.
[Phillip grabs the wheel as Butch turns to face Terry in the back seat]
Butch: In two seconds, I’m gonna break your nose. That’s a threat.
[Butch punches Terry in the nose, then grabs the gun]
Butch: And that’s a fact.
Terry: I’m gonna kill you for that.
Butch: And that’s a threat. Beginning to understand the difference?

…

Terry [after Butch has Phillip point a pistol at his face]: You’re a fuckin’ crazy man.
Butch: And that’s a fact. I believe you’re getting the hang of this.

…

Sally: Why are you so hell-bent on embarassing me, Red?
Red: I’m only hell bent on one thing. You get to know me a little better, you’ll find that having a strong backside and a sense of humor will get you a lot.
Sally: Well I have a fine sense of humor. But the one thing I won’t do is be your straight man so you can play hero to morons who think you are some kind of hillbilly Sherlock Holmes.[/b]

We know where this is going:

[b]Red: This your first time in the field. I thought so.
Sally: Who do you think I am…some dumb school girl who’s wandered into the boy’s locker room?

…

Red: So who is the other one?
Sally: Other one?
Red: Yeah, you said you are one of the two brains here. Who’s the other?
Sally: Butch Hayes. We tested him in prison.

…

Phillip: Are you gonna shoot me?
Butch: No. Hell no. You and me are friends.

…

Store clerk: Buzz, you little shit, shop lifting is a crime!
Butch [pulling up to the store]: It’s up to you, Buzz.
[Phillip jumps in the car]
Butch [to the saleslady]: You ain’t so friendly.

…

Butch: You kiped it?
Phillip: You ain’t mad?
Butch: Let’s understand each other. Stealing’s wrong, okay? But if there’s something you need bad and you ain’t got the money…it’s okay to take a loaner on the item. It’s what you call an exception to the rule.

…

Butch: You know, Phillip, you have a goddamned red, white and blue American right to eat cotton candy and ride roller coasters.
Phillip: I do?
Butch: Hell, yes, you do!

…

Butch: I want you to make a list, Phillip…a list of all the things you aren’t allowed to do.

…

Red [interrupting Bobbie Lee harassing Sally]: How you take your steak, Sally?
Sally: Rare.
Red: Well, I’ll just wipe its ass, hurl it through and you can tear off a slab. How’d that be?
Sally: On second thought, maybe medium-rare.

…

Phillip [to Butch]: You kissed her backside, huh?

…

Butch: That was a hell of a thing to do, Phillip. You’re a hero! Probably be in all the papers tomorrow…how you saved those folks. Truth is though I don’t think I would have killed them. I’ve only killed two people in my whole life. One hurt my mama…one hurt you.

…

Sally: You know you did everything you could. Don’t you?
Red: I don’t know nothin’.
[pause]
Red: Not one damn thing.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Whenever I think of Easy Rider, I’m reminded of the references made to it in the film Lost In America [above somewhere]:

David: This is what we talked about when we were 19. Remember we kept saying “Let’s find ourselves,” but we didn’t have a dollar so we watched TV. Linda, this is just like Easy Rider except now it’s our turn. We can drop out and still have our nest egg!

But then:

Linda: In the movie you are basing your whole life on, Easy Rider, they had nothing. They had no nest egg!
David: Bullshit! They had a giant nest egg. They had all that cocaine!

Hippie dope dealers? In other words, you can be free as a bird if you got enough dough to avoid having to work for it.

There are lots of different ways that folks reduce the 1960s down to their own prejudicies. So pull yourself up out of it and do the same.

But it really was dangerous in some parts of the country [THE SOUTH] to look like them, to think like them, to behave like them. It could get you killed, for example.

Fantastic soundtrack:

It was one of the first films to make extensive use of previously released musical tracks rather than a specially written film score. This is common with films now but was quite unusual at the time. IMDb

IMDb

[b]Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda did not write a full script for the movie and made most of it up as they went along. They didn’t hire a crew but instead picked up hippies at communes across the country, and used friends and passersby to hold the cameras and were drunk and stoned most of the time.

For the famous soliloquy that Peter Fonda does in the cemetery while tripped on acid, Director Dennis Hopper asked Peter to talk to the statue as if he were talking to his mother, who died a suicide when Peter was 10 years old. Peter didn’t want to do it, as he had never confronted his feelings about his mother. But Hopper insisted, which is why you hear Peter call the statue “Mother”, and he states that he both loves her and hates her, which expresses his conflicted emotions. This scene persuaded Bob Dylan to allow the use of his song “It’s Alright Ma” in one of the final scenes, which contains lyrics referencing suicide. Peter told Dylan, “I need to hear those words”, and he agreed to its use.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Rider
trailer: youtu.be/GwST6mpT7Ds

EASY RIDER [1969
Written in part and directed by Dennis Hopper

[b]Captain America: No, l mean it. You’ve got a nice place. lt’s not every man that can live off the land, you know? You can do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud.

…

Billy: Where ya from man?
Stranger on the Highway: Hard to say.

…

Stranger on the highway: I’m from the city… Doesn’t matter what city; all cities are alike.
Billy: Well, why’d you mention it then?
Stranger on the highway: 'Cause I’m FROM the city; a long WAY from the city, and that’s where I wanna be right now.

…

Stranger on the Highway [giving Captain America some LSD]: When you get to the right place, with the right people, quarter this. You know, this could be the right place. The time’s running out.
Captain America: Yeah, I’m, I’m hip about time. But I just gotta go.

…

Captain America: Have you gotta helmet?
George: Have I gotta helmet? Ha ha ha! I got a beauty![/b]

Well, it is a helmet.

[b]Captain America: Here, do this instead.
George: No, thanks. l got some store-bought here of my own.
Captain America: No, man. This is grass.
George: You mean, marijuana? Lord have mercy! ls that what that is?

…

George: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.
Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that’s what happened. Hey, we can’t even get into like, a second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig? They think we’re gonna cut their throat or somethin’. They’re scared, man.
George: They’re not scared of you. They’re scared of what you represent to ‘em.
Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
George: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That’s what it’s all about.
George: Oh, yeah, that’s right. That’s what’s it’s all about, all right. But talkin’ about it and bein’ it, that’s two different things. I mean, it’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free, ‘cause then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare 'em.
Billy: Well, it don’t make ‘em runnin’ scared.
George: No, it makes 'em dangerous.

…

Billy: We did it, man. We did it, we did it. We’re rich, man. We’re retirin’ in Florida now, mister.
Captain America: You know Billy, we blew it.
Billy: What? That’s what it’s all about man. I mean, like, you know. I mean, you go for the big money, man, and then you’re free. You dig?
Captain America: We blew it.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Based on true events.

Most of the time as a boy I always felt there was a part of me that wasn’t particularly like anyone else. So another part of me was always on the lookout for someone I might be able to explain that to…or even to share it with. But I never really found this person. In this film they do find each other. For better and for worse.

If anything, the 1950s in New Zealand were even more conformist than for the rest of us. The God part especially. Lots and lots of rules about comportment.

So, were they lovers? Were they insane? It’s not like they needed to escape into fantasy because their reality was harsh and cruel. Their reality was rather pleasant. Well, not counting Juliet’s narcissistic parents. Or the limited options for “girls” back then.

Just out of curiosity, can someone be mad [as in the mental affliction] and know that they are mad?

This is Kate Winslet’s first film.

IMDb

[b]Almost all locations used for filming were the genuine locations where the events occurred. The tea shop where Honora Parker ate her last meal was knocked down a few days after the shoot ended. According to director Peter Jackson, when they got to the location of the murder on the dirt path, it was eerily quiet; the birds stopped singing, and it didn’t seem right. So they moved along a couple of hundred yards.

Juliet Hulme was revealed to be mystery writer Anne Perry who came forward and revealed her real identity in 1994 during the making of the film, but all attempts to find Pauline Parker failed. In 1997, Pauline Parker was finally traced to a rundown cottage on a farm near Strood, Kent, England, where she currently runs a children’s riding school. Since assuming the name of Hilary Nathan, she has become a devout Catholic and devoted her life to handicapped children.

All of the journal voice-overs are direct from real diary entries made by Pauline Parker. The characters in the stories (if not the stories themselves) and make-believe world are also authentic.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Creatures
the Parker-Hulme murder case at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker%E2% … urder_case
trailer: youtu.be/E-vUl-1FJ9E

HEAVENLY CREATURES [1994]
Written in part and directed by Peter Jackson

[b]Juliet [she has just arrived at her new school]: Excuse me, Miss Waller, you’ve made a mistake. “Je doutais qu’il vienne” is in fact the spoken subjunctive.
Miss Waller: It is customary to stand when addressing a teacher,
[pause]
Miss Waller: Antoinette [her name in French class].
Juliet: You should have written “vînt”.
Miss Waller: I must have copied it incorrectly from my notes.
Juliet: You don’t need to apologise, Miss Waller. I found it frightfully difficult myself until I got the hang of it.
Miss Waller [in a huff]: Thank you, Juliet. Now open your textbook to page 17.

…

Juliet [to Pauline]: Cheer up. All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It’s all frightfully romantic.

…

Pauline: Oh, I wish James Mason would do a religious picture! He’d be perfect as Jesus!
Juliet: Daddy says the Bible’s a load of bunkum!
Pauline: But we’re all going to heaven?
Juliet: I’M not! I’M going to The Fourth World… it’s sort of like heaven. Only better, because there aren’t any Christians!

…

Pauline [from her diary]: We have decided how sad it is for others that they cannot appreciate our genius.

…

Pauline [from her diary]: Today Juliet and I discovered the key to the Fourth World. We have had it in our possession for about six months, but we only realized it on the day of the death of Christ. We saw a gateway through the clouds. Everything was full of peace and bliss. We then realized we had the key. We now know we’re not genii, as we thought. We have an extra part of our brain that can appreciate the Fourth World. Only about people have it. When we die, we will go to the Fourth World, but meanwhile, on two days every year, we may use the key and look into that beautiful world which we have been lucky enough to be allowed to know of on this day of finding the key to the way through the clouds.[/b]

Apparently this stuff was all real to them.

[b]Dr Hulme: Mrs. Rieper, may I come in?

…

Doctor Bennett: Uh, Mrs. Rieper… Uh, homosexuality.
Mrs Reiper: Oh.
Doctor Bennett: Oh. I agree, Mrs. Rieper. It’s not a pleasant word. But let us not panic unduly. This condition is often a passing phase with girls of Yvonne’s age.
Mrs. Reiper: But she’s always been a normal…happy child.
Doctor Bennett: Oh, it can strike at any time, and adolescents are particularly vulnerable.
Mrs Reiper: What about the vomiting? Uh, she’s lost a lot of weight.
Doctor Bennett: Physically, I can find nothing wrong. I’ve checked for TB, and she’s clear. I… I can only attribute her weight loss to her…mental disorder. Look, Mrs. Rieper, try not to worry too much. Yvonne’s young and strong, and she’s got a loving family behind her. Chances are she’ll grow out of it. If not, well, medical science is progressing in leaps and bounds.

…

Pauline [from her diary]: My new years resolution is a far more selfish one than last year. It is to make my motto, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow, you may be dead

…

Pauline [from her diary]: Why could not mother die? Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not mother? And father too.

…

Pauline [from her diary]: We realised why Deborah and I have such extraordinary telepathy and why people treat us and look at us the way they do. It is because we are MAD. We are both stark raving MAD!

…

Pauline [from her diary]: Our main idea for the day was to murder Mother. This notion is not a new one, but this time there is a definite plan which we plan to carry out.

…

Juliet [to Pauline]: Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.

…

Pauline [from her diary]: The next time I write in this diary, Mother will be dead. How odd…yet how pleasing.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Here’s how the film begins: youtu.be/8aqXmiZ0zpQ

It still gives me goosebumps. Why? Well, it takes me back to the time when I was young and it felt so fucking exhilarating to dance the night away with friends. Working class friends who understood what dancing like this was really all about: being physical, being uninhibited, being down and dirty.

Here’s a film that explores this amidst folks who don’t really have a clue. And it’s about a time in American history when big, big changes were just over the horizon. Or had already swept across the land. And even though Hollywood is woven into every frame here there are still places where the turbulent reality of it all manages to sneak through.

Between all the stick figures anyway. And, yes, some of the dialogue is nothing short of excruciating. Along with a ton of the acting.

IMDb

Although it is never explicitly spelled out in so many words, the medical procedure for which Penny needs Baby’s money is an illegal, back-alley abortion (the doctor is described as having only “a dirty knife and a folding table”). In 1963, when this movie is set, abortion was still illegal in the US (it would become legal in New York State up to the 24th week of pregnancy in 1970 and across the country in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision), and women seeking abortions either went to a country where they were legal or (much more commonly) went to an abortionist who was willing to perform the procedure in secret. Since abortion was illegal, it was medically unregulated and often performed by people who were not even actually doctors (some women even tried performing the procedure on themselves), and thousands of women every year were killed, maimed, or rendered sterile from septic or botched illegal abortions.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Dancing

DIRTY DANCING [1987]
Directed by Emile Ardolino

[b]Baby [voiceover]: That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn’t occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn’t wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I’d never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman’s.

…

Lisa: Mom, I should’ve brought the coral shoes. You said I was taking too much.
Mom: Well, sweetheart, you brought ten pairs.
Lisa: But the coral shoes matched that dress.
Dad: This is not a tragedy. A tragedy is three men trapped in a mine or police dogs used in Birmingham.
Baby: Monks burning themselves in protest.

…

Baby [to Johnny]: I carried a watermelon.

…

Baby [talking about Penny]: So what’s wrong? What’s the matter with her?
Billy: She’s knocked up, Baby.
Johnny: Billy!
Baby [eyeing Johnny]: What’s he gonna do about it?
Johnny [angrily]: What’s he gonna to do about it? Oh, it’s mine, right? Right away you think it’s mine.[/b]

I know I did.

[b]Penny: Go back to your playpen, Baby.

…

Robbie [who impregnated Penny]: I didn’t blow a summer hauling toasted bagels just to bail out some little chick who probably balled every guy in the place. Some people count and some people don’t.
[he brings out a copy of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead from his pocket]
Robbie: Read it. I think it’s a book you’ll enjoy, but make sure you return it; I have notes in the margin.
Baby: You make me sick. Stay away from me, stay away from my sister or I’ll have you fired.
[she pours a jug of water on him]

…

Baby: Well, why did you let him talk to you that way?
Johnny: What do you mean, and fight the bossman?
Baby: Yeah, tell him your ideas! He’s a person like everyone else. I’m sure he’ll think they’re great.
Johnny: Look, I know these people, Baby. They’re all rich and they’re mean.

…

Lisa: I’ve been thinking a lot about the Domino Theory. Now, when Vietnam falls, is China next?

…

Robbie [to Baby]: Looks like I picked the wrong sister. That’s okay, Baby. I went slummin’ too.

…

Jake: Don’t you tell me what to see. I see someone in front of me who got his partner in trouble…and sent her off to some butcher while he moved on to an innocent, young girl like my daughter.
Johnny: Yeah, I guess that’s what you would see.

…

Max: You and me, Tito. We’ve seen it all, eh? Bubbah and Zeda serving the first pasteurized milk to the boarders. Through the war years when we didn’t have any meat. Through the Depression when we didn’t have anything.
Tito: Lots of changes, though, Max.
Max: It’s not the changes so much this time. It’s that it all seems to be ending. You think kids want to come with their parents and take fox-trot lessons? It’s all slipping away.

…

Johnny: Nobody puts Baby in the corner. [/b]

[iambiguous]

Collateral damage? Well, they didn’t mean to inflict it. It was their intention to only go after the bad guys. It’s just a tragedy inherent in war.

The pain and suffering are everywhere. Especially the children. The destruction is unbelievable. It’s everywhere too. It enrages you but who exactly should it be directed at? And even if you find the right target what exactly can you do about it?

The rest is politics. And religious bullshit. And those who profit from war.

How then is one to react to a single story embedded in it all?

He’s a Christian who drives a cab and she’s a Shiite Muslim desparate to go South. She’s trying to locate her son in the middle of hell. For $300 dollars he’ll take her there.

The paradox is always the same for some. They know that God is the rationale for the war. But then God is all they have to fall back on when the war ravages them. The one truly bizarre facet here is that it’s the same fucking God!

The man playing Tony and the woman playing Zenia were the only professional actors used in the film. All the rest were the actual people involved in the war.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bombs
trailer: youtu.be/J_456UN2HPI

UNDER THE BOMBS [Sous les Bombes] 2007
Written in part and directed by Philippe Aractingi

[b]Title card: August 2006. For 33 days Lebanon has suffered heavy Israeli airstrikes. On the 34th day, a cease fire was declared, controlled by the UN. Lebanon was in ruins. There were 1,189 dead and almost a million refugees.

…

Tony [to Zeina]: Do you have any idea what it is like in the South?

…

Refugee: No one can help you. You can even forget your own children.
Refugee Mother: I left mine behind to get into a van. There were 15 of us. I took two kids and left the others in a garage.
Zenia: You left them behind?
Refugee Mother: Yes! When we went back to the village, they were all dead. Under the rubble we found my husband, his brother, his wife and four children. My cousin, shot down outside—11 people.
Refugee: That’s life. That’s what Israel wants. They were aiming at people–women, children, anywhere with civilians. My cousin—they blew her up on the doorstep.[/b]

Not true, say the Israelis. And, besides, they started it! Depending of course on how far back in history you want to go.

Zenia [outside her sister’s home bombed to rubble]: Maha! Karim! Dear Lord, tell me they weren’t inside!
Muslim woman: Who are you looking for?
Zenia: I’m Maha’s sister.
Muslim woman: Her sister?
Zenia: Yes. Was she inside? Answer me. Was she inside?
Muslim woman: You have to be strong. Your sister’s a martyr. She is in Paradise. Don’t be afraid. Don’t cry.
Zenia: In Paradise?
Muslim woman: Don’t cry. Be proud of her.

But her son is still alive. God is merciful. Unless, of course, he’s not.

[b]Sign on a wall: YOU’VE DESTROYED THE BRIDGES. WE HAVE MENDED THEIR HEARTS. HEZBOLLAH.

…

Zenia [to Tony]: My son is lost. All this this terror, these bombs—the madness of some. It doesn’t matter. We must search. Many have died. It doesn’t matter. Everything can wait. We must search. My son is lost. What did he do wrong? We have to fight back. It’s not important. First we must search. Then we’ll resist. Have I been a good mother? It’s not important. I don’t care. America, Israel, the Hezbollah, Syria or Iran. I don’t care. I don’t care about releigion. My son is lost. The ruins, the bombs, your help. I don’t give a damn. My son is lost. I must find him.

…

Zenia [to Tony]: And to think I sent him to the South to protect him from our troubles in the North.

…

Zenia [to Tony]: My husband’s son is under the bombs and he is afraid of losing a client.

…

Tony’s friend #1: They’ve bombed everything the bastards. Even the Christian villages. To them we’re all Arabs.
Tony’s friend #2: You can say what you like. Elie did join his brothers in Israel.
Tony: Whatever the reason we mustn’t go there. They have to return. It’s their land! I don’t understand. These bastards bomb you, destroy your houses and bridges, take your children, send you to prison, and you—you work for them?!
Tony’s friend #1: When your life is at stake you deal with the devil if you have to. That’s what happens.
Tony’s friend #3: That’s right. We know the song. We’ve been through it enough times. But what can we do?

…

Tony [to boy]: Karim?
[the boy shakes his head]
Tony: Tarek?
Boy: They are all dead.
Zenia: This isn’t your jacket.
Boy: It’s Karim’s.
Zenia: Why are you wearing it?
Boy: My mother was under the rubble. I took my shirt off to cover her face. When he saw me, he gave me his jacket.
Zenia: Where is Karim?
Boy: He stayed under the bombs.

…

Title card: Under the bombs, most were crushed to death. It is for them that this film is made. To tell the suffering of the innocent.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Soldiers have been coming home from wars now for…forever. I came home from the same one Luke did. But with my legs still intact. On the other hand, I had a close friend come home from it with neither his legs nor his arms intact. And then he committed suicide.

And here I am now bascially arguing that it is futile [philosophically or otherwise] to try to pin down whether it was “worth it” or not. That’s embodied in dasein and in politics. But there will always be folks who profit from war. And it is almost always the case that those who clamor for it the loudest are often the ones who never really come close to actually fighting it.

And then there’s the part about the VA facilities…the part after the war. I use them now myself. And I’m grateful for it because what exactly are the alternatives for those on a “fixed income”. But I’m no where near as dependant upon it as these guys are.

And it’s heartbreaking to see what they have to go through just to make it to the next day. And it’s hard to decide which are worse off: those fucked up from the neck down or from the neck up.

Vietnam: What a fuckimg waste of lives. And what a bunch of fucking lies.

IMDb

[b]Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino declined the role that went to Jon Voight.

Jon Voight’s role of Luke Martin was loosely inspired by paralyzed Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, who was making inroads in Hollywood with his book “Born on the Fourth of July” at the time. Of course, Kovic’s book and story was in 1989 put on the screen with Tom Cruise in the role of Kovic.

The opening scene where the vets in the hospital are talking was totally unscripted. They were real Vietnam vets discussing their own views about the war. Jon Voight was supposed to have added to the dialog, but out of respect stayed silent and listened.

One of the first films even partially dealing openly with the idea of sex between an able-bodied person and a disabled one. Other films dealing with disability and romance had indirectly implied it or avoided it altogether (such as in “The Best Years of Our Lives”.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film
trailer: youtu.be/D4KhXoWhjFI

COMING HOME [1978]
Directed by Hal Ashby

[b]Luke [after his arms are removed from the restraints]: Pew Wee, I can crawl again.

…

Luke: Kevin? I thought you died Wednesday.

…

Sally [to the wives of military officers]: There’s not enough beds, there’s not enough staff. It’s really crowded. They’re just not prepared for the number of wounded guys that are being sent back.
Woman: I don’t think we’re really clear on what you’re asking us for, Sally.
Sally: Well, it’s what I said. We could do an article in the paper…maybe using some of these photographs, interviewing some of the guys maybe.
Woman: Isn’t it difficult for the men to be around young women? When I joined Weight Watchers, I didn’t want any candy around.
Woman: I don’t think that is our function. It seems we’re more a base gossip sheet. You know, fun and games for the fellas.
[the ladies move on to other aggendas like little league games]
Sally: I just want to say that I am really shocked. I’m shocked that you’d rather write about a goddamn home run than about what’s going on in this hospital. I mean, you wouldn’t feel that way if they were your husbands.

…

Luke: You know, I spend 95% of the time at the hospital thinking of making love with you.

…

Bob: It’s not you. It’s just all fucked up. I can’t get all this bullshit about 'Nam out of my head.
Sally: Well why don’t you talk to me about it. I want to know what it’s like.
Bob: I don’t know what it’s like. I only know what it is. A TV show is what it’s like. They sure as hell don’t show what it is.

…

Bob [to Sally]: Is that the way you massage the basket cases in the hospital?

…

Luke: [being interviewed by a television news crew after chaining himself to a Marines Recruitment Facility] The reason why I’m here is because a buddy of mine who’d been in 'Nam took his own life today. This is kind of a funeral service. And I’m here because I’m trying to tell people, man, if we want to commit suicide, we have plenty of reasons to do it right here at home. We don’t have to go to Vietnam to find reasons to kill ourselves. I just don’t think we should be over there.

…

Sally: Can you feel that?
Luke: I can’t feel it but I can see it.

…

Marine Recruiter: The Marine Corps builds body, mind and spirit. Thank you.
High School Class Pres.: And now, with a different perspective, we have Luke Martin, combat veteran of the Marine Corps.
Luke: Sergeant, do you mind if I ask you a question?
Marine Recruiter: No, sir.
Luke: Just call me Sergeant. That’s what I was. Where were you stationed?
Marine Recruiter: Danang.
Luke [his speech is spliced with final scene of Bob at the beach] You know, you want to be a part of it, patriotic, go out and get your licks in for the U.S. of A. And when you get over there, it’s a totally different situation. I mean, you grow up real quick. Because all you’re seeing is, um, a lot of death…And I know some of you guys are going to look at the uniformed man and you’re going to remember all the films and you’re going to think about the glory of other wars and think about some vague patriotic feeling and go off and fight this turkey too. And I’m telling you it ain’t like it’s in the movies. That’s all I want to tell you, because I didn’t have a choice. When I was your age, all I got was some guy standing up like that, man, giving me a lot of bullshit, man, which I caught. I was really in good shape then, man. I was captain of the football team. And I wanted to be a war hero, man, I wanted to go out and kill for my country. And now, I’m here to tell you that I have killed for my country or whatever…And I don’t feel good about it. Because there’s not enough reason, man, to feel a person die in your hands or to see your best buddy get blown away. I’m here to tell you, it’s a lousy thing, man. I don’t see any reason for it. And there’s a lot of shit that I did over there that I find fucking hard to live with. And I don’t want to see people like you, man, coming back and having to face the rest of your lives with that kind of shit. It’s as simple as that. I don’t feel sorry for myself. I’m a lot fucking smarter now than when I went. And I’m just telling you that there’s a choice to be made here.[/b]

[iambiguous]

The frailty of the human mind. Sometimes it’s just a point of view. Sometimes it’s an overwhelming consensus. And when you throw God into the mix the fragility can know no bounds. Same with the consequences.

Of course when God goes this far out on the ledge some still defend religion by pointing out that “these guys were nuts”. And sometimes that’s the case. So we just go back to square one: there are the good things folks do in God’s name and the bad things.

Just thank your lucky stars that you weren’t raised by a guy who gets visions from God. And we know there are plenty of them out there. And, as such, these will always be some of the scariest goddamn people in the world. With them there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever of being reasonable.

Hell, even I might be a demon to them.

And damned if it didn’t turn out in the end that they really were demons. Or at any rate nasty sons of bitches.

In “psychological thrillers” like this you never really know in the end what to believe because you never really know what is true in reality and what is true in a mind that is…frail.

IMDb

[b]Loosely based on the case of American serial killer Joseph Kallinger who murdered three people and tortured four families. He committed these crimes with his 13-year-old son Michael between 1974-1975 in New Jersey. Kallinger pleaded insanity, claiming God had told him to kill.

At the title credit in the writer commentary, Brent Hanley says “Frailty to me was always about the frailty of perception, the frailty of morality, the frailty of right and wrong.” He adds “I liked the idea of an abstract title.”[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frailty_(film
Joseph Kalinger at wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kallinger
trailer: youtu.be/WhpV3yk8oN0

FRAILTY [2001]
Directed by Bill Paxton

[b]Adam [as Fenton]: Sometimes truth defies reason, Agent Doyle.

…

Adam [as Fenton]: That was our family. Just the three of us. All of Mom and Dad’s relatives had died, so there was no-one but us. We didn’t mind though. We didn’t need anybody else. We were happy together. Until…

…

Dad: The end of the world is coming. It’s near. The angel showed me. There are demons among us. The devil has released them for the final battle. It’s being fought right now. But nobody knows it except us and others like us.
Young Adam: I’m scared, Dad.
Dad: There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’ve been chosen by God. He will protect us. He’s given us special jobs to do. We don’t fear these demons, we destroy them. We pick them up one by one, and we pitch them out of this world. That’s God’s purpose for us. The angel called us “God’s Hands.”
Young Fenton: But Dad, that doesn’t make any sense.
Dad: I know it sounds that way son, but it’s the truth.

…

Young Adam: So we’re like superheroes?

…

Dad: I still can’t figure out what these gloves are for though.

…

Young Fenton: These are real people’s names!
Dad: They may look like people on the outside, but inside…

…

Young Fenton: Dad, maybe you’re not right in the head.

…

Young Adam: Dad, look, I got a list too.
Dad: Where did you get this, Adam?
Young Adam: God gave it to me.
Dad: Isn’t Travis Shed that boy that was picking on you at school last week?
Young Adam: He’s a demon.
Dad: You made this list up yourself. You can’t make things like that up, son. Killing people is wrong, destroying demons is good. Don’t worry, God will send you your own list when you’re older.

…

Young Fenton: It’s all a big lie Adam, you hear me? I think we need to run away, just for a little while. Until he gets better. Sooner or later Dad’s gonna kill somebody and you know it.

…

Agent Doyle: Is everything you just told me true?
Adam [as Fenton]: Why would I make it up?

…

Agent Doyle: A cop’s gotta have good instincts. You know what mine are telling me now? You’re hiding something from me.
Adam [as Fenton]: What is it you think I’m hiding?
Agent Doyle: Why don’t you just keep talking? Maybe I’ll figure it out.

…

Young Fenton: Dad kills people and you help him!
Young Adam: Uh-uh. We’re just fulfilling God’s will. I’m telling Dad on you!

…

Adam [as Fenton to Doyle]: I started digging that goddamn hole, but I did not pray. I would not. I hated God, I despised Him. My hatred helped me dig, kept me going. Dad’s or God’s or whoever’s plan it was, it would not work on me.

…

Young Fenton [to young Adam]: He can make me dig this stupid hole, but he can’t make me pray.

…

Adam [as Fenton to Agent Doyle]: I kept digging. My hands bled, but I wouldn’t stop. I kept at it morning, noon and night for days. And by the sixth day, that hole was as dark as my hatred for Dad’s God.
Dad: Well, you finished it all right. Betcha you didn’t pray once the whole time, did you?
Adam [as Fenton]: Nope.

…

Adam [as Fenton to Agent Doyle]: We started the cellar after that. At least that’s what Dad called it. The next night he brought home another demon.

…

Dad: Come in and close the door. Are you afraid?
[young Fenton nods]
Dad: Of what?
Young Fenton: You.
Dad: Only demons should fear me. You’re not a demon are you? The angle said you were. I can’t believe that. I won’t. You’re my son, and I love you more than my own life. You know what’s funny about all this Fenton? I’m afraid of you.

…

Adam [as Fenton to Doyle]: The days came and went. I counted them by the light through the hatch door and Adam’s visits. I only slept when I passed out from exhaustion.
Agent Doyle: What about your dad? Didn’t he ever come back to at least check on you? On the seventh day…
Dad: Has God spoken to you yet?
Fenton: There is no God.
[back to Doyle]
Adam [as Fenton]: I lost count of the days after that. It felt llke weeks. I finally went beyond fear into total insanity. I saw God. He had finally sent me a vision.

…

Young Adam: It’s not fair! All I get to see are demons and Fenton gets to see God!

…

Agent Doyle: I don’t get it. He promised you that he’d bury you here?
Adam [as Fenton]: Yeah.
Agent Doyle: If he killed you.
Adam [as Fenton]: No, not killed. Destroyed.
Agent Doyle: Don’t make any sense.
Adam: Yes, it does. If that man standing in front of you is Adam Meiks.

…

Agent Doyle: Jesus Christ, you really do believe all this stuff.

…

Fenton: Adam?

…

Agent Doyle: You’re just crazy as hell. Fenton or Adam or whatever your damn name is. I don’t really give a fuck. All I need to know right now is you’re a murdering son of a bitch. And I got you.
Adam: Maybe.

…

Agent Doyle: Goddamn you…you dirty little son of a… How did you know?
Adam: You were on my list.

…

Becky: Everything okay Adam?
Adam: Everything’s just fine Becky. God’s will has been served.
Becky: Praise God.[/b]

[iambiguous]

The first thing I wonder: Does what is reflected in this film depict the way things really are in the “hood” more or less than the way things are in the hood now reflect the things that folks see in films like this. Surely, they feed on each other. But just as surely more folks don’t give a fuck about it than those that do. At least so long as they are doing it only to each other.

And the part about America in the post industrial world? The part played by political economy? Way, way, way in the background as usual. As though if by magic the Black Panthers were reconfigured into the Bloods and the Crips.

The bottom line seems rather clear though: What are the odds that either Caine and O-Dog would not end up like this? Not to mention all the others.

For most of us, it’s a whole other world.

Note the look on Caine’s face noting the look on his grandparents’ faces watching It’s a Wonderful Life on television. Speaks volumes about the world they live in.

It’s been twenty years since this movie came out. What’s changed since then? Are things better or worse for folks in these neighborhoods?

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menace_II_Society
trailer: youtu.be/CD2pjnGy8Fk

MENACE II SOCIETY [1993]
Written and directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes

[b]Caine [voiceover]: Went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It’s funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when.

…

Caine [voiceover]: When the riots ended the dope began. My father sold dope and my mother was a heroin addict. Moms and Pops were real popular in the neighborhood. They would always be giving parties for friends of theirs who just got out of jail or was on their way to jail. They only got married 'cause I was born. My pop sometimes worked as an electrician or a cab driver or a plumber, but his main job was selling drugs. Sometimes Mom would use 'em all up before he could even sell 'em. Then he’d have to beat her up. Growing up with parents like that, I heard a lot and I saw a lot. I caught on to the criminal life real quick. Instead of keeping me out of trouble, they turned me on to it.

…

Tony [after Tat shoots dead a man who owes him money]: The fuck you trippin’ off of?
Tat [aims the gun at him]: Do you owe me some money, motherfucker?
Tony [tossing Tat a wad of cash]: Hell no! But here you go!
Caine [voiceover]: That was the first time I saw my father kill someone. But it wasn’t the last. I got used to it, though.

…

Caine [voiceover]: Now O-Dog was the craziest nigga alive. America’s nightmare. Young, black, and didn’t give a fuck.

…

Grandpapa: Now what I want to talk to you two about is the trouble that you’ve been getting into. Boys, the Lord didn’t put you here to be shooting and killing each other. It’s right there in the Bible, Exodus 20:13: ‘"Thou shall not kill.’
Caine: Grandpa, I ain’t never killed nobody.
Grandpapa: Oh, I doubt that. And Kevin, I’ve heard stories about you.
O-Dog: Sir, I don’t think God really cares too much about us, or he wouldn’t have put us here. I mean, look where we stay at. It’s all fucked - It’s messed up around here.
Caine [voiceover]: My grandpops was always coming at us with that religion, and every time it would go in one ear and out the other.

…

Grandpapa: Caine, do you care whether you live or die?
Caine: I don’t know.

…

Caine [voiceover]: I seen lots of people killed before…but I ain’t never done it myself. I never had a reason to. But when they killed my cousin I knew I was gonna kill them.

…

O-Dog: Hey, man, who the fuck gonna be old out there at twelve o’clock at night, bitch? Shit, nigga, I’ll smoke anybody, nigga. I just don’t give a fuck. Shit. I’m gonna hit this shit, nigger.
Caine: Look, all right, not me, all right? I’m not killing no kids.
O-Dog: Hey, you know what, nigger? You acting like a little bitch right now. You acting real paranoid and shit. Now, these motherfuckers smoked your goddam cousin in front of you, nigga! Blew his head off in front of your face, and you ain’t gonna do shit? You acting like a little bitch right now, nigga. Man, fuck that. I ain’t letting that shit ride. We gonna go in and smoke all these motherfuckers. I don’t care who the fuck out there. Goddamn it, is you down, nigger?
A-Wax: Man, both of y’all shut the fuck up. Both of y’all acting like some motherfucking bitches. Shit. Scared to peel these punk-ass nigga’s cap. Now, give me my motherfucking joint, nigga.

…

Caine [voiceover]: I thought killing those fools would make me feel good, but it really didn’t make me feel anything. I just knew that I could kill somebody, and if I had to, I could do it again.

…

Caine [voiceover]: Working fir minimum wage was never my style. I like big dollars. I learned how to mix drugs when I was little. Heroin, cocaine…all of it. My dad taught me. That was about the only thing he taught me before he was killed.

…

Ronnie: Why don’t you smile for a change?
Caine: I ain’t got shit to smile about.
Ronnie: You’re alive, ain’t you?
Caine: Yeah, and who says that’s good?[/b]

This after racist cops beat him up…for being black.

[b]Ronnie: You ain’t doin’ jack shit here.
Caine: Ain’t nothin’ gonna change in Atlanta. I’m still gonna be black. Just another nigger from the ghetto.
Ronnie: Why do you say that shit?
Caine: 'Cause it’s true. You act like Atlanta ain’t in America.

…

Ilena: I’m pregnant.
Caine: Well, what the fuck you tellin’ me for?
Ilena: What? So you just gonna dog me?
Caine: It ain’t mine.
Ilena: Look, you the only one I was with!
Caine: Stop lying, alright? Besides, I had the jimmy on extra tight.

…

Caine [voiceover]: After stomping on Ilena’s cousin like that, I knew I was gonna have to deal with that fool someday. Damn! I never thought he’d come back like this, blasting. Like I said, it was funny like that in the hood sometimes. I mean you never knew what was gonna happen or when. I’ve done too much to turn back, and I’ve done too much to go on. I guess in the end it all catches up with you. My grandpa asked me one time if I care whether I live or die. Yeah, I do. Now it’s too late.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Upstairs, downstairs? Hmm. That’s something new.

At least this one only goes back to the early 1930s. The ones from the dark ages are really a bit much for me. And whenever you are dealing with the rich, the aristocracy and/or both you’re never all that far away from a punchline. These are folks who, when they eat dinner, have nine pieces of cutlery around their plates. I couldn’t believe it so I counted them. And of course the ladies know their place. Or they are busy showing a few of the men theirs. But a few of the folks are really not at all what they seem. Or are more than they seem.

But you’ll have to decide for yourself which conversations are more excruciating, the ones up there or the ones down here. Or the ones up here or the ones down there.

And here someone is murdered. So we get to follow the investigation from both points of view. And a very peculiar murder too. Someone poisons the victum. And then a second person comes along and, not knowing the victum is already dead, stabs him in the chest! Never seen that before. And how does that work legally? If you think you are murdering someone who has already been murdered…are you still a murderer?

Yes, of course: Maggie Smith is in it.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosford_Park
trailer: youtu.be/PwtZuGvawwY

GOSFORD PARK [2001]
Directed by Robert Altman

[b]Lavinia: Don’t try to steer the conversation. Let it come natural. It makes you sound desperate.
Anthony: Well, I am fucking desperate!

…

Mary: What was her family like?
Elsie: What you’d expect: toffee-nosed and useless. Her father was the Earl of Carton, which sounds good except he didn’t have a pot to piss in.

…

Constance: Tell me, how much longer are you going to go on making films?
Ivor: I suppose that rather depends on how much longer the public want to see me in them.

…

Mrs Wilson: Mr. Weissman is an American. They do things differently there.

…

Ivor: I should have made it clear that Morris just doesn’t shoot.
Sylvia: Don’t worry. William’s just making a fuss. He has this ridiculous idea that Americans all sleep with guns under their pillows.
Ivor: They do, but they’re more for killing each other than for killing birds.

…

Morris: How do you manage to put up with these people?
Ivor: Well, you forget, I make my living impersonating them.

…

Sylvia: Mrs Wilson, a major crisis has arisen. I’ve just found out that Mr Weissman won’t eat meat and I don’t know what to do and I can’t ask Mrs Croft. I simply don’t dare.
Mrs. Wilson: Oh, everything’s under control your ladyship. Mr Weissman’s valet informed us as soon as he arrived so we’ve prepared a special version of the soup, he can eat the fish and the hors d’oeuvres, there’ll be a welsh rarebit for the game course, I’m not sure what we’re going to do about the entree but we’ll think of something.
Sylvia: Thank you Mrs Wilson. Ten steps ahead as always.

…

Lavinia: I don’t care what’s changed or not changed as long as our sons are spared what you all went through.
Sylvia: Not all. You never fought, did you, William?
Sir William: I did my bit.
Louisa: Of course you did.
Sylvia: Well, you made a lot of money but it’s not quite the same as charging into the cannon’s mouth, is it?

…

Elsie: Why do we spend our time living through them? Look at poor old Lewis. If her own mother had a heart attack, she’d think it was less important than one of Lady Sylvia’s farts.

…

Sylvia: Tell us about the film you’re going to make.
Morris: Oh, sure. It’s called “Charlie Chan In London”. It’s a detective story. Most of it takes place at a shooting party in a country house. Sort of like this one, actually. Murder in the middle of the night, a lot of guests for the weekend, everyone’s a suspect. You know, that sort of thing.
Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?
Morris: Oh, I couldn’t tell you that. It would spoil it for you.
Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it.

…

Constance: The time to make up your mind about people is never.

…

Sir William: And why shouldn’t I be interested in films? You don’t know what I’m interested in.
Sylvia: Well, I know you’re interested in money and fiddling with your guns. But I admit it: when it comes to anything else, I’m stumped.

…

Robert [to Mary]: Can’t a man hate his own father?

…

Mary: Nobody can stab a corpse and not know it.
Robert: Really? When was the last time you stabbed a corpse?

…

Henry: Who is it?
Lottie: Oh, I’m ever so sorry, sir.
Henry: Sorry for what?
Lottie: I’m supposed to get the fire lit without waking you.
Henry: Why does everyone treat me as if I were one of these stupid snobs? I spent half the week downstairs with all of you.
Lottie: You can’t be on both teams at once, sir.

…

Henry: You Brits really don’t have a sense of humor do you?
Elsie: We do if something’s funny, sir.

…

Constance: Tell me, what happened to William’s little maid? I never saw her again after that dinner.
Mary: Elsie?
Constance: Hmm.
Mary: She’s gone.
Constance: Aw, it’s a pity, really. I thought it was a good idea to have someone in the house who is actually sorry he’s dead.

…

Mary: But even if Robert is your son, how did you know that he meant to harm his father?
Mrs. Wilson: What gift do you think a good servant has that separates them from the others? Its the gift of anticipation. And I’m a good servant; I’m better than good, I’m the best; I’m the perfect servant. I know when they’ll be hungry, and the food is ready. I know when they’ll be tired, and the bed is turned down. I know it before they know it themselves.

…

Mrs. Wilson: Didn’t you hear me? I’m the perfect servant; I have no life.

…

Constance: Could you imagine someone being hanged because of something I said.
Mary: I know. And what purpose could it possibly serve?[/b]

[iambiguous]

For some, all hitmen are scum. And, for others, it depends on who it is exactly that’s being “cleaned”. I suppose we should all strive to emulate the former but try as I might I can’t help but lean from time to time the other way. Indeed, for some bastards I’d even consider doing it myself. Not that I ever actually would, of course. I’m not the inmate type. But who wouldn’t want to put a bullet into Stansfield’s brain?

And this film is as much a how-to manual as anything else.

Mathilda and Leon. Their relationship is to say the least problematic. At least from Mathilda’s point of view. I can just imagine some of the reactions. But films like this are often exploitative. Here they portray Mathilda as mature way, way beyond her years [even with a stuffed rabbit] but they still want her to be viewed as “just a kid”. But then in the next scene she is prancing around the apartment dressed like Madonna singing “Like a Virgin”. She says things like, “You know, a girl’s first time is very important. It determines the rest of her life sexually.”

I mean, come on. She is 11 fucking years old!

On the other hand, Reno plays Leon about right here. At least the part about sex. The line is clearly drawn but, being as precocious as she is, he doesn’t treat her as just a child. On the other hand, he is teaching her how to be a hitman. Meanwhile, Natalie Portman’s family is more concerned with the scenes of her smoking cigarettes!

Is it all just a bit unbelievable? Oh yeah. But aren’t they all?

IMDb

[b]During the filming involving all of the police cars on the street, a man ran from a store he had just robbed. When he encountered the movie set by accident, he saw all of the “police” and gave himself up to a bunch of uniformed extras.

According to Jean Reno, he decided to play Léon as if he were a little mentally slow and emotionally repressed. He felt that this would make audiences relax and realize that he wasn’t someone who would take advantage of a vulnerable young girl. Reno claims that for Léon, the possibility of a physical relationship with Mathilda is not even conceivable, and as such, during the scenes when such a relationship is discussed, Reno very much allowed Mathilda to be emotionally in control of the scenes.

Liv Tyler was considered for the part of Mathilda but, at age 15, she was deemed too old. This is Natalie Portman’s motion picture debut. She was 11 when she was cast.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on: … ofessional
trailer: youtu.be/ns4vh_xAn98

LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL [1994]
Written and directed by Luc Besson

[b]Tonto: This is Tonto downstairs. There’s a guy who wants to talk to you.
Fatman: What’s he look like?
Tonto: Serious.

…

Mathilda [to the headmistress of her school who thinks she is speaking to Mathilda’s mother over the phone]: She’s dead.

…

Mathilda: Is life always this hard, or is it just when you’re a kid?
Léon: Always like this.

…

Mathilda: Leon, what exactly do you do for a living?
Léon: I’m a cleaner.
Mathilda: You mean you’re a hit man?
Léon [reluctantly]: Yeah.
Mathilda [matter of factly]: Cool.

…

Mathilda: Do you clean anyone?
Léon: No women, no kids, that’s the rules.
Mathilda: How much would it cost to hire someone to get those dirtbags who killed my brother?
Léon: Five grand a head.
Mathilda: Wow. How about this: I work for you; in exchange, you teach me how to clean. Hmm? What do you think?

…

Léon: And stop saying “okay” all the time. Okay?
Mathilda: Okay.
Léon: Good.

…

Tony: Check it. Make sure it’s the right thing.
Léon: I trust you.
Tony: One thing has nothin’ to do with the other - remember that Léon.
Léon: I will.

…

Léon [to Mathilda]: The rifle is the first weapon you learn how to use, because it lets you keep your distance from the client. The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn.

…

Mathilda: Léon, I think I’m kind of falling in love with you. It’s the first time for me, you know?
Leon: How do you know it’s love if you’ve never been in love before?
Mathilda: Cause I feel it.
Leon: Where?
Mathilda: In my stomach…It’s all warm. I always had a knot there…and now it’s gone.

…

Hotel receptionist: What exactly does your father do?
Mathilda: Well, he’s a composer.
Hotel receptionist: Ah! That’s wonderful!
Mathilda: Except he’s not really my father. He’s my lover.

…

Léon: I took a hit. I need a hand now. I know she’s young, but she learns fast. Kids need to be shaped into something right?
Tony: Yeah, I know. I taught you that. But ain’t there an age limit?
Leon: She’s eighteen.
Tony: Oh, really?

…

[Mathilda pours rubbing alcohol over the drug stash and sets it on fire]
Léon: What are you doing?
Mathilda: We said no women, no kids. Who do you think this is gonna kill, junkies and monkeys?

…

Léon [to Mathilda with bullets flying though the door]: When it’s tough like this, you know it’s gonna be ugly. Better make it quick, or else you will be here all day listening to his crap.

…

Leon [to Mathilda]: That’s the ring trick.

…

Léon: You need some time to grow up a little.
Mathilda: I finished growing up, Léon. I just get older.
Léon: For me it’s the opposite. I’m old enough. I need time to grow up.

…

Mathilda: Nobody sent me. I do business for myself.
Stansfield: Ahh…so this is something personal? What filthy peice of…shit…did I do now?
Mathilda: You killed my brother.
Stansfield: I’m sorry. And you want to join him?
Mathilda: No.
Stansfield: It’s always the same thing. It’s when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life. Do you like life, sweetheart?
Mathilda: Yes.
Stansfield: That’s good, because I take no pleasure in taking life if it’s from a person who doesn’t care about it.

…

Stansfield: Death is…whimsical today.

…

Stansfield: Tony, you’ve killed for us in the past, and we’ve always been satisfied, which is why it’s very hard for me to come down here today. One of my men was killed today in your territory, and the chinks tell me the killer was of the…Italian persuasion. Now, wait, there’s more. You’ll love this. Not two hours later, a little twelve-year-old girl comes to my building, armed to the teeth with the sole intention of sending me straight to the morgue. And guess who comes to get her? The very same Italian hit man.

…

Mathilda: I don’t give a shit about sleeping, Leon. I want love, or death. That’s it.

…

Mathilda: Sleep well?
Léon: I never really sleep well. Got one eye open, always.
Mathilda: Yeah, I forgot. But, you know, I never saw someone with one eye open snore so much.

…

Léon: Stansfield?
Stansfield: At your service.
Léon [handing him something]: This is from… Mathilda.
Stansfield [sees that it’s a pin for a grenade]: Shit.

…

Orphanage Headmistress: Now tell me what happened to you.
Mathilda: OK. My family they got shot down by D.E.A. officers because of a drug problem. I left with the greatest guy on earth. He was a hitman, the best in town, but he died this morning. And if you don’t help me, I’ll be dead by tonight.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Some folks get upset because Bush 41 didn’t go all the way. And some folks get upset because Bush 43 did. But what almost all of them share in common is an ignorance regarding what fuels American foreign policy to begin with. And it has little or nothing to do with “liberating” the citizens of either Kuwait or Iraq.

But not to worry. I won’t bother to explain it again.

The message here seems to this: Okay, it was all about oil. But once we challenged the people of Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein we had a moral obligation to join them…all the way to Baghdad.

If this is actually the way things unfolded over there back then [even before the part about the gold] it sure as shit wouldn’t surprise me.

But when these guys do go after the gold, that’s not all they find.

This film was banned in Iraq. No need for that in America though. If you get my drift.

And it surely exposes the ignorance of at least some of these soldiers who actually believed the whole point of the war was to “save the people of Kuwait”!

On a scale from 1 to 10 then how improbable is this? 11. A fairy tale with guns.

And what would you give up 23 millions dollars in gold for? Of course the gold goes back to Kuwait. That’s justice, right?

IMDb

[b]Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini, who plays an Iraqi defector who sells Maj. Gates cars stolen from Kuwait, was in real life tortured and kicked in the eye by Saddam Hussein’s security forces, blinding him in that eye. Like many advisors and extras in the film, he is an actual refugee from Iraq.

The role of Major Archie Gates was offered to Nick Nolte, who turned it down, saying he was too old. Jeff Bridges wanted to play Gates, but was turned down as a result of the poor box office run of The Big Lebowski.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kings_(1999_film
trailer: youtu.be/OyR5bk4_pHk

THREE KINGS [1999]
Written and directed by David O. Russell

[b]Troy: Are we shooting?
Soldier: What?
Troy: Are we shootin’ people or what?
Soldier: Are we shooting?
Troy: That’s what I’m asking you!
Soldier: What’s the answer?
Troy: I don’t know the answer! That’s what I’m trying to find out!

…

Conrad: Man…I didn’t join the army to pull paper out of people’s asses.

…

Troy: Conrad, you’ve washed your hands like ten times.
Conrad: Lord knows what kind of vermin live in the butt of a dune coon.
Chief: Why do you let this cracker hang around with you, man?
Troy: He’s all right, man. He’s from a group home in Dallas. He’s got no high school.
Conrad: Don’t tell people that.
Chief: I don’t care if he’s from Johannesburg. I don’t want to hear “dune coon” or “sand nigger” from him or anybody else.
Conrad: Captain uses those terms.
Troy: That’s not the point, Conrad. The point is that “towelhead” and “camel jockey” are perfectly good substitutes.
Chief: Exactly!

…

Adriana: Are you ready to work with me now?
Archie: Yeah, I’m ready to work with you.
Adriana: Good, 'cause I’ve got an amazing lead.
Archie: It was in the guy’s ass.
Camp soldier: That’s not the real story.
Adriana: What’s the real story?
Camp soldier: What was in the guy’s dick. They had to pull it out with a pair of tweezers.
Adriana: A ten-page atlas of Saddam’s bunkers?
Camp soldier: Yeah, only real small, like those books you get in a box of Cracker Jacks.

…

Archie [holding the ass map]: You know you’re on the path to truth when you smell shit, isn’t that what they say?

…

Archie: Sit down. What do you see here?
Chief: Bunkers, sir.
Archie: What’s in them?
Troy: Stuff they stole from Kuwait.
Archie: Bullshit. I’m talking about millions in Kuwaiti bullion.
Conrad: You mean them little cubes you put in hot water to make soup?

…

Archie: Any questions?
Conrad: Yeah, is it true to be special forces, you gotta cut off an enemy’s ear?
Archie [to Troy] Are you able to control him?
Troy : Yes, sir. He’ll be fine, I promise.

…

Archie: You know anything about gunshot wounds?
Conrad: I don’t know.
Archie: Specifically, the worst thing about a gunshot wound, provided you survive the bullet, is something called sepsis.
Chief: Infection of the blood…
Archie: That’s right. Say a bullet tears into your gut. It creates a cavity in the dead tissue. That cavity fills up with bile, and bacteria, and you’re fucked.

…

Troy: What the fuck was going on back there, Major? Civilians spitting on the soldiers, soldiers shooting civilians. They ignored us like we weren’t even there.
Archie: They surrendered to us. They’re after civilians now.
Conrad: Why’d they blow up that milk truck?
Chief: They’re trying to starve the people out.
Troy: Why?
Archie: Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They thought they’d have our support. They don’t. Now they’re getting slaughtered.

…

Troy: Hey, I don’t know if I can do this, okay? I got a family. If I’m gonna shit in a bag for the rest of my life 'cause I got shot after the war was over that’s be pretty stupid, wouldn’t it?
Archie: What’s the most important thing in life?
Troy: Respect.
Archie: That’s too dependent on other people.
Conrad: What, love?
Archie: A little Disneyland, isn’t it?
Chief: God’s will.
Archie: Close.
Troy: What is it then?
Archie: Necessity.
Troy: As in?
Archie: As in people do what is most necessary to them at any given moment. Right now, what is most necessary to Saddam’s troops is to put down the uprising.[/b]

Again: An uprising the powers that be in Washington fomented. And then abandoned. For “strategic” reasons as it were. After all, who knows, maybe Iraq might need to be invaded again.

[b]Troy [after finding the gold]: I’m gonna buy a set of Lexus convertibles in every color.
Chief: I told you, Lexus don’t make a convertible.
Troy: I’ll bet you a Lexus they do.
Chief: Alright, but it won’t be a convertible.

…

Archie: No unnecessary shots, Conrad, 'cause we know what they do.
Conrad: Make infected pockets full of bile, sir.
Archie: That’s right, Conrad, that’s what they do

…

Archie : Load the people into the Humvee!
Troy: There’s no room!
Archie: Make room!
Troy: Whatever happened to necessity?
Archie: It just changed!

…

Troy: Gotta go Goony Bird, I love you!

…

Amir Abdullah: You know what I think? You’re stealing gold, that’s what I think. We’re fighting Saddam and dying, and you’re stealing gold.
Archie: You’re wrong.
Amir Abdullah: They have half a million men in the desert and they send four guys to pick up all this bullion? I don’t think so.

…

Amir Abdullah: The big army of democracy beats the ugly dictator and save the rich Kuwaitis but you go to jail if we help us escape from the same dictator?

…

Iraqi soldier: You are here to save the Kuwaiti people?!
Troy: Yes.
Iraqi soldier: Really? Lot of people in trouble in this world…and you don’t fight no fucking war for them.
Troy: We needed to keep the region stable.
Iraqi soldier [forces Troys mouth open and pours oil into it]: This is your fucking stability, my main man.

…

Archie: You’re scared, right?
Conrad: Maybe.
Archie: The way it works is, you do the thing you’re scared shitless of, and you get the courage AFTER you do it, not before you do it.
Conrad: That’s a dumbass way to work. It should be the other way around.
Archie: I know. But that’s the way it works.[/b]

[iambiguous]

The more things change?

Here the simians rule over men. But the leaders are all light skinned…actual blondes! The soldiers and workers all dark skinned. And the leaders are all male.

I’ve never been a particular admirer of the man who plays him but George Taylor is cynical enough to put almost everything in perspective. But he is also a man hell bent on moving things forward…on getting things done with whatever happens to be available. He is resourceful but has no illusions about the “meaning of it all.”

One thing for sure: it’s another titantic battle between science and religion. And the role of both in “the state”. Those who run the show tolerate science as long as it doesn’t go poking around in things that might bring into question the, uh, natural order of things: them running the show. Science must always be in accord with the “Sacred Scrolls”.

But it’s never really clear [to me] how exactly the orangutans, chimps and apes did become the dominant species while the humans devolved into mere “beasts”. All in 2,000 years? And wouldn’t the Moon give it all away?

Oh, and wouldn’t Taylor be wondering why they all spoke English?

Okay, okay: for entertainment purposes only. But at least it does give folks something to think about.

IMDb

[b]During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn’t required, it just naturally happened.

In the novel, the ape society is technologically comparable to the 1950s or 1960s, with cities, automobiles, televisions, etc., technology left over from the planet’s human population. However, the budget could not accommodate the setting, so a more primitive depiction of ape society was used.

There was an attempt by censors to have the final scene edited for profanity but Charlton Heston was able to argue that his character was actually asking God to damn those responsible for the destruction of the world to hell, rather than simply using the Lord’s name in vain.[/b]

Yep, that is true.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_ … (1968_film
trailer: youtu.be/VjcpRHuPjOI

PLANET OF THE APES [1968]
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

[b]Dodge: The question is not so much where we are as when we are.

…

Taylor: I read the clocks. They bear out Hasslein’s hypothesis. We’ve been away from Earth for two thousand years, give or take a decade. Still can’t accept it, huh, Landon? Time has wiped out everyone and everything you cared for – they’re dust.

…

Landon: I’m prepared to die.
Taylor [chortling]: He’s prepared to die. Ha ha ha! Doesn’t that make you misty? Chalk up another vctory for the human spirit.

…

Taylor: Straighten me out on something. Why did you come along at all? You volunteered. Why? I’ll tell you. They nominated you for the Big One and you couldn’t turn it down. Not without losing your All-American standing.
Landon [angrily]: Climb off me, Taylor!
Taylor: And the glory, don’t forget that. There’s a life-sized bronze statue of you somewhere. It’s probably turned green by now, and nobody can read the name plate. But never let it be said we forget our heroes.
Landon: Taylor. I’m telling you –
Taylor: Oh, and one last item. Immortality. You wanted to go on forever. Well, you damn near made it. Except for Dodge and me, you’ve lived longer than anybody. And with Stewart dead, it looks like we’re the last of the strain. You got what you wanted, kid. How does it taste?
Landon: Okay. You read me well enough. Why can’t I read you?
Taylor: Don’t bother
Landon (looking off): Dodge…he’s not like me at all. But he makes sense. He’d walk naked into a live volcano if he thought he could learn something no other man knew. I understand why he’s here. But you…You’re no seeker. You’re negative.
Taylor: But I’m not prepared to die.
Landon (heatedly): I’d like to know why not. You thought life on Earth was meaningless. You despised people. So what did you do? You ran away.
Taylore [more reflective]: No, not quite, Landon. I’m a bit of a seeker myself. But my dreams are a lot emptier than yours. I just can’t get rid of the idea that somewhere in the Universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.

…

Taylor: To hell with the scarecrows.

…

Taylor: You’re our optimist, Landon. Look at the bright side. If that’s the best there is around here, in six months we’ll be running this planet.

…

Julius: You know the saying, “Human see, human do.”

…

Zira: But what about your theory? The existence of someone like Taylor might prove it.
Cornelius (shushing her): Zira, are you trying to get my head cut off?
Zira: Don’t be foolish. If it’s true, they’ll have to accept it.
Cornelius: Oh no they won’t.

…

Zira: Cornelius has developed a brilliant hypothesis…
Cornelius (quickly): It’s probably wrong
Zira: …that the ape evolved from a lower order of primate, possibly man. In his trip to the Forbidden Zone he discovered traces of a culture older than recorded time.
Cornelius: The evidence was very meager.
Zira: You didn’t think so then.
Cornelius: That was before Dr. Zaius and half the Academy said the idea was heresy.
Zira: How can the scientific truth be heresy?

…

Taylor: Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!

…

Taylor: It’s a mad house! A mad house!

…

Honorious [at the tribunal to decide Taylor’s fate]: Tell us, why are all apes created equal?
Taylor: Some apes, it seems, are more equal than others.

…

Taylor: There’s your Minister of Science; honor-bound to expand the frontiers of knowledge…
Dr. Zira: Taylor, please!
George Taylor: …except that he’s also chief Defender of the Faith!
Dr. Zaius: There is no contradiction between faith and science… true science!

…

Taylor: Doctor, I’d like to kiss you goodbye.
Dr. Zira: All right, but you’re so damned ugly.

…

Dr. Zaius: You are right, Taylor, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.

…

Dr. Zira: What will he find out there, doctor?
Dr. Zaius: His destiny.

…

Taylor [looking up at what’s left of the Statue of Liberty]: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell! [/b]

[iambiguous]

They all know that killing off their rivals is immoral. But so much more to the point: Could they get away with it? Because if they could there would be hundreds and hundreds of folks on Wall Street gone tomorrow.

Alas capitalism [the Commies insist] creates it’s own executioners. But since the workers of the world did not unite it’s up to each executive to come up with his own plan of survival. Graham has come up with a beaut. And, aside from Stella, no one is safe.

I suppose the folks on the bottom floors can take some comfort in knowing that folks on the top floors can get shafted too. And their fall is all the more precipitious.

Fortunately, I got along rather well with my own employers. So, to the best of my knowledge, they’re all still around.

Look for Samuel Jackson

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Shock_to_the_System
trailer youtu.be/wr7gG9YY-e4

A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM [1990]
Directed by Jan Egleson

[b]George [to Graham]: Oh, come on. The whole point of these takeovers is to sell off the assets, and put old farts like me out to pasture. I can hear the fat lady singing, Graham. I can hear her singing.

…

George: Space invaders, Graham. The new people - all gadgets and the bottom line. Stop them early, or they’ll run right over you! “We can be more efficient than such-and-such a program…” Blah blah blah, it’s all bullshit, Graham, soup to nuts. It’s code for mass firings and low quality. Just melt the market dry, and get out. I mean, if our system wasn’t any good, why did they take us over in the first place? Christ!

…

George: Pods pods pods…

…

Benham: Gentlemen, gentlemen…you don’t understand! We are the young, the proud! We shouldn’t be ashamed of success! We should say, “Yes, I have a boat. I have a country home. I have a girlfriend named ‘Tara’!” Say it with me, brothers.
Executive #3: I do have a Mercedes.
Executive #2: I have a condo with a pool.
Executive #1: I have a personal sports trainer.
Graham: I have a wife, a mortgage, and two dogs.

…

Graham: What the hell is going on out there, George. Did somebody die…or lose money?

…

Graham: What are you telling me, George?
George: You didn’t get it Graham. You’re not the one.
Graham [savagely]: You’re fucking kidding me!

…

Benham: This isn’t exactly comfortable for me, I know you wanted this job. I suppose if we were rival princes, I could just have you killed. It would save a lot of politics.
Graham: It’s not that easy to kill someone and get away with it.

…

Graham [to Leslie]: I’ve never understood why you need a stair machine when we have stairs!

…

Graham: I didn’t get the job, Leslie. The promotion… I didn’t get it.
Leslie: No, of course you got it, Graham. You always get it.
Graham: I’m sorry. I know what it meant to you.
Leslie: No, you don’t, Graham. I really don’t think you do know how much it meant to me!
Graham [voice-over]: That’s when he realized she was a witch.

…

Graham [mockingly, to himself, knowing what’s coming]: “Graham, I forgive you for failing.”
Leslie: Graham, I forgive you for failing.

…

Graham [on the phone to Lt. Laker]: Oh, my God, what a shock.

…

[repeated line]
Graham: Abra kadabra. Shalakazam. Bye-bye, baby. Boom.

…

Graham: I will try and put this as politely as possible, Henry… what the fuck are you doing in my office?
Henry: Bob says I’m supposed to help out with the reorganization report.
Graham: Uh huh. Let me rephrase the question: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?!!!
Henry: Bob just thought it was crazy not to have a computer in here.
Graham: It’s not the computer, it’s you and your goddamn desk!

…

Graham [shouting]: Why don’t you bring Henry Park in here, huh? Why don’t you bring Melanie in to make sure the phone gets answered? Hell, we could bring in the whole goddamn New York Knicks, just to make sure your trash hits the basket!! How’s that?
Benham: If I thought I needed an assistant to do my job…
Graham: Meaning what? That I don’t do my job? Then why don’t you have me removed, Bobby Boy?
Benham: Because you’re too senior in the company to be fired for anything less than gross insubordination.
Graham: So you’ve decided to have me removed piece by piece. A privilege here, a responsibility there - never enough to fight over, just a subtle drain of power, right?
[Menacing]
Graham: Well, let me tell you something, Bobster. You don’t know the first fucking thing about power. I have more power in this hand than all you fucking know!

…

George: Retirement? Christ. Without work I’ll be dead in a year.

…

Graham [to Stella]: My father had it all figured out. He was a London bus driver. And when I was a boy, he used to take me over the river to Mayfair, where the rich people lived. And he used to say to me, “Son - there is no heaven. Here is the closest you will ever get. Life, here, is sweet. Life, back over there, is hard. So live over here, son!”

…

Lt. Laker: Benham was your superior, wasn’t he?
Graham: No, he was my boss.

…

Graham [to Stella]: You betrayed the magic.

…

Graham [voiceover]: There was only one tiresome detail. Jones. He just wouldn’t let to of that corner office. Abra kadabra. Shalakazam. Bye-bye, baby. Boom.[/b]

[iambiguous]

No, the other Mona Lisa. The first one. The really and truly great one.

Michael Caine again. And this time in a particularly sinister role.

George drives her around to get fucked. And then in the end she fucks him. The other way. But along the way it is nothing short of surreal. A great unrequited love story.

Whenever we step down into the underbelly of the Big City we’re bound to step in some particular noxious piles of shit. Steaming piles of putrescent shite here. And then [sooner or later] those who dumped them. Like, for example, men who prey on young girls for sadistic sex. And those who procure them.

Anyway, George just got out of the joint and he’s looking for employment. So he goes back to Mortwell. The slimeball he did the 7 years in the joint for. And that’s how he meets Simone: boom!

For example: She gives him money to buy the “proper clothes” to drive her around. Then the next day she spots him in the clothes he bought! The shirt alone!! But in the end they are both basically employees of the slimeballs.

IMDb

[b]Neil Jordan used real prostitutes in the film.

Bob Hoskins was unaware that Michael Caine was in the film until he arrived on set for the first day of shooting. Caine himself had created the ruse while they worked together on Sweet Liberty. He told Hoskins that he had been offered the part but it was too small and he was tired playing villains, even though he had already agreed to take the role.

It was after seeing Bob Hoskins’ ruthless George in this movie that critic Pauline Kael described him as being “…like a testicle on legs”.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa_(film
trailer: youtu.be/F8CAdm_1gZA

MONA LISA [1986]
Written in part and directed by Neil Jordan

[b]George: You got a big white rabbit with long floppy ears?

…

George [pointing to himself and the rabbit]: He’ll have a lettuce and I’ll have a Bloody Mary.

…

Thomas [shows George a plate of plastic spaghetti]: What do you think?
George: Do you melt it down and eat it?
Thomas: No. They’re ornamental.
George: Ornamental spaghetti.
Thomas: Yeah. Could go a bomb.
George: Where’d you get them?
Thomas: Contacts, George. You can’t find plastic spaghetti just anywhere.
George: Nah, don’t suppose too many people make it do they?

…

Simone: So where did they get you from?
George: Under a cabbage leaf!

…

Simone: You’ll have to get yourself some clothes.
George: Why will l have to get meself some clothes?
Simone: If you’re to drive me. Here use this.
George: I’m not having you paying me.
Simone: Why not?
George: You don’t even like me!
Simone: I can claim it.

…

Simone [seeing him in the clothes he bought]: Christ.
George: What do ya think?
Simone: Jesus.
George: You don’t like them?
Simone: Do you?
George: Well I bought them didn’t I?
Simone: You’re as much cover as a pair of fishnet tights. I may as well be wearing a sign around my neck. All you’re missing is the gold medallions.
[George pulls out the gold medallions]
George: Don’t like them either?
Simone: Fucking hate them!
George: Right. See l’m cheap, I can’t help it, God made me that way.
Simone: Being cheap is one thing, looking cheap is another. That really takes talent.

…

George: Here tell me something. Do they ever want you back?
Simone: Who?
George: Your clients.
Simone: Always.
George: What they fall in love with you? Well do they?
Simone: Sometimes they fall for what they think I am
George: What do they think you are?
Simone: What did you think. Black whore.
George: Did l say that?
Simone: What do you think then?
George: Well you ain’t no night nurse.
Simone: No, I ain’t no night nurse.
George: Well, let’s say you’re a lady.

…

George: She’s a tall thin black tart. I could write a book about it.
Thomas: Too many t’s.

…

George: She’s a woman of substance. A lady.
Thomas: I thought you said she was a tart. A tall thin black tart.
George: Well, maybe, but she’s still a fucking lady.

…

George: I was a bad lot, I’ll tell you some day.
Daughter: Are you still a bad lot?
George: Its not up to me to say is it?

…

George: Jesus, why am I doing this?!
Simone: Cos I asked you. Because you like me, you fancy me but having me is nothing George, any prick can have me.
George: Shut up.
Simone: I’m screwed by old men so fat l have to lift myself onto them.
[George slaps her]
Simone: Don’t hit me George, nobody hits me, they can have me but they can’t hit me!

…

Simone: There are people out there who like this kind of thing and pay Mortwell to get it for them. If he has Cathy anyone can have her, for what ever they want.
George: I thought that was the idea.
Simone: I mean anyone. Any sadistic bastard who likes little girls, George.

…

Thomas: You used to be my hero George, what’s happening?
George: Your hero?
Thomas: Aye, well.
George: Can you get your hero a gun, Thomas?

…

Simone: Haven’t you someone to rush to?
George: You know I haven’t.
Simone: Everyone should have.
George: Well, you haven’t.
Simone: I’m different.
George: How? How are you different?
Simone: I’m the girl they rush home from.

…

George: You like ice cream?
Cathy: It’s the only thing I can eat.
George: What do you mean?
Cathy: Well you know.
George: No I don’t know.
Cathy: Well I can’t take food anymore, real food.
George; Well what can you take?
Cathy: You don’t know anything do you?
George: No, no I don’t know anything.
Cathy: I don’t mean to be rude, I like you. Do you like me?
George: I don’t know you do I?
[Simone pulls up in a car. Cathy looks at her through the restaurant window]
Cathy: She likes me. She really likes me.

…

George: We’re meant to have fun, like men and women do. They have fun, they walk arm in arm you know. Cos they love each other and they get married so they can love each other more and have a little baby, only a little one. And have fights with the fucking mother in law. You know the way it is, between men and fucking women eh? Come on say something, anything, say it!
Simone: I’m sorry, I can’t.

…

George: So are you going to tell me?
Simone: Tell you what?
George: As my friend Thomas would say, the whole story. You like her, don’t ya?
Simone: Of course I like her.
George: Yeah, but you like her in that special way. In the songs.
Simone: What songs?
George: Well, I’ve sold myself for a couple of dykes.
Simone: She needs me George.
George: And you needed me to get her.
Simone: Haven’t you ever needed someone?
George [in despair]: All the time.

…

George [to Simone after he grabs the gun from her]: Fucking Cow, You fucking cow. You would have done it wouldn’t ya? You would have fucking done it. I’m just another fucking punter to you!!
[George sobs uncontrollably]
George: You fucking cow. You fucking…

…

George [to Thomas]: She was trapped. From the first time he met her. She was trapped. Like a bird in a cage. But he couldn’t see it. He liked her, but he was the type who couldn’t see what was in front of his face. And there she was, in pain. You can get soppy about someone, well, you can’t see these things, and he was, soppy sod. She had faith in him. She believed in him. And he had a lot of hopes for her. And there was love. Yeah. She was in love alright. She really was. But not with him. And that’s the story.[/b]

[iambiguous]

How do folks get themselves into predicaments like this? Aside from being born. Is it just something about people? Or is it more about the sorts of people you tend to find in a world like theirs? Vera and Sonny having sex, for example. And then Vera and Hank almost having sex later on.

Different strokes is all I can think of. And being from different sides of the track. Or on different sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. 'Cause race is everywhere here. And things get complicated. And [eventually] for those on both sides of the monster’s ball.

Let’s be blunt: There are crippled souls here. And I know this, being one myself. But some do have the advantage of being drop dead gorgeous. None of them however are what you’d call conversationalists. Or [to me] even interesting. Just the sort of things you’d expect from folks living in a world like theirs. Like, say, I once did.

But some folks are able to grow. And in all kinds of ways. Them [perhaps] being most surprised by it.

But ask yourself this: Why did Tyrell have die? It’s like he was just a MacGuffin.

IMDb

The execution of character Lawrence Musgrove was filmed using the actual retired Louisiana electric chair in the very room where it was used.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster’s_Ball
Trailer: youtu.be/Y-94HNhLJBs

MONSTER’S BALL [2001]
Directed by Marc Forster

[b]Buck: What the hell those niggers doing out there?
[Hank doesn’t respond]
Buck: I said something to you. You hear me?
Hank [looking out the window into the yard]: Yeah.
Buck: Damn porch monkeys. Be moving in here soon. Sitting next to me. Watching my TV. There was a time when they knew their place. Wasn’t none of this mixing going on. Your mother, she hated them niggers, too.

…

Hank [to Sonny]: In England they go as far as to give the guy a party the night before. They call it the Monster’s Ball. He don’t want no lawyer, no preacher, none of that, it’s just you and me. You can’t think about what he did. It’s a job. We have to do it right.

…

Tyrell: I’m not gonna see you after this?
Lawrence: No.
Tyrell: Why?
Lawrence: 'Cause I’m a bad man.
Tyrell: Who says?
Lawrence: I do. But I want you to know something. You ain’t me. You’re everything that’s good about me. You’re the best of what I am, that’s what you are.

…

Lawrence [to Sonny]: I’ve always believed that a portrait captures a person far better than a photograph. It truly takes a human being to really see a human being.

…

Warden: Lawrence Musgrove, do you have anything you’d like to say?
Lawrence [after a pause he shakes his head]: Push the button.

…

Sonny: You hate me. You hate me, don’t you? Answer me! You hate me don’t you!
Hank: Yes, I hate you. Always have.
Sonny: Well I’ve always loved you.
[Sonny shoots himself dead]

…

Hank [at Sonny’s funeral]: Let’s get this over quick.
Minister: Is there a passage you’d like me to read?
Hank: No, all I wanna hear is dirt hit that box.

…

Hank [to Buck]: I quit the team.

…

Buck: That for Hank?
Leticia: Yeah. It’s a gift.
Buck: I’ll see he gets it. Damn. Hank must’ve done something right to deserve a fine hat like this.
Leticia: Guess he did.
Buck: In my prime…I had a thing for nigger juice myself. Hank’s just like his daddy. Ain’t a man till he split dark oak.

…

Hank: You’ll take care of him, won’t you?
Ms. Guillermo [from the nursing home]: Oh, yes.
Hank: 'Cause…I want him to go out in peace.
Ms. Guillermo: You must love him very much.
Hank: No, I don’t. But he’s my father. So, there it is.

…

Buck: So this is it.
Hank: I guess so.
Buck: I’m stuck.
Hank: Me too.
Buck: I don’t want to go out like this.
Hank: Me neither. Goodbye, Pop.

…

Hank: I wanna take care of you.
Leticia: Good. Cuz’ I need to be taken care of.[/b]

Then she finds the drawings. By then though what are her options?

Hank [to Leticia]: I went by our station on the way home. I like the sign. I think we’re going to be all right.

[iambiguous]

Based on a true story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Street_robbery

I’ve always been a sucker for a good [meaning clever] bank heist flick. Not much philosophy maybe, but at least it all unfolds “down here”. And it’s that part of the bank you don’t often think about much.

Oh, and it revolves around those naughty, naughty royals again. And everyone seems to have an ulterior motive. And because it all unfolds in London look for lots and lots of droll humor. The actual funny kind. No one does this better than the Brits.

And here the crooks [as usual] are on both sides of the law. Politicians, cops, national security blokes, community leaders…all sorts of respectable people. Corruption is everywhere. [b][u]Every[/b][/u]where. But that was back then, right? Surely it’s nothing like that today.

Sex and money. Or money and sex. Take your pick. But nothing is really what it seems to be here. Except the parts that are. Was all of this really about keeping the Royal family free from scandal: dailymail.co.uk/news/article … garet.html

Look at all the folks that got ripped off [not to mention all those who died] for these “royal” assholes.

Look for Mick Jagger.

IMDb

[b]Roger Donaldson said one of the most difficult days of filming was when he filmed the brothel scene. The scene called for the women to be walking around wearing only garters. However, Donaldson said that when he went to film the scene he discovered that most of the women shaved their genitals, which would have been anachronistic for 1971. So the actresses had to wear pubic wigs called “merkins.” This caused a problem because the merkins were hard to secure in place and kept slipping, causing Donaldson much aggravation.

In its edition of February 16, 2008 The Daily Mail newspaper reported “The four men caught, charged and convicted of the raid went to jail without ever having their names mentioned in the press, and to this day their identities and the circumstances of their capture remain secret. Even the lengths of their sentences are still shrouded in mystery.”[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_Job
trailer: youtu.be/twnd6onh5ec

THE BANK JOB [2008]
Directed by Roger Donaldson

[b]Tim [looking at Gale’s bracelet]: What’s this? “Peace and Love”? Too much of that nonsense and we’re both out of our job.

…

MI5 Chief [handing a photograph to Tim]: Michael Abdul Malik. Calls himself Michael X, in homage to Malcolm X, his American counterpart. The Pinko press would have us believe this Michael X is a crusading champion of the poor and oppressed. The black Robin Hood of Notting Hill. The richer, whiter and more famous, they will all fall over him. The truth is, he’s a slum landlord, a drug dealer and a vicious pimp who should have been in prison years ago.

…

Michael X: You know, I always wanted to meet a white man by the name of Brown. You know what this is?
[Michael X puts a collar around Brown’s neck]
Michael X: It’s a slave collar, and the white man made my mothers and fathers wear this to bend them to his will. Can I bend you to my will, Mr. Brown?

…

Martine: Next month, they’re installing new alarms in a bank at Marylebone. Seems like the trains have been setting off the trembler alarms in the vault and they’ve had to turn them off. So for a week or so, they won’t have any.
Terry: Now why would he tell you all this?
Martine: We were having a laugh about it. “Imagine if half the villains in in London knew about this”, he said. And I thought, I know half the villains in London.

…

Kevin: We’re not bank robbers.
Terry: Maybe that’s why we could get away with it.
Dave: It’s a bit daunting, isn’t it?
Terry: You know what scares me more? Living and dying with nothing to show for it. You know how old Mozart was when he composed his first minuet?
Dave: No.
Terry: Five. Five! A fucking minuet!
Kevin: And how would you know that fact, Terry?
Terry: Because it’s tattooed on that stripper’s arse, Kevin. What the fuck’s it matter how I know? It’s a fact and you’re missing the point, Kev. What I’m trying to say is, we stop fucking about and stop picking the shit from under our fingernails.

…

Kevin: So what are these films you’re in?
Dave: Ah, forget about it.
Kevin: Go on.
Dave: Technically, it’s what you call pornography.

…

Wendy: How afraid do I have to be, Terry?

…

Dave: I’ve got a question. What do we do with all the dirt we gonna dig out of the hole?
Kevin: It’s all been worked out, Dave. We’ll dig another hole in that corner over there and put it in that.

…

Eddie [over radio]: All clear on the western front, Guy.
Dave [grabbing the radio from Guy]: No names, Eddie.
Eddie [over radio]: Sorry, Dave.

…

Terry: Hey, Bambas! What’s all this brickwork?

…

Dave: What’s down there?
Terry: It’s a pile of skeletons.
Dave: You’re joking. Let’s hope they’re not the last gang who tried to take this bank.

…

Eddie [on radio]: When are you guys gonna hit the vault? I’m freezing my tits off up here. Over.
Guy: In the Army, soldiers would pull on their puds to keep the blood flowing.
Eddie: What regiment were you in? The Royal Corps of Wankers?

…

Terry [looking ast photographs from box 118]: Holy shit. You know who that is? It’s Princess Margaret!

…

Terry: These MI5 people aren’t regular cozzers, Martine. They’re above that. They do things coppers can’t. They think we’ve seen these photos, and we’re expendable as dog shit.

…

Bank official: If you would like to give us an itemized list of the content of your boxes, we may be able to ascertain…
Woman: Are you mad?
Bank official: …what’s missing.
Woman: The whole point in having a safe deposit box is so that people like you don’t know what’s in it!

…

Miles Urquart: Might it not be prudent to get the committee to consider issuing a D-notice, to protect everyone potentially embarrassed by this criminal activity?
Philip Lisle: Which we instigated.

…

Vogel: I want to tell you something, Mr. Shilling, because it will save time. You see, I have a very jaundiced view of life. From what I see, most of it is corrupt, venal and vile. And I am just saying this so that you know that I don’t have a better nature to appeal to, or a compassionate streak. I mean, you do understand, don’t you?
Dave: I think so, Mr. Vogel.

…

Catherine: Mummy! Daddy’s on the radio!

…

Vogel: Don’t take me for a fool, Michael. You instigated this calamity by storing your blackmail materials in this bank.
Michael X: Which you recommended! I will not be lectured by the porn king of Soho. Get my pictures back, or you will never see a black man on the streets of London without wondering if he’s been sent to kill you!

…

Sonia: You don’t understand. My box, and those of my friends, may have been rifled. Surely you can pull some strings. You’re a minister of the government for god’s sake!
Lord Drysdale: Sonia, I really don’t think I’m able to help here.
Sonia: Perhaps you don’t fully comprehend. I have photographs, compromising photographs, live film of you, Miles Urquart, all my regulars - in this safe deposit box. You all know each other if that’s any consolation.
Lord Drysdale: You’ve got photographs of me? You conniving cunt!

…

Terry [to Martine, who’s looking through newspapers]: What, we don’t make a mention? Strike you as strange?
Martine: It’s kind of scary, actually. If that news could disappear, so could we.

…

Philip Lisle: Your documentations and guarantees. If I were you, I’d keep them in a very safe place.
Terry: Yeah, well it very well won’t be a safe deposit box.

…

Kevin [after Givens releases them]: How did that happen?!
Terry: Fucked if I know, just keep walking.

…

Tim [after finding Gale beaten to death]: Burn the house down. I want nothing of this place left standing.[/b]

[iambiguous]

The hallucinatory, brain tumor “science fiction” parts aside [and the ridiculous ending], I think that, little by little, bit by bit reality television is getting closer and closer to this. Or surely heading in this direction. Just imagine watching this film when it first came out. Thirty years ago. You’d think: No way in hell could we ever have anything remotely like this on TV.

But given what’s already on the boob tube now, how about imagining it 30 years from now? Maybe the only thing to stop it is, uh, fascism? The religious nuts back a right wing political jaugernaut and “family values” are restored. Fully restored. Or are you one of those folks who believe that can never happen either? But the conspiracy here does revolve around the government. In Canada, thank God.

The one hesitation I have is that, lets face it, there is just too much money being made today [on the tube] from sex and violence. So maybe that will save us.

Personally, I have never been able to figure folks who become sexually aroused either through inflicting pain on others or having others inflict it on them. Or even inflicting it on themselves. It’s all rather repulsive to me. And that has never changed over the years. And it’s remarkable because I have lived a life that is bursting at the seams with change regarding most everywhere else.

But, as Masha points out: what makes Videodrome particularly dangerous is that it views this sort of thing philosophically. It’s way beyond the orgasm.

IMDb

[b]Andy Warhol called the movie “A Clockwork Orange of the 1980s”.

The character of Brian O’Blivion is based on Marshall McLuhan. David Cronenberg was a student of McLuhan’s during college.[/b]

trailer: youtu.be/M6AXQeCE9Rw
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome

VIDEODROME [1983]
Written and directed by David Cronenberg

[b]Man’s voice on television: Civic TV. The one you take to bed with you.

…

Assistant: I don’t like it. It’s not tacky enough.
Max: Tacky enough for what?
Assistant: Tacky enough to turn me on. Too much class. Bad for sex.

…

Rena King: Max Renn, your television station offers its viewers everything from soft-core pornography to hard-core violence. Why?
Max: It’s a matter of economics. We’re, uh, small. We have to give people something they can’t get anywhere else. And we do that.
Rena: But don’t you feel such shows contribute to a social climate of violence and sexual malaise? And do you care?
Max: Certainly I care. I care enough to give my viewers a harmless outlet for their fantasies and their frustrations. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a socially positive act.
Rena King: What about it, Nicki? Is it socially positive?
Nicki: Well, I think we live in overstimulated times. We crave stimulation for its own sake. We gorge ourselves on it. We always want more, whether it’s tactile, emotional or sexual. And I think that’s bad.
Max: Then why did you wear that dress?
Nicki: Sorry?
Max: That dress. It’s very stimulating.
[looks at Rena]
Max: And it’s red. You know what Freud would’ve said about that dress.
Nicki: And he would’ve been right. I admit it. I live in a highly excited state of overstimulation.

…

Nicki: Got any porno?
Max: You serious?
Nicki: Yeah. It gets me in the mood.
[looks through casettes]
Nicki: What’s this? “Videodrome”?
Max: Torture. Murder.
Nicki: Sounds great.
Max: Ain’t exactly sex.
Nicki: Says who?

…

Max: Do you know a show called ‘Videodrome’?
Masha: Video what?
Max: Videodrome. Like video circus, video arena. Do you know it?
Masha: No.
Max: It’s just torture and murder. No plot, no characters. Very, very realistic. I think it’s what’s next.
Masha: Then God help us.
Max: Better on TV than on the streets.

…

Max [to Nikki]: I want you to stay away from it! Those mondo weirdo video guys, they’ve got unsavory connections, they play rough. Rougher than even Nicki Brand wants to play. You know, in Brazil, Central America, those kinds of places, making underground videos is considered a subversive act. They execute people for it. In Pittsburgh, who knows?

…

Masha: Videodrome. What you see on that show, it’s for real. It’s not acting. It’s snuff TV.
Max: I don’t believe it.
Masha: So, don’t believe.
Max: Why do it for real? It’s easier and safer to fake it.
Masha: Because it has something that you don’t have, Max. It has a philosophy. And that is what makes it dangerous.

…

Brian O’Blivion [on a video]: The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television. Max…I’m so glad you came to me. I’ve been through it all myself, you see. Your reality is already HALF video hallucination. If you’re not careful, it will become TOTAL hallucination. You’ll have to learn to live in a very strange new world.

…

Brian O’blivion: I had a brain tumour, Max. And I had visions. I believed the visions caused the tumour, and not the reverse. I could feel the visions coalesce and become flesh, uncontrollable flesh. But when they removed the tumour, it was called Videodrome.

…

Max: Have you been hallucinating lately?
Harlan: No. Should I be?
Max: Yes, you should be.

…

Brian O’Blivion [on tape]: I think that massive doses of Videodrome signal will ultimately create a new outgrowth of the human brain, which will produce and control hallucination to the point that it will change human reality. After all, there is nothing real outside our perception of reality, is there? You can see that, can’t you?[/b]

He will soon.

[b]Barry Convex [on tape to Max]: Hi. I’m Barry Convex, chief of special programmes. I’d like to invite you into the world of Spectacular Optical, an enthusiastic corporate citizen. We make inexpensive glasses for the Third World and missile guidance systems for NATO.

…

Barry Convex: I’m trying to help you, Max.
Max: What makes you think I need help?
Barry Convex: None of our test subjects has returned to…normality. They all need intensive psychiatric care. You seem to be functioning reasonably well, so far. I’d like to find out why.

…

Barry Convex: You’ll forgive me if I don’t stay around to watch, Max. I just can’t cope with the freaky stuff.

…

Harlan: North America’s getting soft, patron, and the rest of the world is getting tough. Very, very tough. We’re entering savage new times, and we’re giong to have to be pure and direct and strong, if we’re going to survive them. Now, you and this cesspool you call a television station and your people who wallow around in it, your viewers who watch you do it, they’re rotting us away from the inside. We intend to stop that rot.

…

Max [to Harlan…or what’s left of him]: See you in Pittsburgh.

…

Max Renn: Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh![/b]

As I noted above, this is a film badly in need of a better ending. Unless the whole thing is itself a hallucination.