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Note: This account is no longer active.
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About WideAngle
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Member:
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Brad Gutting
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Epinions.com ID:
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WideAngle
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Location:
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Atlanta, GA
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Member Since:
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Sep 08 '99
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Favorite Websites:
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Chicago Reader
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Archinect
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Salon.com
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 11
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Member Visits: 1,111
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Total Visits: 6,991
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WideAngle's Most Popular Reviews
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#939 in News & Magazines: What a joke...
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WideAngle's Author Popularity
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#861 in News & Magazines
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About WideAngle
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Graduate student in design currently.
I wanted to take this time to comment on ABC's recent airing of Saving Private Ryan, something that I'd typically ignore were it not for the context in which it takes place. While we still have a significant number of people declaring the film to be "important," which is bad enough, I more than anything wanted to comment on the dreadful irony of the whole spectacle. Wasn't it Spielberg, or Ambrose maybe, who remarked that after its release that it was the "war movie to end all wars," or something like that? Given that we're in the middle of a war right now, in which we're bombing the hell out of an evil regime and supporting a highly suspicious opposition group in a bloody ground conflict, I'd say both men were dead wrong--and very arrogant to make such stupid comments in the first place. First, it demonstrates Ambrose's inability to understand the breadth of human history by assuming that a silly movie would stop a thousands-of-years-old tendency. But most importantly it also reveals the TRUE nature of this film--a major American network airs it during a period that's really a confusing and upsetting time in our history, with the intention to, in my mind, essentially rally support for our continued military efforts. Something about that royally stinks. Of course anyone who couldn't see the flagrant pro-war sentiments in this film to begin with should be able to figure it out for what it is now. At least I hope so.
Of course, I'm not saying that I necessarily criticize our action in Afghanistan; in fact, I support it for the most part, but I do so in a measured fashion that keeps in mind the "big picture," so to speak. We're doing what we have to do, just as we did what we had to do fifty years ago--but that's no reason to revel in war, or find any sort of glory or value in it. Its a part of history, a part of human nature, but far more admirable I believe to make an effort to look for other ways to resolve completely natural conflicts than by fighting wars. We're not there. We're not going to be there for a long time--BUT, and I live by this: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO INEVITABILITY AS LONG AS THERE IS A WILLINGNESS TO CONTEMPLATE WHAT IS HAPPENING.
Terrence Malick contemplated war and most everyone ignored him; Spielberg made it into entertainment and gave it a message that turned out to be hogwash. Shame on him, Shame on Ambrose, and Shame on ABC for using this film--or any other for that matter--during this time, as a subliminal tool to build patriotism and either directly or indirectly rally enthusiasm for an unfortunate situation that we've ended up in.
Favorite films:
The Thin Red Line
When Trumpets Fade
Dr. Strangelove
The Killing
Fight Club
Straight Story
Report
Breakaway
Un Chien Andalou
La Jetee
Heat
Barry Lyndon
The Insider
Sneakers
Ground Hog Day
Defending Your Life
Books worth looking at:
A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History, by Manuel DeLanda
Incorporations, editors Jonathan Crary & Sanford Kwinter
Discipline & Punish, by Michel Foucault
Philosophical Investigations, by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Fear & Trembling, by Soren Kierkegaard
Wonder Boys, by Michael Chabon
Brainstorm, by Richard Dooling
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