GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 1720
Location: Houston
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 Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:29 pm Post subject: Where is Today’s Midnight Express or The Killing Fields... |
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Where is Today’s Midnight Express or The Killing Fields Hollywood?
Recently while speaking to my father, I commented how few great films have been made in the last 10 years. “The 70’s and 80’s seemed to produce an abundance of films of the greatest order, such as Blade Runner, Breaking Away, Star Wars, and Alien” I continued.
“Star Wars? My father replied while laughing. He went on to explain how my taste has changed over time, while age and sensibilities are the primary factor for the outlook, not the quality of films Hollywood is making. He never could get past the costumes in the bar scene, but he did have a point. Our tastes do change over time, but a good movie is a good movie regardless of the viewer’s age. Thinking off the cuff has never been my strongest suit and given time to reflect, Excalibur, Raging Bull, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, The Right Stuff, The God Father I & II, The Last Emperor, The Killing Fields and Midnight Express would be added to the list.
Since the mid eighties only three movies really rise to this level of filmmaking. Forest Gump, A Beautiful Mind and Gladiator. Of those three none tackle difficult subjects, such as Midnight Express or The Killing Fields. Today we are treated to poor pretenders such as, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, Lambs for Lions and Redacted. Produced at a quality unbearable to watch, these films also handle subject safe and easy to address. They attack our country and soldiers who defend their ability to make the films, without fear of retribution. Ideologically produced garbage fit for the True Believers, yet hardly worthy of a screening at any theater.
In The Killing Fields, we are told the CIA bombing led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, yet this was parroting the propaganda used by Pol Pot to gain power. A small and bearable leftist bent in an otherwise masterfully created film. In truth Pol Pot was schooled in France and came from a life of privilege. French intellectuals infused a brand of ideological communism in him which caused one of the great human catastrophes of the 20th century. A leader convinced a large enough number of people that technology and capitalism was the problem and an agrarian communal system was the cure. This resulted in the Killing Fields and later a movie which exposed the horror for future generations to see. The movie is even more important today as we see a new fanatical religious movement called Global Warming/Climate Change, grow world-wide.
In Midnight Express, a young and naïve man named Billy Hayes decides to make a quick buck by smuggling hash onboard a flight from Turkey to the States. The filmmakers small and again bearable bent was to have us empathize with and feel sympathetic towards a drug smuggler, which we definitely feel for Mr. Hayes by the end of the film. It has been said that the way in which prison guards treat the inmates is a good barometer for the health of a society. Using Turkey, Midnight Express shows how barbaric prison guards can become and gives good warning for our own failings. If we are to remain a just and civil society, it should always be reflected within our own prison system, yet we hear time and again stories of guards fit for the cage, not watching over it.
Both Midnight Express and The Killing Fields had a small and tolerable ideological bent, yet these brilliantly crafted films had a message of truth which trumped and we're fortunate to have been treated to such filmmaking.
Where is Hollywood today, harnessing their great filmmaking abilities and producing a film showcasing the horrors of the Janjaweed or Al Qaeda, a subject made for storytelling and very capable of inclusion of a small and tolerable bent. Instead we are treated to a full out assault upon our Nations identity. Has everyone in Hollywood become so ideologically driven they are no longer able to produce films of greatness while dealing with a difficult subject? It has been quite some time, yet I for one am ready for another Midnight Express or The Killing Fields, rather than In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, Lambs for Lions and Redacted.
edit: I have a bad habit of posting then editing. I think its ready to read now 
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy
Last edited by GenrXr on Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:32 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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