Cinema Centers and Multiplexes sometimes pose as a church for everyone in today's post-secular society, or post-modern wilderness depending mostly on your own personal perspective. At their best, films can project a light into the darkness of mankind's ever increasing dilemma of institutionalized inequity focusing in on the current disparity between our empowered and wealthiest 1% Over-Lords facing down "the very least of these among us" -- pretty much the rest of us 99%-ers.
Imagine scoping out your local Multiplex today and standing in the lobby trying to make up your mind as to which flick will earn your ticket purchase simply by scanning the posters. Below the fold you'll see a theme emerge that seems to comment on the news out of the Occupy Oakland eruption in the spot light again this past week-end. Films that do NOT paint a very pretty picture of America's brutal militarized police or of the vampire capitalists who run them and Wall Street (one even hoping for the establishment GOP nod for President).
So, take a gander over the flip and someone grab some hot buttered pop corn (with eternal day-glo flavor and extra life-like staying power.
Underworld Awakening
Resident Evil: Retribution
In Darkness
There are other violent and disturbing movies vying for your ticket at the Multiplex this week-end that I might have listed whose titles suggest the ongoing police brutality and increasing resistance -- none of which I would especially care to recommend that anyone actually see: "Catch 44", "Haywire", "Man On A Ledge", "One For The Money", "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", "The Darkest Hour", "Shame", "Declaration of War" and "We Bought A Zoo" to name a few. Although I haven't seen ANY of them their titles do stand out to me nowadays. About my only recommend would be, of course, "In Darkness" which reminds us that there's been a long established tradition of selling people out for money, as often as not pennies rather than six pieces of silver that might make a man wealthy.
While I typically provide a personal review of films in this column, this week the movie I've been watching has been on SimStream. The cast is excellent complete with villains so detestable Hollywood (which typically gets reality backwards) actually has a hard time portraying them in any kind of clarity, but thank God for all the independent film makers out there doing their dailies and documenting the continued conflicts today on cell phones and iPods, though it is still rather hard to know exactly what's next even from all the trailers.
Photos for todays post can be found here andhere.
Sometimes the brightest light comes from the darkest places.
Thanks for watching.
"Peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice demanded for the sake of peace." -- St Augustine.
End Credits / Closing Remarks:
Given that the greater part of our site's purpose here on the Street of Prophets is to provide a place where people who might describe themselves as faithful progressives can come together to explore not only faith but the larger questions that revolve around it and our hopes of impacting the world in a positive, progressive way, I am providing these sometime weekly film reviews (whenever). I thought that submitting reviews of controversial or off-the-beaten-track films that often nudge this kind of thought and discussion might be a plus. I'll be offering this each week on Fridays (as the Spirit moves me) and would happily entertain recommendations for future reviews. Feel free to post comments about the films reviewed here today as well as your own recommendations of films you feel may fall along these lines.
My religion is to seek for truth in life and for life in truth, even knowing that I shall not find them while I live. Miguel de Unamuno