Railing against unjust authority is a value steeply rooted in our traditions. From the hated British during our Revolution to that douchebag bossman who yelled at you for clocking out five minutes early, people will always cast a leery eye towards "the man" in charge. This year has certainly seen a prevalence of figures in power rip off the American public for billions, and the unpopularity of "the man" is reaching epic proportions. The movie Valkyrie capitalizes on that animosity by bringing us a great WWII thriller about the assassination of the worst "the man" of all, Adolf Hitler.
It is heavily sentimental in the fact that Tom Cruise's character is compelled by duty and honor of a soldier to end Hitler's tyrannical regime by assassination. There are highlights of many embittered members of the German officer corps towards the end of the war, which is a different tone than the assumption that anyone affiliated with the Nazis was evil (Schindler's List had a similar theme). Since the movie is based on a true story, the attempted coup was unsuccessful. But, it emphasizes, as Eric notes, the right to overthrow the government if it is unjust, which is certainly applicable today.
27 December 2008
Tom Cruise Takes on The Man For the Holidays
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8 comments:
I consider it the duty of man to overthrow a tyrannical government. That's why the right to bear arms is so important.
The right to overthrow a government is never justified. One can never resist or overthrow an unjust government just ask Sean Hannity. He'll reference a certain man by the name of Billy Ayers.
Every Government makes resisting the Government the worst crime in their statutes. Hence treason is punishable by death and is expressly detailed in the founding document of the US.
It's only when people find themselves under the authority of a leader they personally despise that they agree with the theory of the right to overthrow a government.
And when the political winds change they vehemently reject the theory and support the State in destroying their political enemies.
Bush to Obama will clearly highlight this dichotomy as the Bush haters will now find every reason to support American Military Might and government control of the American people while the Bush people will now shout and rant and rave about the evils of government...
Shea,
It was a good flick, worth the drive. Also, Milk was decent, but haven't heard from anyone who saw Benjamin Buttons, but I'm always a fan of Brad Pitt. Lots of good movies this holiday season, I suppose it makes up for a lousy summer.
Adam,
Good call, that's why I own an AR-15.
Gene,
Well, it depends on the tyranny level of the government. Was Hitler so bad that he deserved to be overthrown, I believe so, but was Bush so bad or LBJ/Nixon for that matter, I don't think a violent coup, that Ayers called for, should have been in the cards. Besides, the Weather Underground wanted to replace our current government with a Maoist-style regime, not something worth fighting for, IMO. I've never advocated the overthrow of the Obama administration, and I certainly hope I don't need to.
I went to see "Marley and Me" thinking it to be a fun, silly movie. For the most part it was a fun movie. Then the dog dies and I cried like a girl.
Maybe because I know the story already I doubt I'll spend my money on the Tom Cruise movie. Nothing against the plot, more that since Risky Business and Top Gun, Tom Cruise went native on us.
I watched Buttons with the fam over the holidays. I liked it alot, but it isn't an action film. Kind of like Forest Gump.
The dog dies?? Hmmmph, thanks for ruining the ending!
I'll just go back to watching Mamma Mia...again...
BagBlog, were you attempting to be an a** or was it an accident? I wasn't necessarily planning on seeing the movie, but geez dude - what a spoiler!
You guys have to know by now just about every dog movie ever they kill the dog at the end. I hadn't even seen the movie and knew that. The local movie critic gave that away here 2 weeks ago.
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