Movie Reviews #60…
[Wow! Installment #60 of this regular feature. That means I’ve reviewed 60+ movies (I sometimes review two). I guess Hollywood has made some money off me. I try to give you an alternative to the blathering reviews you find elsewhere—almost anywhere, in fact. Like in my book reviews, I tend to speak my mind, but no really rotten tomatoes thrown either. I don’t give a star-ranking. You’re smart enough to figure that out if you need one. I hope my reviews help you decide what movies are worth your time…and money!]
Beirut. Brad Anderson, dir. So the cops for “political correctness” wanted to boycott this movie because it makes Jews and/or Muslims look bad? FYI: it also makes Americans look bad too. (Among those cops you’ll find ye olde Huffington Post, for example.) I object to all that call for political correctness in this case. First, this movie’s period setting is the chaotic decade when Lebanon in particular and the Middle East in general were bloody battlegrounds with people living in squalid conditions and fearing for their lives among war’s rubble—most of that hasn’t changed much. It’s appropriate that no one comes out of this movie looking squeaky clean!
Second, I’m probably just as progressive, if not more so, as any of the cops pushing political correctness, but I’ll not buy into the ubiquitous blathering of the far left that sweeps so much dirt under the rug. There are good and people there (and everywhere), and good and bad groups too. Why hide either the bad or the good (yeah, I know, the media thrives on telling us about the bad–they say no one is interested in the good). I’ve lived abroad and seen a lot of the good and the bad. Faux liberals in the U.S. smugly sit on their back patios drinking their cocktails and preaching political correctness, but too many of them don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world and can’t imagine the horrors. Contrary to the media, they also want to emphasize only the good (mind you, there’s plenty of that). It often appears that they worry more about pushing their definition of political correctness over solving humanity’s problems. It’s almost as if political correctness has become their overarching mantra, and damn historical correctness if it doesn’t fit their definition!
OK, now that’s off my chest, what about the movie? (A few spoiler alerts might be in order for the following.) This movie starts with the almost obscene contrast between a lavish American diplomatic fiesta in a palatial house amidst a Beirut and Lebanon torn by civil war. The house belongs to Mason, a weak something-or-other diplomat who works closely with the CIA, played by Jon Hamm in an admirable performance. He has his party interrupted by terrorists. Just before that, we learn that the thirteen-year-old Arab boy his wife and he want to adopt (admirable on their part–some of the good?) has an older brother who’s a terrorist. During the terrorist attack, Mason’s wife is killed and the nice Arab boy is kidnapped by the older brother.
Fast forward ten years to when Mason is called back to Lebanon. A major CIA operative, Mason’s good friend, has been abducted, and the terrorists have asked Mason to broker an exchange. The terrorists can sell Mason’s friend to anyone for all the many secrets he has in his head, exposing multiple CIA agents working in the Middle East in various questionable agendas (hmm, isn’t that what Scooter Libby did?), but they want to exchange the abductee for that brother who is missing. The CIA and Mason think the equally nefarious Israelis have the brother, but the Israelis don’t have him but would like to kill him. PLO terrorists and various of their and Lebanese factions, the CIA, and Mossad are not among the good guys—in fact, there are no good guys! Mason comes across as a flawed main character; a female CIA agent, played ably by Rosamund Pike, comes across as a flawed secondary character. Their characters are about as good as they come in this movie. The Arab kid the Masons wanted to adopt becomes a tragic figure as everyone gets caught up in this mess created by competing agendas, power struggles, and a Middle East run amok.
This is an old-style spy thriller, a la John le Carre. The sepia tints at the movie’s beginning signify the sadness of it all more than backstory. We must show and understand this horrible past in the Middle East if we are going to perform the true politically correct miracle of achieving a true peace in the region. Faux-liberals who don’t like us to do that aren’t true progressives; they’re idiots who wallow in their “politically correct” ideologies and agendas without accomplishing a damn thing. It’s a complex problem. The more people who understand that objectively, the more likely something positive will actually happen. Nothing will be accomplished if we use the excuse of political correctness to bury our heads in the sand.
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[Note from Steve: Due to circumstances beyond my control, there’s been a problem for readers wishing to make comments on articles in this blog. That problem has now been solved, so comment away! I apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.]
Great Spring Thaw Sale. Every two weeks, with one week overlap, starting April 1, one of my books will be on sale at Smashwords (the overlap means that there are usually two books on sale). (Yes, it’s been going on…sorry about that, but it was announced on my Home page and elsewhere.) Take advantage of this to download some entertaining spring reading. Each ebook will be on sale for $1.99, regardless of the normal retail price. Access my author page for the entire list of ebooks. (Remember, Smashwords offers ALL ebook formats, including mobi format for Kindles.) Use the coupon code for the ebook on checkout.
In libris libertas!
