Okay, trying to convey an idea that has been swimming around in my head for ages. Regarding films with political messages in them, actually.

Now, most films that try to approach some level of intelligence of sophistication are going to have some sort of moral, or message. Often, these are political in nature. So tell me: why is it, that whenever something like this shows up in a film, I get this nigh-uncontrollable urge to smash something? I'll take a film I recently watch - Lord of War - as an example: now, I'm not saying that this is a particularly clever movie, but I did, for the most part, enjoy it, at least as far as I saw the film as an example of a man who was selling his whole life out for his dirty business. Now, the part that gets me - that really ticked me off - is right near the end. The climax of the film, per se. Where it is revealed that the film, instead of being an example of a man's whole world eroding, is in fact, a rather clumsy shot at the American government (probably the current one, but I challenge you to find a time when it wasn't applicable). I mean, you have all this fairly passable character study stuff, and THAT was what you were leading up to? It wasn't a re-curring theme throught the film, at least as far as I saw (and it IS possible to do such a thing without beating the audience over the head with what ever you're trying to get across), so why did they bother having it drawn together like that? ARrrrrgh.

And Lord of War is not alone. While I love Douglas Adams dearly, his short story 'Young Zaphod Plays it Safe' is a six page story with a mediocre punchline, a perfect example of attempting to build a story around some kind of politically pointed idea that ends up leaving any reader with a sense of self-consciousness with a sort of twisted feeling in their stomach 'surely, we're cleverer than this.' In short, there's no way I'm ever going to enjoy a politcally themed film just because I agree with the subject matter. In fact, if, say, a film made by a neo-Nazi or an old-guard Soviet is suffciently clever or poignant enough, I might even be able to take something away from it (though it is unlikely. Nationalists tend to have about as much poetry in their soul as the Gobei desert has water) .

So there it is. A messy little rant of mine. Basically: a clumsy poiltical message does not make your film smarter, it just enrages a thinking audience. I prefer my dumb films honest about their dumbness. With that in mind, all 'Commando'. "You need to let off some steam, Bennet!" Bwhahahahaha!