the second best film cox has made, after "sid and nancy", and before "highway patroolman", "three businessmen" and finally the dubious "death and the compass"
shareHello?!?! What about "Repo Man"?
sharewhat. or should i say ?QUE?
sharegreat cinematography, great score, great script, great extras, great performance by ed harris.
shareI see that a lot of people don't understand the deep meaning of the film. When short-vision-people see "stupids anachronisms such as TVs and helicopters" they don't see between the lines. Alex Cox try to show,amazingly, that in 1850's as in 1980's USA wont stop coming (invading)to Nicaragua. To show that neverending invasion he mix elements and uses TVs and helicopters. It's much more than a biografy is a deep and acid critic to the bloody EU foreign affairs. People who doesn't understend that and have a lack of sarcasm will never understand this great movie. I'm argentinian so sorry for my not to good english.
shareYes, I was wondering about all of those anachronisms. The previews said that it was an historical drama, yet, here's a scene where the Nicaraguans are riding in a carriage, reading a copy of Newsweek, when suddenly a 1980's era automobile passes them on the dirt road. Other things such as a bottle of Coca Cola, Marlboro cigarettes, a guerrilla soldier wearing camouflage and holding a .45 auto handgun, I had to scratch my head about it all. It made me wonder whether this was meant to be a comedy or satire or whatnot. If this movie was intended to reflect similarities between the 1850's and the 1980's, then I see your point. Thanks for the insight. Muchas gracias, senor.
share[deleted]
Yes, the anachronisms are there on purpose, obviously. There's also an obvious element of satire involved in the film, as well as a lot of very black humor (such as the moment where Walker devours a pat of human flesh, meant as a reference to the Mayans and Aztecs--and that American incursions are the same thing).
It's very funny to watch people not get the anachronisms, though, or how over-the-top Ed Harris is in his performance. That's called stylization, an artistic choice by the writer and director, for those who don't understand...well, much of anything it seems.
Nothing much had changed back in 1987 from way back to the 1850s when Walker held Nicaragua for a year as a dictator. What's pathetic is how we Americans are taught nothing of our real history--a very short history, by the way. Watching Walker, viewers should not question why Americans are kept so ignorant of their history and how it has affected the lives of people in Latin America and elsewhere. Our ignorance is key to continuing the ongoing farce called American foreign policy. America has never been what it claimed to be. That doesn't mean we can't change, it's just that we don't want to. Eventually, that's what will cause our fall (coming soon, to a community near you).
I hope you're wrong, so wrong about the future of the U.S. I'm an optimist and believe in the good things we do, the ability to change the things we can to make us better and all. I don't appreciate how Americans trash themselves and call our Nation a joke or a farce when we've done just as many good things for the world. But I'm not gonna waste time listing case examples of them. Bottom line: there's a bad way to criticize our history, and a good way to. Ideally, we learn from our mistakes and make things better. Otherwise, what's the point of studying history?
I'd like to think that as we continue to include the next wave upon wave of immigrants, that we as a Nation can incorporate their ways and collectively benefit.
"We are the Borg. Resistence is futile. Assimilation is inevitable." --Star Trek, First Contact.
We've done a lot of things, but if you add-up the systematic things we do across the globe, it's very likely that they're negated.
Well, we're not the only ones who think the United States is the global bully. Why is it when you point-out what's obviously wrong you get an earful about how "you're unpatriotic, self-hating"?
Yes, "ideally" is the key word here. "Ideally," we should be learning from our mistakes, and I believe the events and cultural changes (still ongoing) from the 1960s-70s have made us a more civilized nation. But there's just a litany of things even outside of the last eight years that we should all be ashamed of.
They are systematic, they are ongoing, and we don't want to change our spots, or why would be in Iraq and Afghanistan now, pushing the world towards a wider conflagration. Does that sound like we've learned much? I don't think so.
Ultimately, you're right--if we don't start learning, there really is no point in studying history. Were I to accept that it's hopeless--and it very well could be--I would have given-up long ago.
Agreed about immigration: immigrants have revitalized our culture and shown us the value of what we have left of our rights and privileges here, but your comments come off as unintentionally ironic in the midst of an economic crisis that could have been prevented...almost 80 years exactly after the last one nearing this scale.
Walker underscores that we like exporting the frontier, a place of lawlessness, onto other nations for our own selfish wants and desires. We our mistaken in our sense of destiny and exceptionalism, as exceptional as our rights are in the historical record on the world stage. Just sayin'...
Yes, it's so nice to see a happy ending. Bless.
shareI agree it's a great film though I think, for myself, persoanlly it is Cox's best film.
It's a pity he gets condemned for this film, I guess a lot of simple minded watchers can't really get it. You don't need to be a film school graduate just watch it with an open mind and yes there are helicoptters....brilliant!!!
"Sameen Shaw: In the arm, through a brick wall, in the dark. You're welcome."