George W. Bush

Really, I am no fan of former President George W. Bush.

But the comparison made in this film of him to Hitler and Stalin, which I think is what was done in the scene in which there are exactly three photos on the wall--one of Hitler, then one of Stalin, and then one of Bush, is pretty ridiculous.

Hitler started a war that resulted in the deaths of, at least, something like 50 million people, including probably about 13 million and possibly more who he outright murdered. Stalin was really into murdering his own people too, and estimates are all over the place but it's safe to say the number he outright murdered, alone, is in the millions, not to mention the people whose deaths in one way or another he's pretty much directly responsible for. These two are two of the very most, er, prolific torturers/murderers/death-causers in world history.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument only, that Bush started unjustifiable wars of conquest that have resulted in somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths, very likely nearer to the lower end of that range, and that he has committed crimes against humanity by torturing alleged prisoners of war--I think it still would seem pretty offensive to compare him to Hitler and Stalin.

It isn't as if Hitler and Stalin are in a class by themselves either in terms of their cruelty/prolificness--there are at least a couple others at least arguably in that class like Mao. Where's Mao's photo?

And it definitely took me out of the film. I felt the need to pause it to write this. I was just like, really? I think comparisons like this kind of erode the horror that folks should really feel when they think of guys like Hitler and Stalin--especially Hitler.