Sunday, August 13, 2006
fiction ~ reality
TCM is playing Fail Safe this morning during its day-long run of Walter Matthau movies. I expected the plot to be dated but the melodramatic mood is the most dated aspect of the film, followed closely behind by the way it views the 'monster' Soviet Union. What surprised me most is how outdated the content and tone of the language sounds. I mean, the movie was seen as realistic and cogent at the time, so I have to assume people talked as stiffly and archly as the movie's characters do. Since we are currently in a very casual time, the contrast is particularly striking, I suppose.
The movie's two-layered message is frighteningly valid these forty years later, despite the considerable progress we have made in many ways. In the movie, the leaders of both "us" and "them" are seen thoughtful and aware but nevertheless capable of wrong decisions as well as simple mistakes, any one of which can quickly put the world on the brink of destruction. What is especially striking this week is the other theme, namely, that there are driven, crazy belligerent people all over the place who can wreck utter devastation, ignoring and destroying everything that rational people might hope for or be able to accomplish. Oh what a lovelywar mess man can make. Now: how to avoid such horror?
The movie's two-layered message is frighteningly valid these forty years later, despite the considerable progress we have made in many ways. In the movie, the leaders of both "us" and "them" are seen thoughtful and aware but nevertheless capable of wrong decisions as well as simple mistakes, any one of which can quickly put the world on the brink of destruction. What is especially striking this week is the other theme, namely, that there are driven, crazy belligerent people all over the place who can wreck utter devastation, ignoring and destroying everything that rational people might hope for or be able to accomplish. Oh what a lovely
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