All culturists with Netflix must see Border Incident. Netflix is required because this is a 1949 film. It stars Ricardo Montalban, has amazing cinematography and concerns a very important topic: illegal immigration. But beyond its particular topic, this film portrays a way of looking at the world that is essential for civilization and orderly lives. As such, Border Incident makes a great counter example to the Academy Award winning No Country for Old Men.
The old culturist adage, "Good fences make good neighbors" is illustrated in this film. The opening scenes include a voice over that explains how the United States and Mexico both benefit from the braceros program. That was a program whereby Mexicans were given permission to be in the country to work and then had to return home. Shots from the sky show us the fields that need tending. This is followed by a long shot which shows us eager Mexicans waiting for permission to enter as seen from our side of the border fence. The mutual need and ordered process provide a model of how Mexico and the United States have both benefited from each other's presence.
We lunge into the dark world of chaos and anarchy, however, when would be workers try to go around the law and cross into the United States illegally. When the unsavory purveyors of this illicit business kill some illegals, the Mexican government (represented by agent Ricardo Montalban's character) and the American government (represented by George Murphy's character) work together to inflitrate this underworld and destroy it. Thus, again, we see Mexican and American officials working together in cooperation, legally, for each others mutual benefit.
The cinematography in Border Incident depicts a thought world. It is shot in Film Noir black and white by the famous John Alton. The underworld is dark. The people in it are scum and act treacherously towards each other. They are constantly looking to stab each other in the back as they do not have the rule of the jungle, rather than the rule of law, guiding them. Law enforcement's world is portrayed in light. People do not need to hide their intentions or actions in this world. People acting within the law can cooperate. The willingness to be so clear about the contrast between how good people can be and how ugly ugliness can get makes Border Incident extremely gripping and meaningful. Alton's beautiful framing and lighting paralleling the moral themes makes Border Incident a masterpiece.
The oscar winning film, No Country for Old Men, and our current policies towards our border show ignorance of the thought world present in Border Incident. In No Country for Old Men criminals have no fear of appearing in daylight. They have infiltrated our common experience. That is why children riding bikes and old men can not live safely with the comfort and protection the rule of law provides. There are no "undocumented" in Border Incident. The undermining of the distinction between legal and illegal had not yet taken place. Those who would undermine such distinctions fail to realize, as the bad guys both these films portray so well, that the opposite of law is dark, dangerous and scary. Being clear about the value of law, like a good fence, is required for us to be good neighbors. Border Incident provides one of the clearest representations of these vital culturist truths.
Showing posts with label no country for old men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label no country for old men. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Culturist Movie Review - No Country for Old Men
The movie No Country for Old Men was fantastic. It raised important philosophical issues and refused the easy happy ending. The movie follows people in pursuit of a sociopathic hit man and features a lot of random violence. But the violence is not gratuitous as it is the point of the film; extremely brutal actions are an increasingly common part of our culture. This must alter our sense of this world; we should expect to increasingly see life as more arbitrary, violent and out of our control.
Through the ruminations of the sherif who chases the sociopath, played by Tommy Lee Jones, we are repeatedly told that the crimes now are of a different nature than those which previously plagued us. One scene contradicts this theme. It tells of ruthless violence from a much earlier epoch. As a culturist, one concerned with our culture, this is not a small discrepancy; it tells us to give up and be resigned to the violence engulfing us.
From a wide historical perspective, America has consistently diminished violence. The Native Americans were extremely violent. The Puritan's wars with them were equally brutal. Any conflict from that age would make the few random acts of violence in this film seem tame. But with the advance of civilization, this violence diminished. Within living memory, we had nearly taken violence out of our society; it was nearly relegated to fiction. But recently violence has not only deeply penetrated our film and music, lawlessness has become increasingly common in real life.
From the point of view of social commentary, the fascinating part of this film is its location. No Country for Old Men is a border film. We go in and out of Mexico several times. The violence and drugs gets traced up to American corporations, but they come across the border. Out continuing comparatively low levels of violence result from a slow process of instituting values and the creation of a state apparatus to crush violence. American history teaches that areas that are not civilized are violent. "Winning the West" was a civilizing process.
The location of this movie is not incidental. The wide open spaces remind us of the brutality of frontier life. All Americans should know that Mexico's crime is, for our taste, so brutal it can be easily descibed as savage. Corrupt police often partake in the sort of drug violence depicted in this movie. The idea that when criminals want to escape they run away to Mexico, the idea that people are less likely to be caught there, is not just fiction; that country has less law and order than ours. Every illegal immigrant is sign of lawlessness - they show our nation is out of control. Worse yet, drug runners who take advantage of our broken borders are importing a brutal way of life into our culture.
A good portion of our increase in violence is homegrown. As this movie's location subtley reminds us, we also have an infusion of violence coming across our border. This film aptly portrays the sense of helplessness and despair that accompanies a culture of violence. No Country for Old Men is, however, not just a metaphorical art piece. Our broken borders have resulted in large parts of the Southwest again becoming "the Wild West." The beauty of this film is its consistent focus on nostalgia and cultural decline. How the West was lost could have served as an apt alternate title. No Country for Old Men should wake us up to the fact that we are allowing our nation to go slip back to a time of lawless savagery.
Through the ruminations of the sherif who chases the sociopath, played by Tommy Lee Jones, we are repeatedly told that the crimes now are of a different nature than those which previously plagued us. One scene contradicts this theme. It tells of ruthless violence from a much earlier epoch. As a culturist, one concerned with our culture, this is not a small discrepancy; it tells us to give up and be resigned to the violence engulfing us.
From a wide historical perspective, America has consistently diminished violence. The Native Americans were extremely violent. The Puritan's wars with them were equally brutal. Any conflict from that age would make the few random acts of violence in this film seem tame. But with the advance of civilization, this violence diminished. Within living memory, we had nearly taken violence out of our society; it was nearly relegated to fiction. But recently violence has not only deeply penetrated our film and music, lawlessness has become increasingly common in real life.
From the point of view of social commentary, the fascinating part of this film is its location. No Country for Old Men is a border film. We go in and out of Mexico several times. The violence and drugs gets traced up to American corporations, but they come across the border. Out continuing comparatively low levels of violence result from a slow process of instituting values and the creation of a state apparatus to crush violence. American history teaches that areas that are not civilized are violent. "Winning the West" was a civilizing process.
The location of this movie is not incidental. The wide open spaces remind us of the brutality of frontier life. All Americans should know that Mexico's crime is, for our taste, so brutal it can be easily descibed as savage. Corrupt police often partake in the sort of drug violence depicted in this movie. The idea that when criminals want to escape they run away to Mexico, the idea that people are less likely to be caught there, is not just fiction; that country has less law and order than ours. Every illegal immigrant is sign of lawlessness - they show our nation is out of control. Worse yet, drug runners who take advantage of our broken borders are importing a brutal way of life into our culture.
A good portion of our increase in violence is homegrown. As this movie's location subtley reminds us, we also have an infusion of violence coming across our border. This film aptly portrays the sense of helplessness and despair that accompanies a culture of violence. No Country for Old Men is, however, not just a metaphorical art piece. Our broken borders have resulted in large parts of the Southwest again becoming "the Wild West." The beauty of this film is its consistent focus on nostalgia and cultural decline. How the West was lost could have served as an apt alternate title. No Country for Old Men should wake us up to the fact that we are allowing our nation to go slip back to a time of lawless savagery.
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