Magicians use deception to steer the audience away from the means they use to perform a trick. Look over here and I’ll do something over there without you seeing; there’s no magic, just a grand illusion created by the performer’s deception. Throughout Merchants of Doubt Rob Kenner (Food Inc.) uses this analogy to explain how powerful corporations manipulate the masses by hiring “experts” to doubt the real scientists. The corporations reassure the populace that their unhealthy or detrimental products are safe by butting heads against academia with bold-faced lies. Merchants of Doubt argues that the tactics used to trick people of the harmful effects of cigarettes are now being used to ignore the scientific fact of man-made climate change.
The light outside the window bleeds into the asylum but it is only a glimmer. The hope remains on the other side of the pane; its glow enlightening the entrapping interior. Every character in Elephant Song is incarcerated in a mental institution, some doctors, others patients yet the thing that unites them is that on this cold Christmas day there is the unshakable feeling that past trauma is returning. They aren’t spending the holiday inside their warm homes but investigating a doctor’s disappearance as well as their inner selves.
Maps To The Stars is either incoherent, post-modern or shallow. Whichever way you take it, the film entertains with cynical satire, observational humor and a memorable performance from Julianne Moore.
A man is bleeding on the streets. He’s been shot and will die without your help. You pick him up, take him to your house, and discover he’s a soldier fighting for your opposing side. Is his life any less valuable now that you know his identity? Do you hand the soldier over to the rebels who will most likely kill him or do you protect him despite his association?
America is awakening from the fantasy of living in a post-racial society despite the leadership of a black president. This current racial landscape is crucial to understanding the attitudes and addictions in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. Many African Americans are angry, thirsty for blood, or have coped with hardships through destructive habits. The pastor’s message in a black Baptist church is timely and resonates emotionally. “Put down that 22, put down the 38, put down your 45! Oh, glory to God lift up your Bible and put down that oozie! You don’t need no AK 47, you need Romans 8:21,” he howls.
