l'art pour l'art - resistance
I have not done one of these in ages - so all of you keep reminding me. I thought it being the weekend of America's birth, i would do a resistance theme. If you are new to the l'art pour l'art series, see below:
Preface: Halliburton/Death Start Explained
l'art pour l'art Part I
l'art pour l'art Part II
l'art pour l'art Part III - Treasure Hunt
l'art pour l'art Part IV - The Darklings
l'art pour l'art
Part V - Adaptations
l'art pour l'art Part VI - Portishead's New Album, "Third"
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Pan's Labyrinth - One of the most visually stunning films in recent times (I would say since The City of Lost Children). The story takes place in Franco's Spain and inside the imagination of a little girl who cannot escape her circumstances. It is resistance of mind and soul, perhaps even through another reality. I know I desperately wanted the legend of the princess (I won't say more, I don't want to spoil it) to be true. Particularly at the sad end:
Good Night, Good Luck - The story of a true journalistic hero Edward R. Murrow as a snip from a moment of his historic battle against the Red Scare. The story takes place during the height of McCarthyism and Murrow's push-back against the anti-Communist hysteria of the era. More importantly, as this last scene illustrates, it is a warning to the future, to future journalists - our present and our current journalists - to resist the easy, entertaining, and commercial. The final scene still makes me cry as it urges journalists to be responsible and ethical:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - One of my favorite films and a true classic. It is a story of a naive average citizen who goes to Washington to idealistically hopes to change the world and instead, finds out just how corrupt and purchased our government is. It is a story of resistance to greed, power, corruption and most importantly, corporatism. This last scene is awe inspiring:
