A few weeks ago I tried to write a movie review of Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie. (In case you’re interested, I enjoyed the movie a lot, especially considering I went into it expecting to not like it.. I’ll finish the full review if anyone cares to read it at this late date after the release of the movie). This past weekend I went to see the movie Babel, and this movie prompted thoughts that went beyond those of a simple review.

Random images from movies reflect the undercurrents of the times. The images of an alien craft destroying the White House in the trailers for Independence Day prompted cheers at the time, now the sequence presents an uncomfortable visualization of the fear peddled in the wake of September 11, 2001. Many of the visual and storyline themes since that day have had the undercurrent of fear, uncertainty, and doubt that combine to poison reason. As shallow and banal as it might sound, the evolution of the James Bond movies over the last four decades provides a good cross-section of the underlying concerns of our culture, which sadly enough now in an unintentional irony reflect more of the Cold War-inspired real fear origins of the original novels than of the later frivolity of implausible madmen attempting to rule or destroy the world.

I have written before of the over-reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001, but I was not noticed.

Now, some big-bloggers are starting to recognize that over-reaction may be the right description…

In the movie Babel the casual brutality of the Moroccan police is depicted without accompanying music to sway our emotions, it is simply silence spiked with the sharp crack of hand against face and questions asked and answered.

The themes of the movie are myriad, and more than I would have attempted because of the short attention span theatre that US culture has become:

insular westerners exposed to a land without the infrastructure routinely taken for granted, and with completely different

unknowing poverty contrasted with unconscious wealth; teenage disconnectedness with society made worse through physical disability and recent tragedy

how governments act in ways that show utter indifference to the individual human consequences

the difficulties of communication, especially with those closest to us

the individual tragedies imposed by grand immigration policies

the shallow analysis that jumps to the easy conclusion of “terrorism” rather than acknowledging the possibility of acts arising from innocent ignorance could create woe

Complexity doesn’t have to be subtle or “nuanced,” to use the disparaging term adopted by those who prefer a black-and-white world to avoid the heavy lifting of thought; complexity exists without the need for affirmation, and it will bite those in the ass who make choices based upon what they want to be true rather than upon the reality that will not be denied in the end…