So I'm parked down the street from Fat Tony's place with my binoculars, and even though it's Sunday and his pawn shop's not open, I'm noticing that this guy's even less active than Kevin, Tiffany, Beth, all of 'em. For some strange reason (oh, perhaps I was bored silly) I found myself rethinking "War Of The Worlds," so much so that I ended up rewriting over 75% of my original critique of it. To wit:
War Of The Worlds
As those of
you who have been following along know, the herb doesn't fool around.
the herb
does his homework. I've put over sixty hours into this project... and
counting. Twice, we rented Steven Spielberg's version of the Orson Welles
novel... JOKE! That's a joke.
Orson Welles acted in the famous 1938 radio play, and H.G. Wells wrote
the novel, published in 1898.
OK, where
was I? That's right: research. I've already seen "War Of The
Worlds" twice, might do so again. Have Googled a dozen sites, perused a
slew of reviews, and vacillated a bit.
And it has
come to this: I need to ask for patience from my readers. I
need either my readers to be on the same team I'm on, or to pretend they are.
I need some help
here, folks.
Yes, I can
do the deed. I can walk the plank alone. I can hang myself if you
give me enough rope.
But give me
that rope now.
a big fat target
In the past
I've asked that you read with a grain of salt the
ideas of others I've embellished and then passed along. Now I'm
asking that you examine what follows with as many grains of salt as your
larder can spare.
I want my
point to be taken on its own merits. AND I'd prefer to not have to
electrify gigabytes of preface in the process.
So I won't.
I'll get right to it.
Yes, Mr.
Spielberg directed "Schindler's List." Yes, "War of the
Worlds" is about paranoia and war and running and hiding and contains nods
to 9/11 and more.
But am I
100% certain Spielberg intended to weave Holocaust-oriented allusions
into "War of the Worlds"? No,
but I'm leaning that way.
Here's
why.
I'll start
with some simple comparisons, then move on to the headier stuff.
Were those
who attempted to give Hitler the slip paranoid?
They were fearful,
but their fears were grounded in reality; therefore, they were not paranoid.
Was Tom
Cruise and his family paranoid of the tripods?
If we set
aside the fact that the entire movie is fiction, then no: "running away
in fear" is a rational response to an alien invasion.
Paranoia, on the other hand, is irrational fear.
There are
two scenes where rational and irrational fear do a meet-and-greet, intertwine,
and it gets a little confusing as to who or what should be feared.
Followed by the fallout from the violence that directly sprang from this fear.
These scenes are 1) when the mob takes away the protagonists' stolen van, and 2)
in the basement with Tim Robbins.
These in a
jiff, but first a few relevant questions. Can I compliment or praise
Blacks on their ability to excel at basketball without sounding like or being a
racist? Is that even possible? I'm trying to compliment those of the
Jewish faith on their having survived the Holocaust without being or sounding
like an anti-Semite. But is it possible for me, a non-black,
a non-Jew to do so? I don't think it is.
And that's
wrong. Well, it's either sad or wrong or both. I mean I should be able to compliment people. I should
be able to say, "Hey, good job there intelligent, survivalistic Jewish
people. You ran into a buzz saw, a lot of your relatives died, but you made
it. You're still alive. So things worked out for you. Cool.
Whereas in years past your language might have been German or Russian or
something else, now it's English. And, yes, that can be seen as a
negative. But all I'm trying to do is put my hands together in a clapping
fashion, repeatedly, and direct this applause toward you. So even if I'm
misinformed about your struggle, please bear with, send an informative email,
something something something... but you know: have a cow because I complimented
you."
That's
right: throw a hissy fit because I tried to pay you a compliment.
Sorry.
Sorry for your loss. But I didn't do it. I'm just trying to make
sense of things. Somehow a certain group of people have learned how and
when to pick up tools and weapons, tools like religion or Scientology, weapons
like the one Tom Cruise wields when he's about to get his transportation stolen,
but he chooses to save his children instead of keeping that van; or the weapon
that Mr. Cruise eventually dispatches Tim Robbins with because--
And that's
where I am.
I'm trying
to draw a comparison here. I'd like to compare some hypothetical infighting
that may have occurred onboard a Nazi cattle car with the scene from "War of the Worlds" where Tim Robbins carps
and brays and, finally, Mr. Cruise has to duke it out with him. And we
moviegoers, though not privy to the exact outcome of this assuredly-violent
apostrophe, are led to believe their battle is to the death.
But perhaps
this infighting occurred in a hiding place next to the cattle car depot
and not on a cattle car.
If that's
the case then let's regroup. OK, we have one Jewish bachelor (Robbins) and a Jewish
family man with his daughter (Cruise and Dakota Fanning). All three are hiding from certain death:
men with swastikas who are forcing Jews onto trains, trains bound for
concentration camps.
At first the
two adults welcome each other as backup, fighters on the same team, fighting a
common enemy. But then as the perceived value of strength and firepower
diminishes, and the perceived value of keeping quiet grows, and--flouting the
logic of the situation--Tim Robbins continues to bray and rail against the
bloodthirsty aliens, well, it puts the Cruiser in a tight spot. He must
kill a fellow Jew to save his family.
Or must he?
Here's
where I'm a bit... hesitant. If Spielberg actually were drawing this
comparison, what does that tell us? Your group has been thrown into the
maelstrom, the cauldron, the crucible, whathaveyou, and the survivors emerge
stronger, wealthier and wiser. And part of your arsenal--one of the
ingredients in your "recipe for success," as it were--is the murdering of
practitioners of the same faith.
And I'm not
allowed to compliment you on such behavior?
Say you're
shipwrecked in the South Pacific, or hopelessly snowbound on Donner Pass.
It's rumored that cannibalism, in certain desperate situations, is not only
a viable option, it's considered the best option.
Perhaps the only option. And
I'm supposed to be scared off by that? Were I thrust into such
straits,
I'd turn my nose up at perhaps my only chance to live?
No, of
course not. Of course ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Maybe that
I'm even slightly hesitant to accept as gospel Mr. Spielberg's "outline for
success" shows why I'm not a billionaire filmmaker.
Ahh, whimsy.
On the other
hand, perchance "War of the Worlds" is better appreciated as a study
in paranoia. Period. That
prospecting for ulterior motives or revealing allegories is quite unnecessary.
That sitting back and enjoying this CGI-seeped swirlfest is our only option.
No critical eye, just enjoy. Who is to say who will lose his or her head during these or
similar dizzying moments of intense fear and destruction?
They say many inventions were discovered in part by accident. They also say many innovations were discovered during panic.
FORWARD to part two of "War Of The Worlds"
BACK to where this whole "Wal~Mart incident" began
OVER to HerbNation HOMEPAGE