Lions For Lambs - Review

I saw this movie while recovering from the disaster at Quicksilver. Several people have mentioned it to me, saying that it reminded them of me.

It's a fairly shoddy movie. Too many plot lines running around and not very engaging. That's the end of the formal review.

Now I rant! Move over Bill O'Reilly.

However, the points that Redford is trying to make have never been truer. Unfortunately, I think most Americans are:
1. Too stupid to understand the points that Redford is making
2. Could care less (the majority fall in this category)
3. Unwilling to step up to the plate
4. Don't like being lectured by Redford (nor do I, but I can't deny the validity of his claims)

"Rome is burning!" Redford exclaims. You're damn right it is. And nobody is doing anything about it. I've heard several references to The Rise And Fall Of the Roman Empire in the last couple of weeks, alluding to the United States' difficulties.

In the film, two college students volunteer for the Army. One person commented that they should not have done that, implying that most people who join the Army have no other opportunities available to them. Now, certainly, the Army can be an opportunity for many people that don't have many options available to them. But to claim that those with opportunities (and that probably means job opportunities), should not join the Army is indicative of exactly what Robert Redford is talking about in this movie. Personally, if anyone I knew (or didn't know) told me they were trying to join the Army, I would try to talk them out of it, but not for the reasons you might think. I still admire people that lay it on the line.

Here is my response to the person that says the two characters in the film should not have joined the Army. I changed the name of the person.

"Well, Amanda's comments are unfortunately reflective of most of the country, which is why our country is fucked. Unfortunately it won't be until 20 years from now when her children are starving or getting beheaded that she thinks back and wonders if maybe some real people with smarts actually started caring about what was going on, that things might have been different. In this day and age, it's all about looking out for #1 and how much money do I get. Me, me, me. Very few people sacrifice for something other, bigger than themselves. The question Redford referred to, "What have I contributed?" is a hard question only I don't think many people are even asking themselves that let alone being troubled by the answer. I'm stereotyping, but I don't see a lot of soul searching going on at Balboa Cafe or anywhere else in the Marina or the San Francisco Bay Area. What could possibly happen to these people? These wealthy, highly educated, morally bankrupt people? As long as they continue to look out for themselves, probably nothing. They can surf on others peoples backs.

But yeah, maybe those two shouldn't have volunteered. I mean, I am totally cool with societies that stone people to death, kill women for leaving the house without permission or not wearing the appropriate attire, and take advantage of poor people by telling them who to blame for their state and having them commit suicide to kill others. Those two, dying for something they believed in, they mustn't have gotten the memo because a $100k job was waiting for them shuffling paper somewhere. Hell, they may have ended up working for a big investment bank adding real value to the world like advising clients on wonderful transactions like the AOL-Time Warner merger. That was a doozy. But hey, they'd make out and that's all that matters.

Nor should George Washington have volunteered to command the army in 1776. What a worthless cause that was. Chump. How much more money could he have made running his plantation? Didn't he know the English put a bounty on his head? Who would volunteer for that? And that American army. So pesky. So unorganized and unfunded. And the soldiers were fighting for FREE! Because Congress couldn't authorize enough money. Many deserted, but many stayed. I sure do applaud those deserters. At least they were smart. They didn't need the Army. They had other things they could do with their lives. Something other than fight for a country that didn't even have a name.

John Adams walked away from a really high paying job offered by the English government to join a terrorist group. What an idiot.

Thomas Jefferson-what a fucking dilittante. Same thing for him and his plantation. What did he get out of working in government except criticism? Fool.

Abraham Lincoln left a perfectly successful law practice to become a politician and he ended up dead. What a moron!

And Col. Joshua Chamberlain volunteered for the Civil War (not even pressed into service!) and commanded the 20th Maine regiment on the left flank of the Union Army at Gettysburg, ordering a bayonet charge at the desperate moment, saving the flank, the Union army and perhaps the Union itself. What an idiot. I wished he had stayed home because frankly my room is messy and I need me some slaves up here to clean it. He lived up in Maine. Maine! Like the confederacy ever intended to go all the way to Maine. He was perfectly safe and sound. Might have well been living in the Marina.

And the average 900 Americans that died every day during WWII. Wow, if only some of them had used their connections to get less dangerous jobs, they wouldn't have been killed. Losers. Like Auschwitz ever happened. And that whole idea that Stalin let 40 million people die of starvation.....That's just an exaggeration. we should have just let him take Europe.

When I flew Americans in body bags back from convoys that got attacked, all I could think was "fucking idiot." When I went after the Apache helicopters that crashed because of bad weather and there were Taliban moving on them, all I could think was, "Why didn't they just fly some news helicopter? We need some more traffic news back home. The NEWS BITCHES!"

I am disappointed when smart people like Amanda, and she is so far from alone, make comments like that. I'm also a bit irritated.