Standing Rock Is Not a Victory for the Earth

The Dakota pipeline being rerouted is a great victory for the Sioux nation, the area’s residents and, all the others who fought so valiantly to force the pipeline away from sacred Sioux land and water. Seeing soldiers and vets join the occupation that helped was astonishing and what actress Shailene Woodley said about keeping our boots strapped to continuing the struggle is uplifting albeit, as the entire effort in the end felt, misplaced.

Al Gore said on "All in With Chris Hayes" that he understandably couldn’t talk about his recent meeting with the President Elect but he believed America would meet its Paris accord levels agreed upon regardless of our politics. His efforts, just as those at Standing Rock seem sadly likewise misplaced because what should be focused on is setting a goal towards banning Fossil Fuels. That must be the focus; that is where the activist energy and “occupy” capital should be. A few nations and some cities are beginning to make the move toward 100 % renewable energy and nothing less is acceptable with a hard deadline of 20 to 30 years from now.

It’s shocking how absent the need for banning fossil fuels is from our discussion and political discourse. Due to Trump’s uncertainty and tendency to be fungible on policy stances now is a perfect time for activists to demand change despite some of the names that have been mentioned as possible administration appointees and his financial ties to the industry. Activists and perhaps more importantly the media must influence Trump into seeing the opportunity that exists not only with green energy but with subsidizing fossil fuel companies. Yeah that’s not a typo, it seems rather clear to me that the energy companies, their shareholders and, lobbyists would be glad to melt and flood the earth surviving enough to retire on a newly formed island somewhere. It is imperative that this 1 % be included and bribed into turning 100 % renewable. Exxon, BP, Gulf, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, what have you; they must be paid, subsidized to create the infrastructure we need for the future. This or a similar incentive should one exist must be legislated together with a ban on fossil fuels. Free trade should even begin to mandate the ban. Prolonging the inevitable is childish. There is only one earth, let us fight for her not just the Sioux.

Netflix Review: Two Nights, One Day - Our Futile State

Tonight I saw a movie that reminded why I went to film school. A heart wrenching masterpiece that squeezes every bit of emotion it can from a simple script and easy story. “Two Days, One Night”, a 2014 French film available on Netflix stars the impeccable Marion Cotillard as a troubled factory worker given an ultimatum symbolically kin to the current state of most political divisions, the struggle between the selfish and the giving. She must reluctantly beg her coworkers to vote for her to keep her job or get a salary bonus. The ensuing struggle brings to light the depth of human capacity in dealing with compassion and empathy. 

Several scenes burst with spiritual awakening and poignant despair enough to define our socio economic state, exposing institutionalized social order as an exercise of tyrannical futility. Examining how fragile life can be, our soul clutches on to Marion’s holding on for survival.

The acting is what most sets this film apart into the realm of timelessness although an American remade version with more production value would be gladly accepted and could likely surpass it in gravitas under the right care. Co-Writers and co-directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne’s vision of finding the will to fight for change may have missed its target but the resulting substance is much more important both in study and form. All the acting is extremely superb; each character astonishingly definitive in form and action. One particular performance, that of Alain Eloy as a part time soccer coach dad, is incredibly strong, exuding a power of grace and spirituality that is as equally rare and needed as can be found. His scene with Marion alone is gratifyingly worth your time and whoever comes from it untouched is somewhat soulless and needs help.

A true classic in every sense of the word with only a few useless scenes weighing down an otherwise perfect film; Two Days, One Night should be must viewing for all impressionable students on the brink of choosing how to live their lives: for themselves or for all others.

Terrence Malick and the Death of Substance

There are few film directors whose influence should be studied at film schools because of their innovated approach and style. On my list are Bergman, Eisenstein, Fellini, Hitchcock, Gilliam, Spielberg and Terrence Malick.   

His latest work, “The Knight of Cups” achieved what his similar film “the Tree of Life” did not; a surreal minimalist apprehension of faith and desire through a delicate royal prism. The discernment wrought through a scattered array of bits of intertwined dialogue narrative and poetry interpreting glimpses of characters without making any assumptions and neglecting to frame a moral structure or typical story line. It is as if it’s up to the viewer to decide what’s going on and to relate or deem what’s suited for them to absorb, yet readily and intensely therapeutic. 
A meditation or a prayer of sorts, the film follows Christian Bales various love affairs and privileged life of a king who forgot he had to lead. Seeing and feeling Bales faults and qualities reflected back from the eyes and motions of beautiful women, these Goddesses enable his various stages of detachment from earthly duties and grounded enlightenments. The film is a storied poem observing important moments in the lives of demigods. 
Malick juxtaposes with images of homeless people and a man being eaten away by some aliment describing suffering as a gateway into divine perception albeit from the lips of an imposing priest and the promise of rebirth locked away in our bosoms. Bale is left searching in a rocky desert told by his father watching over him to begin again after having failed to maintain relationships; seeking a more fulfilling love and conquest of endearing souls.

This extravagantly lush piece of art can be viewed, perhaps intentionally,  as a great symbol of the media and its current state of denial. Like “the Knight of Cups” our foundational perceptions of what is wrong and needed are severally distorted and preoccupied by want. Distracted from real injustices and harmful corruption in desperate need to examine structural change. A giant hack job octopus with a tentacle for almost everyone, churning away at a deceptive contentment. Bits of pieces of news scattered on small and large platforms never coherently brought to bare through painstaking detail. It’s no doubt “The Knight of Cups” was conceived before the advent of Donald Trump and the ridiculously mendacious state of so called right wing buffoonery that’s currently seeping into thoughtful reporting sapping intellectual worth and progress in favor of headline teases that make for ratings.  The teasing has become the news, even in considerate spins and on well-meaning platforms which lack proper introspection. Bernie Sanders refusing to play politics forgetting to toot his own horn in favor of purist talking points fearing unfashioned exposure while Clinton plays congress and the media like a fiddle no doubt with a room full of experienced advice and counsel. The cycle whips spins and grinds it out while failing to apply the same gravitas to stranded refugees, hostage towns, and a melting planet held at bay with false truths perpetuated by talking heads.