In Warren Beatty's "Reds," socialists from all over the world tromp through the wintry streets of Moscow belting out a Soviet hymn. In "2010," feuding Russian and American watercraft confront each other in Central America. In "Rocky IV," Soviet/American tension is played out in each violent blow of the fight between Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Dolph Lundgren's Drago.
What do all these movies have in common?
All produced during the Cold War, they share a common fear about the deteriorating state of relations between the two empires. And in the end, there is always some kind of reconciliation between the inhabitants of both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Needfully enough, the Cold War ended before I was born. Russia and America haven't exactly been the staunchest of allies since then, but things didn't start to get this bad until last summer, when Russia placed former Soviet republic Georgia under its thumb once again.
And this morning, I read in the newspaper that the same government (in Moscow) that allows skinheads to march down their streets unassailed has arrested every gay-rights activist for holding a march... even the ones that weren't marching! The city's mayor has called such marches "satanic" and a threat to fundamental morals.
Since when was it satanic to insist common human protection and fairness? Russia isn't a Soviet nation anymore; Communism, that elaborate and undignified political system that only works if you take out the human beings, is now at home only in places like China and Cuba. Yet the country is clearly reverting to what, in "Reds," Emma Goldman called a militaristic prison, a nightmarish police states where dissent and equality are slaves to the establishment.
Isn't there anyone to speak out against such a horrendous squashing of the human voice? Why does a government protect the rights of those who persecute others so arbitrarily, while calling decent people satanic and immoral?
It's sick.
It looks like the Cold War is making a comeback, and this time, it's even worse. The 1984 movie "2010," a sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey," is very rarely taken seriously (despite its vibrant, valid message) because its central premise-- Russians and Americans overcoming their differences to cooperate on a dangerous space mission-- revolves around the Cold War still being an issue in the years 2010-2015. It looks like they still can. But the danger is greater this time around. There are more nuclear powers on the world stage than there were 20 years ago... and more confrontational ones at that. Nobody will be safe unless people can realize that, being put upon this planet, we were given the responsibilities to safeguard our brothers and sisters, as well as our common, spherical home.
In "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," the Man of Steel rallies to disarm the nuclear world. If it takes a fictional guy in a bright cape and tights to point out violent, arrogant human stupidity, then, quite frankly, we're doomed-- and not just the humans.
Record keeping vs Spirit Inspirations
13 years ago
