It's Just Politics Baby
It was a moment—if you were watching it, you knew it was. When Barack Obama took the stage after being elected the next President of the United States, I couldn't help but think how apathetic we've become in our own country, in matters of politics. Canadians barely made it to the polls in the last Federal election, and when they did, they still managed to elect Stephen Harper (come on people, were you even trying?).
The moments leading up to the Presidential election were filled with so much collective enthusiasm; a bubbling-over of hope for change. The promise of a new direction in American politics was enough to spark a fire in a whole host of people who had never even considered voting before. That's what was so inspiring about watching it all unfold. To know that people were getting excited about what 'could be,' instead of sitting complacently in their chairs complaining about what 'has been' and 'what will always be.'
And yet here we sit in this beautiful country of ours, shrugging our shoulders about who we elected in the latest Federal election, wondering if there's a point in voting in our upcoming Municipal election, and come this Spring, British Columbians may yet again nonchalantly cast their ballots in our Provincial election. Yes, this is the year of elections, but what difference will our votes really make if we don't bother to first think about the role we play in truly influencing change?
I think it's important to vote. Especially if you live in a town like ours, a town where homeless people are outweighing the number of people who can afford their homes, where schools are being shut down so that low-income kids can walk a great distance to overpopulated institutions for their mediocre educations, where people are perpetually doing a half-assed job of 'going green' in a city that begs for us to be more environmentally conscious (where are our public recycling bins? how come everyone drives downtown when it's so bloody small? why are all our retail shops still handing-out plastic bags? how come we're still accepting them?).
In a few days I will scuff my shoes on the worn and wet leaves that adorn our city streets, and make my way to the neighbourhood community centre to check some boxes on a square of paper, to have my say in who I think should be our next Municipal representatives.
And when I come back home from my little moment at the polls, I will think about how I can make a difference by being a little less apathetic, and a little more conscious. There must be some way to live life, while still remaining awake.
 Bobby Kennedy didn't let his brother's assassination stop him for running for President, he saw that America needed change, and he put his own life on the line in the hopes of stirring up a nation that had become complacent.
Bobby is a subtle film. A film that is effective in how it is filmed. A film that effects its viewer by not being a simple biopic, but an example of how one person—one moment—can have such an huge impact on so many people.
Emilio Estevez has made a brave film at a time when North America has been consumed by its own stifling conservativism. This film shows that 40 years later, there is still such a desperate need for a 'Bobby.'
 I love Dick (the movie). Dick uses satire to poke fun at the absurdity of politics and people's obsession with popularity.
Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst play two girls who go on a tour of the White House in the hopes of meeting their idol: President Nixon (you read that right), only to find themselves mixed-up in the Watergate Scandal.
Dick is a cute film that like Election, is hilarious in a disturbed, stupid kind of way.
Hey, who said politics had to be serious and boring anyway?
 One could argue that all movies are political, but The Manchurian Candidate is one of those purely political films. Based on a novel (and needlessly remade in 2004 with a blockbuster cast), the original 1962 film deals with brainwashing and political assassination a year before JFK was in real life assassinated.
The excellent filmmaking along with great performances by Laurence Harvey and Angela Landsbury make this a timeless classic. And the subject matter unfortunately still rings true today.
Election (1999 - Alexander Payne) |
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V for Vendetta (2005 - James McTeigue) |
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Primary Colors (1998 - Mike Nichols) |
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