Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, Brazil

Original post was written in Sweden in February

George Clooney's Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck are well made substantive movies - whether you are liberal or conservative - you have to admit the Clooney is spending his media capital to send a very specific message about the excesses of government and government officials.

Now my conservative friends will see these movies as more liberal Hollywood propoganda - which is interesting - didn't it used to be that it was the conservatives that wanted to conserve power by limiting government and to control the threat of tyranny inherent in a centralized, pervasive government that controlled the press? Folks, George Orwell's 1984 was a warning about the future - it was not intended to be a road map for the Republican based government policy.

Speaking of good movies relevant to our times, take another look at Brazil, the movie by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python - watch the director's cut. What an interesting look at the combination of technology and terrorist inspired tyrannical reaction. What an incredibly different movie to watch. Be prepared to watch it a couple of times. Brazil - a tour de force by Jonathon Price and a real hoot of a near cameo appearance by Robert Deniro.