Thoughts, notes, observations on the everyday nonsense of American Pop Culture from one of the most not-hip people on the face of the planet...

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Frank Rich is right again

Without giving anything about the movie away (even though you'll find out soon enough if Limbaugh has his way), I gotta say that the NYT's Frank rich, as usual, is right on target with his defense of Million Dollar Baby (spoilers in the article). He attacls the conservative Right for dragging this excellent film through the mud. He suggests the main problem with the film isn't that it endorses left-wing political views, but that is refuses to be sentimental in a time when everyone's trying to keep their heads in the sand.

In this defense, he gives a run-down of the Oscar race for Best Picture that I don't entirely disagree with:

"While there is much to admire in the year's other Oscar-nominated movies - the full-bodied writing in "Sideways," the cinematic bravura of "The Aviator," the awesome Jamie Foxx in "Ray" - Mr. Eastwood's film, while also boasting great acting, is the only one that challenges America's current triumphalist daydream. It does so not because it has any politics... but because it has the temerity to suggest that fights can have consequences, that some crises do not have black-and-white solutions and that even the pure of heart are not guaranteed a Hollywood ending. What makes some feel betrayed and angry after seeing "Million Dollar Baby" is exactly what makes many more stop and think: one of Hollywood's most durable cowboys is saying that it's not always morning in America, and that it may take more than faith to get us through the night."

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