CONTRAPHONIC

The Candidate

At times this election season, it's been hard for us here at Contra HQ to bite our collective tongue (so to speak) and not weigh in on the happenings that seem to provide more than adequate fodder to fuel many a Friday night fire. Luckily, the grounding sense of realizing humble CJ's Corner isn't the appropriate venue for such discourse, as well as the fact that the particular tongue speaking may not be so collective, we've wisely refrained from using this space to soapbox.

This weekend though, acting upon a recommendation from a wise friend, the 1972 Michael Ritchie film The Candidate arrived at our mailbox, and if nothing else, inspired this little posting to suggest it as perhaps REQUIRED viewing for the American populace at election times.

In an election year in which the external characteristics--i.e., race & gender, and to a much lesser extent, age-- are being given far more attention (almost to the point of turning Dr. King's "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" maxim upside down), than the internal characteristics of actual stances on issues, and with platitudes of "change" ringing out loudly on either side of the Democrat-Republican equation, the 36-year old The Candidate is eerily prescient to today's campaigns.

The film stars Robert Redford as the young, charismatic, and inspirational Bill McKay; a community-activist lawyer working in the neighborhood trenches, thrust into a run for Senate, and provides what is essentially an inside peek at what a modern political campaign demands and takes. McKay's left-leaning and honest politics are reshaped, repackaged and SOLD in generalities. His positions become more and more streamlined, and as his image and popularity grow, he actually says less and less. It can be seen as a general comment on the emptiness of rhetoric and the closing of the American mind in response to its policies and politics perhaps, but The Candidate doesn't hit you over the head that it is very much a "message" film. And watching it in 2008, it more so provides an amazing parallel to the elections and issues we face today. The fact that the film was purposely released to coincide with the 1972 elections and raises issues relevant to that election, and the fact that those issues are almost identical to what we are still pondering, adds another somewhat maddening and somewhat sad element to the film.

Playing out like a real election, resplendent with campaigning the entire state of California and chock full of cameos from real-life politicians, the most striking moment of the film comes from old school news pundit Howard K. Smith providing a commentary on the state of American elections and the selling out of McKay's once refreshing campaign. Comparing politicians that try to commercialize the best aspects of themselves to advertisers marketing under-arm deodorant, and showing how such trivialization does a disservice to political engagement, Smith's wonderful faux-commentary supplies what is possibly the best quote of this year's elections: "Once again it appears that virtue is too great of a strain for the long haul of the campaign."

Posted in Peliculas - Posted on Sun 3rd February 2008 10.50PM No comments.

Times Square

It's been quite some time since this film was viewed over at Contra HQ, but soon some-to-be-announced news had us thinking about it last night. A blueprint for Riot Grrrl action, Pammy and Nicky take to NY's dirty 1980 streets christening themselves as The Sleez Sisters, and start a punk rock revolution. And frankly, how can you go wrong with a film filled with the sounds of Gary Numan, Talking Heads, The Cure, multiple scenes of smashing tvs, and Tim Curry as an influential DJ named Johnny LaGuardia?

Posted in Peliculas - Posted on Fri 30th November 2007 7.55AM No comments.