Since Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, I have been expressing a mixture of hope and doubt concerning the subject of 9/11 in movies. My hope was that more filmmakers would follow Lee’s example and grapple with an event that could no longer be pushed out of the backdrop of yet another New York crime thriller or witty romantic comedy; the city… return to article
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Reader Comments (14)Page 1 of 1 pagesWhen does one good act cancel out a horrific one? Does one negative + one positive = zero?
As a long-time critic of hollywood film racism and selling out, our dear Spike Lee hit the big caaaching! when he took the job of re-vamping the image of the army and directed many tv spots for our dear Uncle Sam.
I used to love Lee’s work, but an Army Of One isn’t even going to be forgotten by the families who have only a flag to point to as their memory of the aftermath of 9/11.
Spike Lee, how many “armys of one” did you create?
lisbeth west
Posted by lisbeth west on Sep 11, 2003 at 10:12 AM only a crazy person would ever condemn some one for supporting the UNITED STATES ARMY. I could see if you were mad at him for helping Bush or Clinton or whoever, but the ARMY? Those men and women are among the best our country has and for you to crticize spike for helping the army is insane. Not to go ann coulter on you, but that’s borderline treason.
What do the “army of one” ads have to do 9/11?
I don’t like Spike Lee because his movies are overdirected garbage, but helping the army is a good thing.
Posted by steve on Sep 11, 2003 at 2:31 PM Let’s give this up.
the media covered this story on
end for far longer than our
nervous systems could handle.
Don’t keep it up. let’s move on
and focus on peace. We need
light things right now. please!
Move on.......
Posted by Kfairbanks on Sep 11, 2003 at 2:56 PM I’m surprised at the negative review of what I thought was, at the very least, a decent examination of the meaning of September 11 to our posterity. Great film is was not, and certain elements were repugnant (the chaotic and badly acted Israeli short, the sentimentality of Sean Penn’s piece, etc.). But, overall, from a mainstream vantage point, the film’s message-that this event was not the worst calamity to befall humanity-was stunning. From the first short film’s naive declaration that 9-11 was an event which could trigger WW3 to the final observation that some men would prefer to be snakes (a traditionally odious symbol) rather than be of the same race which nukes the planet, the collection of shorts criticized America’s arrogance without too much dogma.
p.s. I also liked the juxtaposition of one short (french) almost entirely w/out sound and another (mexican) almost w/out image.
Posted by tracy kurowski on Sep 11, 2003 at 4:34 PM > not to go ann coulter on you, but
> that’s borderline treason.Hell, then call me a traitor, I don’t care anymore.
I am so sick of being told what is and isn’t “treason” - get over yourself.Screw this jingoistic nationalism.
The flag has shrunk wrapped peoples brains.
Posted by John on Sep 11, 2003 at 5:42 PM john-
did I call you a traitor? NO.If you are against the American army, if you choose not to support our troops, then you are a traitor. That’s it. Being a traitor is the worst thing you can be in America, and guess what, if you do not support our troops, go to syria, or iran, or canada, I don’t care, just get the hell out of here.
note: There IS a difference between supporting the govt and the army. If you’re against Bush’s ideas, then that is fine. However, if you want Bush’s policies to fail (for example, did you want America to lose the war?) that is anti-American. Once again, if you’re against the tax cut, that’s okay BUT if you’d rather the economy not rebound because of the tax cut was Bush’s plan then that is anti-American
Posted by steve on Sep 11, 2003 at 6:43 PM John,
I think the lesson here is you must keep your eyes down and not disagree with Bush, for to do so would be treason. This includes matters of war, even if that inbred juked-up Caesar has never heard a shot fired in anger himself.Steve,
one of Bush„s policies I would like to see fail is his Iraqi-killing policy.
Posted by Owen on Sep 12, 2003 at 11:35 AM whats funny about what owen said is that he clearly did not understand my rebuttal. I said that you can disagree with Bush.
I am interested in knowing when Bush declared death to iraqis as you said owen
Posted by steve on Sep 12, 2003 at 11:40 AM Hi Steve,
pardon me if I did not make myself understood. first we trained Saddam and stood by as he massacred his people for a couple of decades, even sending Rummy to have tea with the man at a time when his chemical attacks on his people were occurring on an almost daily basis, we fought a war to protect the patriarchal state of Kuwait against the man, and then left him in power, even letting him use his gunships to quell the Kurdish uprising after urging them to ®rise up® aginst him. Does nothing here strike you as a little odd?
Posted by Owen on Sep 13, 2003 at 9:27 AM Owen -
What’s the point in talking facts when a mind is submerged in the subliminal and washed clean of reason by a pack of lies that started with infamous rectangular paper in Florida....
Posted by Rita on Sep 16, 2003 at 11:41 PM definition of treason as per Merriam-Webster.com:
the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family
Posted by Rita on Sep 16, 2003 at 11:55 PM rita, the definition of the word treason has nothing to do with how Americans have come to understand the word. According the definition you presented, the American soldier who killed men in his own troop would be innocent of treason.
Posted by steve on Sep 17, 2003 at 9:05 AM steve
it is rather childish to try and call facts like rumfield and hussein’s meeting a lie or that the US supported saddam during the gas attacks against the kurds. these are facts the US gov. doesn’t even deny, so for the sake of decency and saving face , don’t make a fool of your self. even if you do say ridiculous things like not support baby killers is treason.
Posted by nelson on Feb 28, 2004 at 2:15 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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