I thought that this film totally failed. The footage looks like it came from a pharmaceutical ad with its shots of Modine leaning against a fence as the sun sets, walking wistfully through a market, etc. The concept of communism that we hear Modine wax about in voice-over is completely removed from history. So, according to Modine, Marx gives us a perverse version of communism while Jesus gives us a pure version of communism.
Speaking of taking things out of their historical context, Modine rolls a montage of iconic images of atrocities to make the point that humans are destroying each other: the execution of Ngyen Van Lem during the Tet Offensive, Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack, mushroom clouds. . . shown without any reference to their histories, these images seem like they're just in the film for shock value.
Modine's discussion of Jesus is extremely superficial and his discussion of Jewish law is even worse. Modine says that he's not religious, he's spiritual. I think he needs to learn more about religion and history for this film to be meaningful to anyone beyond those who are totally shocked by the idea that communism is not completely evil.
Speaking of taking things out of their historical context, Modine rolls a montage of iconic images of atrocities to make the point that humans are destroying each other: the execution of Ngyen Van Lem during the Tet Offensive, Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack, mushroom clouds. . . shown without any reference to their histories, these images seem like they're just in the film for shock value.
Modine's discussion of Jesus is extremely superficial and his discussion of Jewish law is even worse. Modine says that he's not religious, he's spiritual. I think he needs to learn more about religion and history for this film to be meaningful to anyone beyond those who are totally shocked by the idea that communism is not completely evil.
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