Don't Think Again

I have to say this movie will never have such great impact on me, a regular Brazilian, compared to what it could achieved if viewed by the people who actually lived in the US during the time these events took place. Having said that, this documentary had me feeling desperation over and over again. We are in trouble, folks. This is no joke, specially if you think this guy was once part of corporate America. I mean: there is no clear distinction between huge companies, government and just plain masterminding a war. Hope is a luxury I can only indulge in when I'm forgetful enough not to think about this sort of stuff.

The actual title for this movie is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , which is much more enlightening. Now, personally I had never taken any liking of my own on this guy called Sacha Baron Cohen. Not too bad, bot too good. This isn't about the quality of the humor, because what I think makes this movie is simply the quality of themes we joke around with. Borat is not a weird character, but he is sort of a proxy. I would like to write that he represents all that is bad in Americans, but I can no long afford such luxury, given that being in Japan has forced me to see the ugly side of other cultures, including my own. Plus, Borat is just so lovable... All that is gruesome and preposterous about our own cultures is exaggeratedly portrayed in the figure of our Kazakh friend Borat. He'll proudly speak about all of the worst things in his own culture. I think I've done that myself even today...

This post's title is not trying to portray an apparently random set of quality attributed to the events that happen in our daily life. Quite the opposite, actually. Trouble, struggle and peace. These would-be categories to sum it all up are no more than the way this random dude chose to see his personal life. I do separate trouble times and struggle times, which sometimes just feel like bundling together under yet another category: "desejo", which is the pt-br word for desire or wish. And that's the way it goes: you get into trouble, struggle with it for a while and when it's over, peace. Repeat. And that's the way life goes. I should make a video about this. I'm talking about expansion here, but expanding possibilities of life. I'm really getting into some friction with some aspects of the Japanese society. Personally, I am a man who enjoys hearing direct criticism. Now, mind you, it is not easy to actually criticize someone. This is the Internet...

I thought it'd be a good idea to (re)introduce this blog, now that I've done some shameless self-promoting on my Youtube channel . By the way, when I use the word "shameless" I literally mean it: I feel no shame at all in doing it. I'm not shoving down your throats something you don't want, I'm not trying to scam anybody into nothing. Shameless. On the other hand, I do feel compelled to clarify what goes on this particular communication channel. Personally, I guess I would have a lot of trouble if I had to tell someone specifically what the heck is it that I do around here. Is there really an answer to that? It's just like Youtube, in a way: you choose to do it at some point, and then things happen. Sure, I could talk about my channel in many ways: "Yeah, I do this youtube video thingy sometimes, kinda lika hobby or something... It's cool and all." "I have this skit in Portuguese in which I rant and ramble about stuff that happen...

This movie is hard to think about, and that's precisely what makes it amazingly fun and nicely intelligent. Make no mistake, when I say it's intelligent it's not about a political statement, a philosophical idea or anything like that. It's intelligent filming. You probably realized I'm not keen on lavishing compliments. Congratulations, Quentin Tarantino. You've outdone yourself. On one hand, all of the scenic and camera tricks are so well used that this would-be Hollywood popcorn movie becomes a worthwhile film, so to speak. On the other hand, it's so gruesome that it can't be taken seriously as some cinema theorist's attempt at... whatever. It's just too cool for that.

Every single time I try to talk about this film, it's awfully hard to even get people to understand that I don't mean "reducted" or something. And then I proceed to try and explain what the hell this film by Brian de Palma is about. I'm still to find a way to get 1% through of what you're exposed to by Redacted. As it turns out, this is a film that jams up our Hollywood-based distinctions between good and evil (Avatar turns out to be a very bad joke when compared to this). Personally, this film is like one of those signposts between the movies produced by the regular industry and this weird, newborn or yet-to-be parallel film "industry". It's very brutal because the knowledge that the footage itself isn't real doesn't change the fact that it actually happened, and that one of us could be doing it.