All The King's Men - Sean Penn, et al

[Eartaste]

There's not too many movies worth thinking about, much less writing about. This one is definitely worth thinking about. The performance by Sean Penn was a bit over-the-top, but even as I write this I am wishing and hoping that at some point in my life I would see a politician as over-the-top as Sean Penn. Turns out I respect over-the-top because there's so little of it in real life.

The movie is about many things. Corruption and politics is a major theme, and is intriguing because some of the same companies that were corrupting politicians when this movie took place are the same companies that corrupt politicians today. The ugly part of this truth is it's no longer something to be dug up, it's blatant and in our faces on a daily basis, and there's no one speaking out against it. It's just generally accepted that "that's the way it is, accept it and move on". The corruption is everywhere - in education, of all places - the one important place it shouldn't be, but there it is. And it's going to be there for many years.

It's blatant in the white house. No one denies it, and no one stops it. There's even corruption in the supreme court, yet who will even attempt to stop it? It's just like the biblical story - let he/she who is not corrupt throw the first stone. They all turn and walk away.

So what if a few people get extremely rich producing mediocre "tests" for our children to take every year they are in school? Doesn't it help the children? Ha! All the research says, no it doesn't help. So, what do we do? Well, we can't turn back the hands of time and stop making those few people even richer each year, can we? Why not? Oh, well then they'd stop contributing money to our party. And who's party is this? Certainly not a party the citizens are invited to, or even allowed to participate in.

So, the movie made me think. And write. And what else to do? I feel like Jude Law. What else to do. I feel like Robert Penn Warren. Observe. Comment. Observe. Comment. Observe. Comment.

Good movie.
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