An unscrupulous oil prospector is causing several deaths and environmental damage. One man opposes that.
Actioner with ecological concerns. The tone is self-parodic.
Rating: 31
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Coogan's Bluff (1968)
Second viewing; first viewed on December 7, 1987
A deputy sheriff from Arizona travels to New York to bring back a criminal.
This film is most notable for being a sort of paean to masculinity, a position that would subsequently become rarer and rarer in movies. Lately even films explicitly made for the male audience, including those made by this film's star, have increasingly veered into a compromised position of offering a sort of sanitized version of the male hero. That being said for this film, I found it lacking in the script area, especially after the good half hour in the beginning. The bad guys are totally cartoonish, and not necessarily in an interesting way. But it is very well made and overall a decent film.
Rating: 58 (up from 49)
A deputy sheriff from Arizona travels to New York to bring back a criminal.
This film is most notable for being a sort of paean to masculinity, a position that would subsequently become rarer and rarer in movies. Lately even films explicitly made for the male audience, including those made by this film's star, have increasingly veered into a compromised position of offering a sort of sanitized version of the male hero. That being said for this film, I found it lacking in the script area, especially after the good half hour in the beginning. The bad guys are totally cartoonish, and not necessarily in an interesting way. But it is very well made and overall a decent film.
Rating: 58 (up from 49)
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Terra É Sempre Terra (1951)
Second viewing; first viewed on August 23, 1992.
The rich and spoiled son of a wealthy landowner decides to visit his mother's farm and get acquainted with its problems. Once there he gets involved with the wife of the greedy administrator.
A bit simple-minded but effective rural drama. It reminded me a little of São Bernardo (1972), which was based on a 1934 novel. I couldn't follow some of the dialogue due probably to a poor sound recording, but enjoyed the film nonetheless. I cannot account for my previous unfavorable assessment, since the film deals with an interesting subject and is overall competently acted and filmed. Abílio Pereira de Almeida, who is also the author, here plays a part not too dissimilar from the one he played in Caiçara. Vinícius de Moraes, a local literary and musical celebrity, wrote an interesting review in Portuguese. Almeida Salles, a locally well-known film critic, is quoted as saying "there are optimally executed moments" and "the best score made for the cinema to this date in Brazil". An analysis of the dramatic use of sound in this film is found here.
Rating: 51 (up from 19)
The rich and spoiled son of a wealthy landowner decides to visit his mother's farm and get acquainted with its problems. Once there he gets involved with the wife of the greedy administrator.
A bit simple-minded but effective rural drama. It reminded me a little of São Bernardo (1972), which was based on a 1934 novel. I couldn't follow some of the dialogue due probably to a poor sound recording, but enjoyed the film nonetheless. I cannot account for my previous unfavorable assessment, since the film deals with an interesting subject and is overall competently acted and filmed. Abílio Pereira de Almeida, who is also the author, here plays a part not too dissimilar from the one he played in Caiçara. Vinícius de Moraes, a local literary and musical celebrity, wrote an interesting review in Portuguese. Almeida Salles, a locally well-known film critic, is quoted as saying "there are optimally executed moments" and "the best score made for the cinema to this date in Brazil". An analysis of the dramatic use of sound in this film is found here.
Rating: 51 (up from 19)
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Vera Cruz (1954)
Second viewing; first viewed on an indeterminate date before 1987.
After the American Civil War, a former Confederate officer goes to Mexico where another Civil War is going on. There he befriends another American who steals horses to resell them. They join the army of Emperor Maximilian as mercenaries and their first assignment is to escort a society woman to the seaside city of Vera Cruz, whence she will travel back to Europe. They suspect there is something more to that expedition, though.
It has been influential on subsequent American productions, and Italians too, over at least two decades. Viewed from today's perspective, it is basically a series of clichés; from a non-American point of view, it seems a bit arrogant in its glorification of Americans abroad. It is still an entertaining movie, though, and well filmed too. The stupidity of one piece of dialogue aroused my attention:
[begin quote]
Trane: They say that a thief in Mexico today can disappear like a puff of smoke. Is that true?
Nina: You can see smoke disappear.
[end quote]
Rating: 67 (down from 81)
After the American Civil War, a former Confederate officer goes to Mexico where another Civil War is going on. There he befriends another American who steals horses to resell them. They join the army of Emperor Maximilian as mercenaries and their first assignment is to escort a society woman to the seaside city of Vera Cruz, whence she will travel back to Europe. They suspect there is something more to that expedition, though.
It has been influential on subsequent American productions, and Italians too, over at least two decades. Viewed from today's perspective, it is basically a series of clichés; from a non-American point of view, it seems a bit arrogant in its glorification of Americans abroad. It is still an entertaining movie, though, and well filmed too. The stupidity of one piece of dialogue aroused my attention:
[begin quote]
Trane: They say that a thief in Mexico today can disappear like a puff of smoke. Is that true?
Nina: You can see smoke disappear.
[end quote]
Rating: 67 (down from 81)
Monday, April 20, 2015
La double vie de Véronique (1991)
Second viewing; first viewed on June 15, 1995.
English title: The Double Life of Véronique.
Weronika is a Polish woman who goes to Kraków to visit her sick aunt and over there finds a position as a lyrical singer. Her lookalike Véronique is a music teacher who lives in Paris and falls in love with a puppeteer and writer of children's books. The film deals consecutively with each of these two women.
I didn't get it on my first viewing; I may have gotten it now, albeit imperfectly. The main consideration is the difference in style between the two parts. This has been ascribed to a difference in temperament between the two protagonists; there must be a correlation indeed. The story of Weronika is intensely naturalistic and unsentimental, whereas that of Véronique is cerebral and kitsch. The relationship between the two may bear an analogy to the two-part nigtmare of Mulholland Drive. Yet the order here seems to have been reversed: Weronika seems much more real than Véronique; would it be too much of a stretch to construe the second story as Weronika's dying dream? A joke has a prudent aunt preparing her will, since the women in her family all have sudden deaths. Véronique profits from her alter ego's disastrous experience. But does she really?
Rating: 50 (up from 10)
English title: The Double Life of Véronique.
Weronika is a Polish woman who goes to Kraków to visit her sick aunt and over there finds a position as a lyrical singer. Her lookalike Véronique is a music teacher who lives in Paris and falls in love with a puppeteer and writer of children's books. The film deals consecutively with each of these two women.
I didn't get it on my first viewing; I may have gotten it now, albeit imperfectly. The main consideration is the difference in style between the two parts. This has been ascribed to a difference in temperament between the two protagonists; there must be a correlation indeed. The story of Weronika is intensely naturalistic and unsentimental, whereas that of Véronique is cerebral and kitsch. The relationship between the two may bear an analogy to the two-part nigtmare of Mulholland Drive. Yet the order here seems to have been reversed: Weronika seems much more real than Véronique; would it be too much of a stretch to construe the second story as Weronika's dying dream? A joke has a prudent aunt preparing her will, since the women in her family all have sudden deaths. Véronique profits from her alter ego's disastrous experience. But does she really?
Rating: 50 (up from 10)
Hero and the Terror (1988)
O'Brian, a cop, has recurrent nightmares with a criminal who almost killed him and was then placed in a psychiatric institution. O'Brian is moving in with his pregnant girlfriend, who is somewhat reluctant to do it because she values her independence. A series of murders in the same style of the aforementioned criminal makes O'Brian face his fears once again.
Variation of The Phantom of the Opera. Here, the poetic notion of someone who has a sublime soul hiding under a monstrous appearance is put aside in favor of monstrosity both inner and outer. The two strands of the plot are allegorically related: the repressed fear of rejection by the loved one manifests itself as fear of an invincible monster. Too bad the film's actual deployment of those ideas is so trivial.
Rating: 30
Variation of The Phantom of the Opera. Here, the poetic notion of someone who has a sublime soul hiding under a monstrous appearance is put aside in favor of monstrosity both inner and outer. The two strands of the plot are allegorically related: the repressed fear of rejection by the loved one manifests itself as fear of an invincible monster. Too bad the film's actual deployment of those ideas is so trivial.
Rating: 30
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Goldfinger (1964)
Second viewing; first viewed on an indeterminate date before 1987.
A British intelligence agent investigates a case of gold smuggling and discovers a much creepier plot.
To be frank, this is a film for kids, or, to use present (and preciser) terminology, adolescents. That does not stop it from being brilliant from start to finish. The funniest thing about it is, as one person observed in IMDB's discussion board, that its hero is feckless throughout most of it (except in the operation in the prologue, which constitutes, in my opinion, undue interference in a foreign nation's affairs). A thorough plot summary and some interesting analysis may be found in Christopher Mulrooney's notes.
Rating: 75 (unchanged)
A British intelligence agent investigates a case of gold smuggling and discovers a much creepier plot.
To be frank, this is a film for kids, or, to use present (and preciser) terminology, adolescents. That does not stop it from being brilliant from start to finish. The funniest thing about it is, as one person observed in IMDB's discussion board, that its hero is feckless throughout most of it (except in the operation in the prologue, which constitutes, in my opinion, undue interference in a foreign nation's affairs). A thorough plot summary and some interesting analysis may be found in Christopher Mulrooney's notes.
Rating: 75 (unchanged)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Second viewing; first viewed on an undetermined date before 1987.
A convict is sent to a high-security prison in the Alcatraz island. He devises an escape plan.
While this is probably one of the most excellently made films of all times, down deep it is little more than a mechanical entertainment device. It also gives a problematic answer to its dramatic problem of engaging the viewer's empathy: it turns bad guys into good ones and good ones into bad. As that is precisely what the zeitgeist required (and still does, apparently), it was no problem at all, actually.
Rating: 64 (unchanged)
A convict is sent to a high-security prison in the Alcatraz island. He devises an escape plan.
While this is probably one of the most excellently made films of all times, down deep it is little more than a mechanical entertainment device. It also gives a problematic answer to its dramatic problem of engaging the viewer's empathy: it turns bad guys into good ones and good ones into bad. As that is precisely what the zeitgeist required (and still does, apparently), it was no problem at all, actually.
Rating: 64 (unchanged)
Saturday, April 18, 2015
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Second viewing (first with original audio); first viewed on March 12, 1996
A truck transporting prisoners has an accident and two of them, chained to each other, escape, being subsequently chased through a country area.
It is very well filmed, and a remarkable collection of stills might be extracted from any part of it. The movie is also well written and flows at a nice, entertaining pace. All that being said, this is clearly a film with a message, and, furthermore, one that does not appeal to me. It stands on a foundation of radicalized Marxism, its thesis being that race differences are irrelevant in the face of capitalist oppression. Its relativistic view of crime is also typically left-wing; the script is, in this regard, fairly sophisticated in that it has two agents of repression, one (the sheriff) a liberal and the other (the military) a reactionary. The liberal sheriff is an important piece of this puzzle, as he evolves to a realization of his own proletarian condition and thus partially identifies with his targets of persecution (who are more properly categorized as lumpen-proletariat). Why do I call it "radicalized" Marxism? Well, this framework is not exactly what Marx postulated. He never, as far as I know, factored race into his writings, and also didn't consider the lumpen-proletariat as revolution material. This film's diretor would in subsequent films further pursue his leftist agenda, and I suppose Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is the inevitable corollary to The Defiant Ones: after all, if whites and blacks are stuck with each other as implied here, they might as well marry each other and thus extinguish their differences. As a side note, speaking of this director, his It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World looks strangely out of place amid his filmography. Perhaps the persons who were in charge of allocating scripts had a conversation and one of them described it as a "race movie", which prompted someone else to suggest to "hand it to Mr. Kramer".
Rating: 67
A truck transporting prisoners has an accident and two of them, chained to each other, escape, being subsequently chased through a country area.
It is very well filmed, and a remarkable collection of stills might be extracted from any part of it. The movie is also well written and flows at a nice, entertaining pace. All that being said, this is clearly a film with a message, and, furthermore, one that does not appeal to me. It stands on a foundation of radicalized Marxism, its thesis being that race differences are irrelevant in the face of capitalist oppression. Its relativistic view of crime is also typically left-wing; the script is, in this regard, fairly sophisticated in that it has two agents of repression, one (the sheriff) a liberal and the other (the military) a reactionary. The liberal sheriff is an important piece of this puzzle, as he evolves to a realization of his own proletarian condition and thus partially identifies with his targets of persecution (who are more properly categorized as lumpen-proletariat). Why do I call it "radicalized" Marxism? Well, this framework is not exactly what Marx postulated. He never, as far as I know, factored race into his writings, and also didn't consider the lumpen-proletariat as revolution material. This film's diretor would in subsequent films further pursue his leftist agenda, and I suppose Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is the inevitable corollary to The Defiant Ones: after all, if whites and blacks are stuck with each other as implied here, they might as well marry each other and thus extinguish their differences. As a side note, speaking of this director, his It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World looks strangely out of place amid his filmography. Perhaps the persons who were in charge of allocating scripts had a conversation and one of them described it as a "race movie", which prompted someone else to suggest to "hand it to Mr. Kramer".
Rating: 67
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958)
Second viewing; first viewed on June 2, 1996.
English title: Elevator to the Gallows.
An executive plots with his lover the murder of her husband, who is also his boss. However, things have a way of not happening as planned.
Gripping crime thriller. Several details of the plot are not carefully thought out, but that doesn't spoil the fun. It's a bleak film where none of the main characters prompts empathy on the viewer. They are not only amoral, but a bit ridiculous too. References to Algeria and World War II add to the prevailing sordid mood, and the jazz score wraps it all up in melancholy. It is not, however, the brilliant work I perceived it to be on my first viewing.
Rating: 64 (down from 75)
English title: Elevator to the Gallows.
An executive plots with his lover the murder of her husband, who is also his boss. However, things have a way of not happening as planned.
Gripping crime thriller. Several details of the plot are not carefully thought out, but that doesn't spoil the fun. It's a bleak film where none of the main characters prompts empathy on the viewer. They are not only amoral, but a bit ridiculous too. References to Algeria and World War II add to the prevailing sordid mood, and the jazz score wraps it all up in melancholy. It is not, however, the brilliant work I perceived it to be on my first viewing.
Rating: 64 (down from 75)
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Jude (1996)
Based on the 1895 novel Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy.
A working-class man has dreams of becoming a scholar. His first marriage is a failure. He later falls in love with his cousin.
I guess the above synopsis is to this film what this film is to the source novel. If you like synopses and abridgements, I guess you will like the movie. As for myself, it prompts me to speculate I wouldn't like the novel much. I also speculate it could be construed as a joke. A very obscure one the theme of which could be speculated to be the consequences of letting sex govern one's life.
Rating: 50
A working-class man has dreams of becoming a scholar. His first marriage is a failure. He later falls in love with his cousin.
I guess the above synopsis is to this film what this film is to the source novel. If you like synopses and abridgements, I guess you will like the movie. As for myself, it prompts me to speculate I wouldn't like the novel much. I also speculate it could be construed as a joke. A very obscure one the theme of which could be speculated to be the consequences of letting sex govern one's life.
Rating: 50
Monday, April 13, 2015
Paper Moon (1973)
Second viewing; first viewed on December 24, 1988.
In Kansas, at the time of the Great Depression, a con man associates with a 9-year-old child and they roam the State applying confidence tricks.
It draws its greatest appeal from the notion of a child who can't be outsmarted; the actress in this part is extremely successful in conveying that notion. The growing affection between father and (possible) daughter is intelligently constructed in dramatic and comedic terms. A very neat script makes it all entertaining.
Rating: 68 (unchanged).
In Kansas, at the time of the Great Depression, a con man associates with a 9-year-old child and they roam the State applying confidence tricks.
It draws its greatest appeal from the notion of a child who can't be outsmarted; the actress in this part is extremely successful in conveying that notion. The growing affection between father and (possible) daughter is intelligently constructed in dramatic and comedic terms. A very neat script makes it all entertaining.
Rating: 68 (unchanged).
Sunday, April 12, 2015
La leggenda del santo bevitore (1988)
Second viewing; first viewed on February 24, 1992.
English title: The Legend of the Holy Drinker
Based on the 1939 novella Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker, by Joseph Roth.
A bum meets a mysterious man who gives him 200 francs; he says he would like to pay the man back some day, and his benefactor tells him that, if he feels he has to, he should make a donation at the altar devoted to Thérèse de Lisieux. The bum then goes on to reencounter, by chance, several past acquaintances of his; he also makes some new ones. All this while, he tries to deliver the money he owes the saint.
I thought I should give this film a second chance, but it seemed even worse than on my previous viewing. It is incredibly slow-moving and not always clear about what it is trying to convey, either emotionally or intellectually. I can only speculate about a possible discrepancy of tone between the film and its literary source (I haven't read it). The main performance is amazing, though; I guess it justifies the movie, sort of.
Rating: 42 (down from 47)
English title: The Legend of the Holy Drinker
Based on the 1939 novella Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker, by Joseph Roth.
A bum meets a mysterious man who gives him 200 francs; he says he would like to pay the man back some day, and his benefactor tells him that, if he feels he has to, he should make a donation at the altar devoted to Thérèse de Lisieux. The bum then goes on to reencounter, by chance, several past acquaintances of his; he also makes some new ones. All this while, he tries to deliver the money he owes the saint.
I thought I should give this film a second chance, but it seemed even worse than on my previous viewing. It is incredibly slow-moving and not always clear about what it is trying to convey, either emotionally or intellectually. I can only speculate about a possible discrepancy of tone between the film and its literary source (I haven't read it). The main performance is amazing, though; I guess it justifies the movie, sort of.
Rating: 42 (down from 47)
Saturday, April 11, 2015
The Boston Strangler (1968)
Second viewing; first viewed on September 8, 1990.
A series of murders by strangling of women in the Boston area terrify the female population. The police interrogates every suspect of sexual misconduct in the area of the crimes.
Anyone who read the Wikipedia page for the real Boston Strangler case will see that this film is merely a work of fiction with very little respect for the known facts of that case. As for the psychiatric discourse that the movie puts in display, I, speaking from a layman's perspective, say that one should not take it too seriously. All that being said, the film impresses for its formal creativity.
Pan-and-scan viewing, except for the split-screen parts.
Rating: 50 (down from 64)
A series of murders by strangling of women in the Boston area terrify the female population. The police interrogates every suspect of sexual misconduct in the area of the crimes.
Anyone who read the Wikipedia page for the real Boston Strangler case will see that this film is merely a work of fiction with very little respect for the known facts of that case. As for the psychiatric discourse that the movie puts in display, I, speaking from a layman's perspective, say that one should not take it too seriously. All that being said, the film impresses for its formal creativity.
Pan-and-scan viewing, except for the split-screen parts.
Rating: 50 (down from 64)
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)
A bunch of kids go out on a camping trip. A boating race takes most of the screen time, with a rivalry ensuing between the newcomers and some veteran kids.
This is apparently the first Peanuts cartoon that I see. The odd thing is that it seems distinctly aimed at an audience of kids, whereas the comic strips didn't usually give me such an impression. Anyway, I am not able to assess a movie's success at reaching its target audience, only its success at reaching me, and this film didn't greatly succeed at that. From my perspective, this seems just a pedestrian attempt at assembling some run-of-the-mill camping situations and apportioning a slice of the action for each of the characters according to their well-established characteristics.
Rating: 32
This is apparently the first Peanuts cartoon that I see. The odd thing is that it seems distinctly aimed at an audience of kids, whereas the comic strips didn't usually give me such an impression. Anyway, I am not able to assess a movie's success at reaching its target audience, only its success at reaching me, and this film didn't greatly succeed at that. From my perspective, this seems just a pedestrian attempt at assembling some run-of-the-mill camping situations and apportioning a slice of the action for each of the characters according to their well-established characteristics.
Rating: 32
Wednesday, April 08, 2015
The Innocents (1961)
Second viewing; first viewed on October 27, 1989.
Based on the novella The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, first published in 1898.
At a country estate, a new governess is hired to look after two orphaned children. She begins to have visions of dead people and to question the children's behavior.
A lot of care has been put on the aesthetics of the film, usually to good effect (though I cannot provide a perfect assessment of that for lack of a widescreen copy). The basic plot point is the possibility of deleterious influence that the children may have received from adults prior to the new governess's arrival. The ghosts as narrative devices serve two complementary purposes: providing clues for the new governess about the events prior to her arrival, and putting in doubt her sanity. The basic moral point is perhaps the danger of destroying what one is trying to save. An interpretive angle which I am not sure is in the novella, and is considered more controversial, is that of the psychological phenomenon of projection, especially in dealing with children. The governess might be projecting her own sexual fantasies onto her perception of the children. Thus, it is their very innocence which allows guilt to be projected onto them, as on a blank slate.
(pan-and-scan copy)
Rating: 71 (down from 85)
Based on the novella The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, first published in 1898.
At a country estate, a new governess is hired to look after two orphaned children. She begins to have visions of dead people and to question the children's behavior.
A lot of care has been put on the aesthetics of the film, usually to good effect (though I cannot provide a perfect assessment of that for lack of a widescreen copy). The basic plot point is the possibility of deleterious influence that the children may have received from adults prior to the new governess's arrival. The ghosts as narrative devices serve two complementary purposes: providing clues for the new governess about the events prior to her arrival, and putting in doubt her sanity. The basic moral point is perhaps the danger of destroying what one is trying to save. An interpretive angle which I am not sure is in the novella, and is considered more controversial, is that of the psychological phenomenon of projection, especially in dealing with children. The governess might be projecting her own sexual fantasies onto her perception of the children. Thus, it is their very innocence which allows guilt to be projected onto them, as on a blank slate.
(pan-and-scan copy)
Rating: 71 (down from 85)
Monday, April 06, 2015
Yoidore tenshi (1948)
English title: Drunken Angel
In a poor and crime-infested neighborhood of a Japanese city, a strong-tempered, sake-drinking doctor devotes himself to fighting illness amid the poor people. He starts treating a proud gangster who has tuberculosis.
Social drama with some entertaining value. The main problem with medically-themed movies is that its real villain is a bug or another non-human entity with which it is hard to establish an emotional link. That is perhaps the reason why the subtheme of alcoholism has been introduced. But here, too, human agency is questionable by today's standards which deem that habit as a disease. Anyhow, there is a very understated implication that the gangster is a sort of mirror image of the doctor. The main point of the film is probably the influence of environment upon the fate of people.
Apparently there was a longer director's cut which has been lost.
Rating: 51
In a poor and crime-infested neighborhood of a Japanese city, a strong-tempered, sake-drinking doctor devotes himself to fighting illness amid the poor people. He starts treating a proud gangster who has tuberculosis.
Social drama with some entertaining value. The main problem with medically-themed movies is that its real villain is a bug or another non-human entity with which it is hard to establish an emotional link. That is perhaps the reason why the subtheme of alcoholism has been introduced. But here, too, human agency is questionable by today's standards which deem that habit as a disease. Anyhow, there is a very understated implication that the gangster is a sort of mirror image of the doctor. The main point of the film is probably the influence of environment upon the fate of people.
Apparently there was a longer director's cut which has been lost.
Rating: 51
Friday, April 03, 2015
Nora inu (1949)
English title: Stray Dog
A rookie cop has his gun stolen from him while in a bus ride. He becomes obsessed about recovering it, and is assigned by his superior the task of catching the thief and, later on, the person who uses the weapon to commit further crimes.
Entertaining and well-filmed police procedural. The style eschews economy, the film lingering instead extensively over each episode, developing it into plenty of images, the most extreme case of this being the sequence at the baseball stadium where several shots of the game are interspersed with the actual plot scenes. This unhurriedness seems to be a characteristic feature of East Asian cinema. Many thematic threads have been noted by reviewers, but I think an especially noteworthy one is the fundamental need to oppose evil, and the realization that in order to meet that need we must curb our empathy towards perpetrators of evil to a minimum.
Rating: 60
A rookie cop has his gun stolen from him while in a bus ride. He becomes obsessed about recovering it, and is assigned by his superior the task of catching the thief and, later on, the person who uses the weapon to commit further crimes.
Entertaining and well-filmed police procedural. The style eschews economy, the film lingering instead extensively over each episode, developing it into plenty of images, the most extreme case of this being the sequence at the baseball stadium where several shots of the game are interspersed with the actual plot scenes. This unhurriedness seems to be a characteristic feature of East Asian cinema. Many thematic threads have been noted by reviewers, but I think an especially noteworthy one is the fundamental need to oppose evil, and the realization that in order to meet that need we must curb our empathy towards perpetrators of evil to a minimum.
Rating: 60
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
