walterradunsky

While SX_Tape is not one of the best written films directed by Bernard Rose, it is nonetheless wonderfully executed. As far as found-footage horror films go, this is the best and most terrifying one I've seen. I can only assume that the low ratings received for a film this well done and frightening has more than a little to do with the behavior of the films protagonists, which many critics found "hateful" and "annoying." One such user review is even a word-for-word copy of a review published in 1INFLUX Magazine. I'm guessing that the characters got so far under the critic's skin, he couldn't help but to discredit this film anyway he possibly could. But truly bad or mediocre films are not so provocative. The lead characters in SX_TAPE are in fact self-absorbed, careless, insensitively voyeuristic, sarcastic, and self-destructive; but so are a great deal of today's youth. While depicting a boyfriend choosing to film his girlfriend bleeding rather than turning off the camera and helping her is unpleasant, it is nevertheless an honest reflection of a society in which there have been so many instances of people using their cell phones to record videos of others in trouble instead of calling for help. Once again, Bernard Rose has held a mirror up to our faces, and many of the critics don't like what they see. And whereas critical reflections of society were once praised, in today's mob-ruled media, they are vehemently despised.

I can understand some of the attraction to 'Incendies,' as there are some well crafted elements of the film, including beautiful cinematography, superb acting, and a story that immediately draws the viewer into the world of its troubled characters. But what I find inexplicable, as well as frightening, is how so many people who have seen 'Incendies' appear incapable of seeing it for what it is, i.e., a Muslim propaganda film. While the protagonist of the story is an Arab Christian, her character clearly serves no other purpose than as a medium for illustrating completely unprovoked evils of her own people against the Muslims, who are all portrayed in this film as the most perfectly innocent victims one could possibly imagine. It is worth noting that the lead actress in Incendies also played a major role in 'Paradise Now,' a Palestinian film in which it is the Jews who are portrayed as the unprovoked tormentors of the Muslim people. While there have in fact been incidents of violence against Muslims by non-Muslims, there is a long and indisputable history of Muslims committing acts of violence upon not only non-Muslims but each other. And while I've seen much passion, beauty and poetry in films written by Muslims, I have unfortunately never seen a single one that even attempts to show any sympathy whatsoever with non-Muslims or that places any responsibility whatsoever upon the Muslim people for any kind of problem facing them. But equally disheartening is how many people--including some of those who are the objects of the lopsided demonization portrayed in so many Muslim-made films--subscribe to such blatant hatred and lies.

Peter Joseph's documentary, 'Zeitgeist: Moving Forward' cites a long list of social and economic problems and then in end proposes that the great solution to all these problems is more technological automation. In other words, rather than suggesting even a single socioeconomic reform, the filmmaker claims that the best way to solve all of our economic and social problems is by simply using technology to exponentially increase unemployment. I'm not sure whether Peter Joseph is trying to be conniving, is just plain stupid, or is simply like so many other Americans who are far too fixated on the next computer gadget and irreparably brainwashed with simple-minded and delusional ideologies to come up with any genuine social and economic advances. In any case, while much of the critique in 'Zeitgeist' is valid and even undeniable, it ultimately proves to be nothing more than a 2 1/2 hour infomercial.