2002 Talk About Movies
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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

TALK ABOUT MOVIES
October 2002

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Directed by Frank Capra. Starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains. 1939, 125 minutes, Black and White, English. Available at Blockbuster Video.

Matthew: Mr. Smith says that kindness and looking out for others is at the heart of American democracy. I think that's Capra trying to blend religion and politics in a pious, dangerous way. The founding fathers believed that men are essentially in conflict with one another. That's why they set up this government the way they did. So we have the states versus the federal, the government branches versus one another, the parties versus each other, in the hopes that we will neutralize each other's worst qualities and achieve the kind of compromise that we can all live with. But that's not love, that's tolerance at best.

Ernie: Still, I like the fact that the piety of this young senator refreshes the Washington types around him: the senate majority leader, the girl, the corrupt senator, the jaded newsmen. At first they told Smith, "You're going to get killed here. Go home." But later it was, "Don't go home, stay here and be a voice against what is going on here." I think it paints a fairly accurate picture of piety. Because it shows the suffering the pious man is going to endure but also the example he can be for others.