Thirsty

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Beyond Borders

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to see Angelina Jolie's shoulders (I'm a sucker for shoulders). But that's not what I wanted to talk about. What is more important is that I saw those shoulders in Beyond Borders, a highly weighty though quite erratic movie on love and war. The extremity of some of the images (small children without a single ounce of fat dying in the desert, a baby receiving a grenade from a Khmer Rouge rebel,...) is beyond words, but that is of course what director Martin Campbell intended. The message of this movie is clear: war is horrifying, in essence man knows only suffering and the only star that can be seen through the fumes of the moratorium is the one called 'unconditional love'. As a message it is as clear as the dentist's spotlight, as a movie experience it's just like being at the dentist's: although it hurts, you have to listen to his cheesy jokes. Beyond Borders shocks but the script lacks both solidity as well as intelligence. Anyway, it sure makes one think. We can either close our eyes for the horrors of this world or we can acknowledge them. But what can we do? Risk our lives? Throw away our individual 'self' for a higher cause? Can we become David the individual kicking the legs of mankind and its ever roaring ego called Goliath? This message-movie is food for thought and self-reflection, but don't expect dramatic talent. I suggest watching Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields for that.

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