Some people may not understand this movie

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2005)

Let's take one of the most obnoxious characters; Matt Dillon's Sgt Ryan. Not only does he stop people for no good reason, but harasses them sexually. He is a racist and insults people to their face. Yet he has a sick father who apparently can't afford medical care (at least until he has full-blown kidney failure.) He touchingly cares for him and at one point breaks down in tears. Should he be pilloried for being a racist? What is his problem? What theme runs through all the characters? Would Peter Waters and his friend steal cars if they had a car to begin with? Would Shaniqua deny medical care if medicine were free for everyone? Would the young officer have shot Waters in a panic if his tolerant views had been born out of social and loving experiences with black people, as opposed to theoretical, knee-jerk political correctness? Why is everyone so stressed out? There is only one answer, in my view. Capitalism diligently works to divide people and keep them helpless in the face of injustice. If Americans can blame "the other-the black, the Mexican, the Iranian,the Asian" then they don't have to consider that their lives are rat race, that they are unemployed or can be fired at any moment, that they can become homeless, that they have no medical care, that they have to toe the line against their better instincts or face the wrath of a corrupt system that demands corruption. None of these conditions are brought about by blacks, Mexicans, Iranians, Asians. They are brought about by the system, and the system is capitalist. This is entirely new ground in American movies, and it is encouraging.