Devious

Rating: 9/10 (23 March 2017)

The Coen brothers are geniuses and they once again show it in "Hail Caesar". The movie suffers as the directors use it as a mean to an end. What exists is a collage of scenes, with little holding them together and a script that lacks a plot in the classical sense or even a story arc. The brothers use satire and comedy to pass some highly controversial "images", avoiding, with the appearance of humor, the censorship all media and entertainment goes through today. Using the lack of intelligence, awareness and critical thinking of the perpetually offended, and of course some very skillful writing, the Coen brothers are able to present us with a brutal and savage portrayal of "golden age" Hollywood. Inspired in real events and persons, the filth, moral degradation and political decadence is all gloriously exposed. Particularly shocking and most worthy of compliment is the fearless assertion of the communists' use of film to introduce their political views in the entertainment of the unsuspecting masses. This is perhaps the first time I have seen such a claim in a Hollywood movie, at least told so boldly and explicitly. McCarthyism has long been vilified and the communists whitewashed by history and countless stories of injustices and broken lives produced, of course, by Hollywood. In hollywoodland no one was ever a communist and all were always falsely accused. In the movies, no communist in the "business" ever dreamed of using the power of the pictures to indoctrinate. Its obviously a myth. McCarthy had a base of truth and was needed in a time where a war of culture was being waged. Traitors undercover, scheming and sabotaging, could not have been allowed and had to perish. The absolute ridicule of the communists is staggering. Kidnappers! Ransoms! The Coen brothers are madmen! Also worthy of note is how Mannix and Hobie Doyle are the only two moral characters in the movie. Mannix is drowning in a sea of corruption and degeneracy, cleaning up the mess everyone else does, to keep the movie stars as a pure object of adoration for the audience. In the end he does it, not for the studio or for the stars themselves. He does it as a moral obligation, because its what's right. He's a family man, something the screenwriters of today loathe. He is also a devout catholic, another thing loathed by cultural Marxists. Hobie Doyle is a "good old boy", happy in his western movies. He's naive, eager to do the right thing as well. He's pure and basically happy to be alive. The Coen put him against one of Hollywood's directors, a suave, cultured man. The clash of the "redneck" and the intellectual is one the most amusing scenes and the Coen once again are savages. The director is arrogant, pretentious and superior. He complains that Hobie cannot act. He dismisses his good will and eagerness to learn. Later we find out he is an homosexual with a history of trading roles for sexual favors. Another Hollywood tradition. Another stab under the guise of humor. And so it is. One of the most brave movies in the last years. Its all there. And they never saw it coming. Bravo!
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