Brilliant political lesson

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2009)

Don't fall in the easy trap of the parallel with the recent proposition against same-sex marriage. Little to do. On one side a politician who knew what he was doing, on the other side amateurs who thought the battle could be won without real canvassing. Don't fall into another trap: the parallel with Obama's campaign on hope. Those two dimensions exist but they cannot be considered as the essential meaning of this film and certainly not the most important element about the story and the character, the real man behind this character. What is the main theme of this film? Though it speaks mostly of homosexuality, it is not about homosexuality, or at least not only. It concerns us all: it is about the freedom of each individual in our world to believe in, think as true and practice the life styles they want, the religions they want, the cultural, political, social, philosophical and all other imaginable orientations they want. This is written on The statue of Liberty and at the very beginning of the Declaration of Independence, and, though the film does not say, in the first amendment to the constitution. This is universal and this concerns some countries like France for example where some beliefs are supposed not to be expressed publicly in institutions like schools or public administrations by students or personnel. That universal freedom is one of the most denied freedoms in the world. Even today in advanced developed countries various orientations, and always in the name of privacy or private life which makes it an obligation for minorities to hide or be victimized, be they sexual or religious, or whatever. We can trust the human species to be segregative always and on unforeseen and unforeseeable subjects. The human species is fundamentally segregative and equality is a constant and never irreversible battle. The second important element has to do with political activism. A political campaign can only be victorious if it does not concern a narrow group and its privileges. It has to concern a fundamental right that may then concern the vast majority of the people: if that right is denied to one person in the whole social order, then that right is endangered for everyone. The only way to convince the vast majority of the population that this is so is to come out and show everyone that they have lived with some of these people all their life, as neighbors, colleagues, schoolmates or whatever. A right can only be won if the people concerned get out of the closet, cupboard or cabinet in which they lock themselves and start canvassing, provided this right they're going to canvass for is a right that everyone can claim or enjoy, not the privilege of the happy few, like retiring at 50 with a full pension. Canvassing requires courage and dedication, because it has to convince people and not force them into doing this or not doing that. The last element is that in the American society there is a very much privileged minority, the police. The situation is a lot better today with guaranteed diversity, when it is guaranteed, but still the spirit of being over the law because of the uniform or the gun is still very present in their minds. The latest of such events in France was the release by a cop of a piece of evidence against some accused people before these people had had the opportunity to defend themselves in court. In this film, the ex-cop kills the Mayor of San Francisco and a City Supervisor out of cold blood, after having broken into the city hall, and he only got five years of prison for manslaughter and not murder. That was practically an accident if we follow that line pr approach. But the film is very clear about the use of violence in politics: it creates a political backlash and even at times a social backdraft and not progress.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID