Nihilist propaganda

Rating: 1/10 (27 March 2010)

If you're into nihilism, this is your film. It's hard to believe I sat through two hours of Eastwood's propaganda. Once again, virtues that most people value - friendship, loyalty, compassion, faith, truth, justice, love - are utterly trashed. Lawlessness and deception are extolled. Human existence is absurd, life without value,and conscience serves no purpose. Naturally, Eastwood's materialistic world view can make no sense out of something as tragic as pedophilia. I'm far from being puritanical, but I must say: evil pervades this film.
I've seen plenty of reviews lavishing (or should I say, squandering) praises on both the acting and directing. So what? Neither acting nor directing are value neutral. Excellence at the service of evil doesn't redeem either a story or a film. I realize that this brief synopsis of the moral morass Mystic River represents will not endear me to reviewers at IMDb. Vox populi - haven't 8 out of 10 already told us how wonderful the film is? This great majority has merely shown how incapable the average viewer is of showing the most basic discernment. Fortunately, most viewers don't live by the twisted values in the film. Save your time.