Dangerous, as we know.

Rating: 1/10 (15 December 2007)

Between hobnobbing in Martha's Vinyard, Spielberg has, as we know, been trying to claim the holocaust, slavery, war, and other ethical properties as his (American) own. Now there is an ambition.
The message for this film can well be construed as Do What the General Says, Because It's the Right Thing to Do. Feel Good About Agonizing Over This Question, But Do What The General Says (AKA "shoot and weep"). It's an old (my apologies) Fascist trick. Raise a genuinely important, painful issue, then sooth the pain with a quick, unambiguous appeal to both duty and moral recognition, the split between moral recognition and action here acts as the ethical seal of approval. Would we not all like life to be so simple...Sadly there have been other cases in more recent history where a similarly confident recommendation, Bear the Pain of Pulling that Trigger with Loyal Pride, seem to have landed everyone in serious trouble. History may never repeat itself, but Spielberg is out to prove us wrong.
Rating should, perhaps, be, not quite "1" for "awful," but rather "10" for inducing shock and awe.