Counterculture James

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2008)

Assassination tells us is not easy to go against the system, and the counterculture at the time was Jesse James.
The film achieved outstanding cinematography inside the last 10 years of cinema. Simply astonishing work from veteran Roger Deakins (Cohen bros. top man! See The Man Who Wasn't There) who overcame himself here.
The theme is also in vogue for some time, assassins, outlaws, and anyone else who fits the counterculture-against-the-system profile, is being reviewed by history or public opinion in a way with the helping hand of media. Well, not just media. I tell you why. In the film when they say people missed men like Jesse James, it is a reflection or comparison with all the crimes and the level of psychopaths out there nowadays, and it feels like men of the James Gang were not bad guys at all, even if considering time and place of facts. The complete detachment of responsibilities from society's leaders towards general public today, such as politicians, police, lawyers, doctors, corporative CEO's and so forth, shows the importance of these formerly labeled "outlaws". Mainly what they were trying to do was to go against The Man and today the bad guys can only target middle class people who are caught in between the shootouts of our life routine.
People of middle class are being thrown into the lions' dungeon like never before. I never saw as many betrayals and backstabbing even in movies like I've been seeing recently. And I'm not just talking about movies or art in general. It's coming to get us inside our homes! It feels like you can't turn your back anymore, even to a close relative!