Transformer Politics, or How Obama Almost Destroyed the World?

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2009)

Except for being a relentless jumble of exploding cars and shattering metal, the Transformers are also a political allegory with a very clear message and, for me, this is what saved this otherwise mediocre film. The movie opens with an alliance of US troops and Autobots leading the war on Decpticons all over the world. The war is shown as destructive and with great amount of civilian casualties and yet needed for the survival of mankind. This is clearly an allegory for the war on terror. Halfway throughout the movie, a new president comes to power and is called "Obama" by name. The choice to use a real president's name is very important here, because many people consider Obama not simply yet another president but as someone absolutely new and different and this movie attempts to show us to where this new kind of president will lead us. Soon, the president decides that his alliance with the Autobots is the reason why the Decpticons attack humanity and demands that his robotic allies live Earth in hopes that this will appease his robotic enemies. It is interesting to note here that while the president issues an order demanding the Autobots leave, he does not make the same request from the Decpticons, nor does he in any way condemns their actions. This can be compared with how America is abandoning its ally and forefront in the war on terror, Israel, in favor of trying to negotiate some sort of a peace deal with radical Islam. Just as the fictional Obama demanded the Autobots leaved their new land, which is followed by the noble Optimus Prime's destruction at the hands of a horde of Decpticons, so does the real Obama demands Israelis leave their new land (stop the settlement construction) which the director implies will be followed by Israel's fall at the hands of the Arabs. A particularly poignant moment in which this approach is demonstrated is the scene where Sam is captured by Megatron. The boy admits to have killed Megatron in the past, says he understands the giant robot must be "annoyed*, I would be annoyed too" and then proposes to open a clean slate and start negotiations. This is almost a paraphrase of Obama's "historical" speech in Cairo and, repeated in this situation, it is shown just how naive and futile it is, in the face of a monstrous inhuman enemy that has a very long blood score to settle with you. The immediate result is an all-out assault of the Decpticons on Earth. Curiously, this attack is compared with 9/11 and it is explicitly stated that Obama hides in a bunker which, as you might remember, is one of the accusations liberals often made against Bush's conduct following the 9/11 attacks. The movie's grand finale, in which the fate of the world is decided, conveniently takes place in the Middle East on the Egyptian-Jordanian border. The heroes, out-gunned and outnumbered, have to rely on the aid of the Arab soldiers, who prove to be woefully incompetent and no match for the Decpticons. A curious fact is that Israel, with its powerful air force, also borders that same spot and yet the movie repeatedly ignores Israel's existence, to the point of Israel's name not appearing on Sam's map as he's driving in the area. In the last moment, however, we see the American army in all its glory (the scene looks almost like a "join the marines!" commercial) landing on the Egyptian shore, against the president's orders. The soldiers fight heroically and inflict considerable casualties on the enemy, but it is not until the Autobots join in to aid in the ungrateful humans, that the battle is finally won. Eventually, American and Autobot presence in the Middle East proved to be essential for humanity's survival while the "moderate Arab regimes" turned out to be a useless ally. As a side note, I would like to mention another shot the movie takes at the Obama administration. Torture (which Obama declared a war on) is shown in the movie in an extremely positive light. The information which Mikaela eventually wrestles for the tiny Decpticon she captured proves vital in saving the world from the Decpticon's plan. Had she treated her prisoner more humanely the Matrix would never have been found and the Fallen's plan to take out the sun would have went on unhindered.
*This isn't a quote from the movie. The original uses a slightly more explicit language.