Statutory Warning: Rant ahead.
I watched Hacksaw Ridge, Moonlight, and Deepwater Horizon back to back and couldn't shake off the feeling that all three highlight the supreme stupidity and selfishness of the human race. Or is it just me?
Let me explain.
Hacksaw Ridge - War is SUCH a pointless exercise. Then AND now. And probably always will be. SO MANY GODDAMN LIVES LOST for what? The story shows the POV of soldiers in the US. What about those from Japan? They have families too. Soldiers who get blown away the moment they get to the battlefield, they don’t even get a chance to put their training to use, to feel like they contributed. Giving up their lives for their country is a laudable sentiment but does it make practical sense to rip out the hearts of so many people and psychologically scar millions to no actual benefit? One slew of bullets, immense pain, and there ends a life. Lets also think about the millions of people who find it difficult to accept that the person they love the most is gone forever, taken by war, making it difficult for them to get up in the morning, to put one foot in front of the other?
And war for what, really? I have yet to hear, in modern times, of any victors of war, of issues being laid to rest after a war.
Moonlight - The system is so fucked up; the bullies beat the living daylights out of a quiet kid in front of a crowd with no consequences but one single act of retaliation results in juvie and a life of drug peddling for the kid. He does not even KNOW what options he has in life to deal with the likes of his asshole mother and the bullies. He didn’t even stand a chance right from the beginning. How is that any way to let a fellow human being live? How does one live in excessive luxury peacefully with a clear conscience, when some people are literally scrounging the bottom of the barrel for basics like food, education, and safety. FUCKING PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY.
Deepwater Horizon - OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? You put in something as dangerous as an oil rig in the middle of the ocean and REFUSE TO MAKE SURE ALL THE SAFETY MEASURES ARE UNDERTAKEN to save some money? Are you shitting me? 12 families ripped apart at the seams and god-knows-how-much marine life and birds murdered – all because a corporation likes cutting corners. And the good guys don’t have the balls to put their foot firmly down whoever’s asses because, like everyone else, they need to keep the job, they need to put food on the table, they cannot afford to completely antagonize the assholes or it’ll mean starvation for them, both literally and figuratively.
Don’t get me wrong, the movies are well made and what I’m talking about is not even the main theme in any of these movies. But this overarching thread of human assholery caught my attention and I can’t seem to get past that.
I hate it when they say humans are capable of amazing acts of courage and kindness. To me, it is like saying that the child pooped in the potty - a moo point. We are *expected* to be brave and kind by nature. We are *expected* to be compassionate and sincere and honest, and use our sixth sense (that sets us apart from animals) for better things. Instead, we get caught up in greed for money and act like fucking morons, sending Earth and everything on it straight to hell in a hand basket.
If we keep going this way, we stand as much a chance of survival as a snowball in the Sahara and I'm not sure I'm entirely sad about that.
Fin.
