Land of Plenty

Somewhere in Trona, a near-ghost town you pass through on the road to Death Valley, the full extent of Uncle Paul's delusions is demonstrated. And at that same moment, I realized he was the personification of post-9/11 America, raging, raving, striking blindly at false targets, and kidding ourselves that we are safer now that we've invaded Iraq without justification and reelected the worst U.S. president in history. The film promises there may be some hope for us. But only if we have the courage to stand on the edge of the abyss. The line that resonated most for me was that the 3,000 innocent people who died in 9/11 could not have wanted their deaths to lead to more dying. This movie was a masterpiece. It finally offered me a way to think about 9/11 and subsequent events without making me crazy and despairing.

Superb film. The digital gives the footage a nice effect. There were some great tight shots, and then wide angle landscape. A lot of effort has been put into the paranoia paraphernalia of Paul, and the way Wenders brings this out. I simply adored the way Wenders slotted the characters into a simple plot. I thought the character of Lana was a touch stale, but since she was meant to be the pacifist missionary I'm not sure how else the part could have been played. The social conditions present in the story did tend to be a bit reductionist and instructive, but far from annoying. I will agree with previous comments that it will appeal to European audiences more than American. However, I would disagree that the characters would have been like that before 9/11. It is precisely this tragedy that launches Paul into his hyper-paranoia, the beginnings of which emerged after his experience in the Vietnam war. I did laugh many times at Paul's lunacy. While very different characters, I enjoyed following the film through the eyes of both Lana and Paul. This film is ultimately a Wim Wenders comment on the US, pre and post-9/11. He deserves congrats for tackling the subject, and admiration for the way he went about telling some sides of the story. I will prefer this film to any Moore production, any day.

I really disagree with some American comments here, maybe just because I am European, I don't know, but anyway I liked that movie. It is stupid to think that Wenders wanted to represent into the main character a typical American, obviously it is just an extreme position about the fear of anything (common in USA), but it doesn't reflex the society, it is a product of it. It doesn't take a wonderful picture of USA, but at the same time it doesn't distruct it, it want just show the paradoxes of that land, it want to be watched like the "land of plenty" and it is not, but it doesn't mean to be the hell. I understand when Americans find only cliché inside, but some of them are true, your country has fear mania, not all of you but some. In Italy as well we say that everybody dislike Berlusconi, but he is prime minister. But now it's time to speak about the movie: it is nice, characters' work is well-made and elaborated, Location are incredible, they show another USA, different from other movies. I didn't like Michelle Williams because of dowson's creek, but here she is not bad, her character is understood by people, but I think it is the work of Wim.

A realistic and sensitive portrait of near reality after September 11. Not a manifesto, not a pledge. Only a fine, inspired work, mixing, in inspired manner, fears, traumas, family connections, death, paranoia and deep poverty, splendid performances and the courage to assume the truth. I adore the bitter delicacy, the honest, profound perspective, the air and the great job of Michelle Williams and John Diehl and the force of talent and exploration of nuances of Wim Wenders. Short, a beautiful, touching work.

This is a sort of anti-Wenders film. While most of his films are uplifting, beautiful and spiritual, _Land of Plenty_ is a brutal and unpleasant exposé of American paranoia. It's very well done, and it's frighteningly accurate. Still, I can't imagine any Americans will enjoy watching it.

If you're in denial, then you will be offended by this movie (like most of the negative reviewers here). So don't bother.

If you're familiar with the paranoia and bigotry that has enveloped this country then this movie will upset you, just as if you had a big wart on your nose, and someone made a film about it. So don't bother.

I believe the only people who could possibly enjoy this film are objective (non-American) viewers who do not feel the shame that this movie exposes.

I'm rating this film an 8 because it was well done, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It was just too excruciating for me (as it should be for all Americans who share the burden of what our country has turned into). Another film which falls into this category is _House of Sand and Fog_ which one critic called "the feel-bad movie of the year".

This movie made me feel like crap. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch _Lisbon Story_ 1000 times and try to recover from this.