Strange Culture

This is an important movie to watch, especially for young adults and/or patriotic Americans who may not have heard about a tragic period in US history referred to as McCarthyism: a period when the government led an aggressive campaign against its own citizens looking for communist sympathizers- there was even a "House of Un-American Activities Committee" formed. Thousands were threatened, blacklisted, and arrested - mainly teachers, artists, folks in the entertainment business and government employees - guilty of nothing other than free thought.

Since 9/11, we and our government are acting hysterically. The events as captured in this film are evidence.

"Some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought." from Statement of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, June 1, 1950

i was blown away by this movie. It is nothing you would expect. It creeps up on you. It is a truly important film, and extremely timely. The footage is remarkable and varied. It is as if the film turns itself inside out so that you are right there, inside the movie, sitting right next to the actors, who are sharing intimate moments of themselves, candidly and without guile. The identity device is brilliant, and took me by surprise, even though there were clues along the way. The way the various elements were handled, from the comic strips to re enactments to interviews were skillful and well crafted. This is one of the the films that can make a difference because it brings an awareness of the repercussions of policies to a human level. I highly recommend this film.

This film is a must see if you care or about the arts in the current political climate, or for that matter if you care about civil liberties in general.

Strange Culture is very different from Lynn Hershman's other work--a unique documentary/narrative hybrid. An amazing and surreal performance by Thomas Jay Ryan. Though there is an amazing cast, the real star is Steve Kurtz, the Buffalo artist who is the subject of the film. Steve's heartbreaking retelling of his wife's death, and his subsequent arrest and legal wranglings is must see for anyone who believes are government is beyond reproach.

This film is powerful, heart wrenching, and an outrageous indictment of the current state of political affairs.

The Amazing Application of the Docudrama Genre in, Strange Culture (2007) (or, government exploitation of event to circumvent expectation of human rights in the fulfillment of social contract.)

The making of, Strange Culture, establishes a genre form within a genre, so elegantly does it apply both a storyline and it's backing with factual event but incorporates the "director's cut" inside to the making at the same time. Although a feat not for the faint of heart, the production carries its flow in a highly clarifying manner and with the very warmth of both actors and those they portray, seemingly caught up in a labor of love. Even more astounding when the viewer begins to realize the concerns at hand are wrought upon the innocent by a monstrosity that has come to be made in and by the aftermath of America's single greatest outrage, 9/11, exploited to mindlessly move this society closer to a police state.

The government's case against one man becomes solely a pursuit against both the academic world, the world of art and the rights of all to know from whence and by what manner their very food source comes; even the pseudo science employed in tampering with it genetically. A wake-up call we all need that touches upon every right we increasingly only presume to have.

That a group of learned professionals, utilizing their own artistic talents, scholarly knowledge base and friendship as colleagues could put together such a talented art exhibition so incredibly poignant to the social and health concerns of their audience would obviously draw the concerns of the powers that be, the kind of elite that own Monsanto.

In the end we do not know the designs of this most dubious actionable effort of government against its people was early-on instrumented. We do not know this, but we come to suspect it.

The laudable performance of the talented and hauntingly beautiful Tilda Swinton, the superb choice of casting Thomas Jay Ryan in the lead role, and the participation and obvious concern of Peter Coyote are wonderful extra attractions. Writer/director, Lynn Hershman-Leeson, has done far more than a successful job. To attest to this is the placement of a scene in which a group of grad students in a class are asked, "does anyone know about the McCarthy Era?" When no one replies, we immediately know the utter importance of this film.

JCH

It was President Roosevelt that told us, "The only thing you have to fear is fear itself." The Bush administration has put the country into a constant state of fear since 9/11, and the result is that we have been complicit in the removal of the very freedoms that make us unique in the world.

Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." The Bush administration is counting on the fear and ignorance of the American people to continue to allow them to build their tyranny in the guise of safety.

This is the story of how the government uses their tyranny to come down on those with whom they disagree. As stated so eloquently in the film, they no longer use the civil process, they have turned civil litigation into criminal litigation. They have also passed laws allowing them to lock up any of us at will.

This is a story of how an artist, Steve Kurtz, is persecuted by the government for daring to oppose the multi-national corporations that finance these sleazy politicians; but it is really the story of what could happen to every single one of us if we continue to sit in front of the TV and watch trash and let the government do what they will.