So who among us, upon the release of The Princess Bride, could ever imagine the type of actress Robin Wright (Penn) would become? She was beautiful and tan and not particularly notable for being anything other than beautiful and tan. And now? All hooked up with Sean Penn, El Senor Hollywood Political Rabblerouser? And she's no longer so beautiful-- attractive in a brittle, fury-filled sort of way, sure, but certainly no longer the translucent and glittery princess.
And now, she makes movies like Sorry Haters. I saw a couple of previews for this movie on some other DVDs I'd rented recently but otherwise, I'd never heard of it. And why it hasn't gotten more attention is beyond me. Truly, this is what movie-making should aspire to. It's provocative and tough and mysterious... and it's Robin Wright Penn all the way down to her grown-out roots!
I can't even begin to offer a plot summary here as this is a movie that can only reveal itself as it's being told. But I can say that it touches on some momentous cultural hotpoints-- and is therefore, a delicious compliment to Paradise Now, which I also watched this past weekend. At its heart, Sorry Haters is a movie about the psychological repercussions of two women who were once friends but can no longer be so once they find themselves in different socio-economic strata. But that's not what makes this movie provocative and tough and mysterious. This movie is also about nostalgia for 9/11.
The idea that there are those among us who pine for the camaraderie, the victimhood, the nationalistic fervor that followed the terrorist attacks of that day is an idea so fucked up that it pushes me to the verge of vomiting, I swear. Regardless, this is a sentiment that I know exists. We liberals find it hard to believe but in the weeks following 9/11, President Bush had an approval rating of over 90%. That means that a ginormous portion of left-leaning Americans thought Bush's "We're gonna smoke 'im out" mentality was on the right track. I remember sitting on the floor in front of my TV, in a little shithole apartment in Tucson where the ghetto-birds (surveillance helicopters, for those not familiar with Tucson law enforcement) scanned my backyard nightly, sobbing and asking my then-girlfriend why no one was stopping to ask why these folks, half a world away, were so fucking pissed at us Americans, with our SUVs and our functional plumbing and our cheap $1.50/gal gas and our "democracy is right" moral superiority. I am NOT nostalgic. I am disgusted and ashamed that nary a single fucking American politician paused; took a moment to empathize with these angry men; thought, for even a split-second, whether their anger was justified--even a little. And so, this character that Robin Wright Penn plays? Man, do I hate her. I hate her for her extreme self-involvement. I hate her for her myopia. I hate her because she is every bit the self-satisfied, smug American that I am. I hate that she hates herself for all the wrong reasons. And most especially, I hate her because the evil which she perpetrates over the course of the story could so easily be discounted as psychosis-- as everyday, pedestrian insanity.
I maintain that there is something wrong with us--wrong with this country--if we've managed to cast ourselves in the role of "victim" here without ever being held truly accountable for all the evil we perpetrate out there-- out there around this globe-- because I know that someone out there will relate to this woman and cheer her on. And that someone won't be the *only* someone.
And so, quite simply, I cannot offer any sort of rational analysis of this movie. I can only imagine that Robin Wright Penn chose this role because she knew this movie would inspire impassioned responses-- from WHOEVER sees it-- fashioned from an incredibly broad spectrum of opinions. And therefore, this role might be the biggest risk she's taken to date-- and that's only in part because the movie doesn't even begin to take sides. In fact, it doesn't even offer clear-cut "sides!" What I mean is, if you sat 15 people in front of a screen and played this movie, they'd have 15 different arguments that they could make and support based on the content here alone.
And so, dear readers, I implore you: rent Sorry Haters. This story is an important square in the patchwork of the post-9/11 American thought process. It's meaningful in this way few pieces of American cinema can live up to. And no one's ever heard of this movie-- when it should be on the tip of EVERYONE'S tongue. In the end, it's the sort of film that gives me hope that artistic endeavor DOES still have SOME FUCKING RELEVANCE! C'mon, guys-- my paltry few-- don't let me down... see this thing!
4 comments:
I'm not going to rant about 9-11. I started the day angry, but by 8:30 that night I was asking "Why" and not getting an answer.
Yes, Marjorie, because I sympathize with terrorists.
What I will say is that I read The Princess Bride this week after finding it at the library quite by accident. And at work I was met with hostility for reading a book on my breaks. Even a book made into a movie that I saw before reading.
I told you I'm a nerd.
~D
Alas, all 3 of my regular readers are choir singers, aren't they?
My anger now, however, is the exact inverse of what it was then. At this point, I've written off even the most moderate of Republicans because, with their votes that flow along party lines, they're contributing to the perpetuation of a set of values that are exactly and pointedly antithetical to my own-- and so, my fury is now focused on this ineffectual crop of Democrats that are posing as "liberals" while they quite purposefully undermine the desires and values of their truest and most hardcore constituents.
Let's take, for example, this stem cell issue... when is someone going to just grow a pair and say, with emphatic passion, that retaining the so-called life of a millions of frozen, non-sentient clumps of cells is more important than, say, the ACTUAL life of someone who's already alive, someone who's already in possession of an identity out here in the world beyond the petrie dish, someone immensely talented who's book just got picked up for publication, just for example... But there is a fear that they'll alienate all those Christian fundamentalists, right? Well, what about me? What about alienating someone the likes of ME? I just feel this great rage welling up in me as this election approaches... and along with it comes the anxiety that not much will change because I haven't seen hide nor hair of an honest-to-god envelope-pusher since... since...since I've been the slightest bit politically aware.
And so, about all I can do is continually post raging blogs in which I sympathize with molesters and terrorists in a manner articulate enough to raise a hackle somewhere-- to at least begin a discussion that I wish with unremittent fervor were happening in a forum with a greater audience than that of which this puny little virtual diary can even dream.
And, just to say, I read the Princess Bride in high school. I still own a copy. It's awfully cute. And I can't begin to count the number of jobs in which I've gotten in trouble for reading... And sooner or later, I'll doubtlessly get busted for posting at work, too, I imagine.
So I guess you will have to make a sign for Damon too?
Ok M, I just put up another post. Not a very exciting one, just bitching about people not leaving me be!
Just one thing about Robin Penn Wright: I too love the Princess Bride, but she is a much better actress than in that movie. She has a lot more depth to her than she is given credit for.
Speaking of movies: I would like very much to go rent one, but my beloved Tower is going out of business! I'm so heartbroken. I hate blockbuster!
Jen--
I would argue that, these days, Robin Wright Penn has long since outgrown her Princess Bride reputation-- and I think she's pretty widely recognized-- with movies like She's So Lovely and White Oleander-- as one of the most risk-taking, bravest dramatic actresses out there-- She lacks the blockbusters of Nicole Kidman or Julianne Moore or Naomi Watts-- and she's tougher, less simpering and vulnerable-- more like the heterosexual Jodie Foster (pre-Contact (a movie I hated with desperation-- and ever since then, she hasn't done much that I've been impressed with)). It's just that she's not as mainstream as some of the more loudly touted actresses. But, her day is coming...I pretty much think that if she picked a role with more mainstream appeal, she'd be in the money for the big prizes. But she doesn't play Hollywood reindeer games. And I'm not exactly one to fault her for that.
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