Saturday, 5 July 2014

Of Mice and Men
(1992)

Also known as:
Unknown
Year:
1992
Country of Origin:
USA
Predominant Genre:
Drama
Best Performances:
Sherilyn FENN John MALKOVICH Gary SINISE Ray WALSTON
Plot:
Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make money working the fields during the Depression so they can fulfill their dreams.
Themes:
Personal change | Self-expression | Compassion
Similar To (in Plot, Theme or Style):
Unknown
Review Format:
DVD

The greatness of this story lies in its simplicity, coupled with its ability to outline profound human truths through that very simplicity. It conveys great moral philosophy in a form that is understandable to all because all human life is there.

Essentially a two-hander about loyalty, friendship, love & trust, the movie employs excellent character actors to play the various types one would expect to meet in the world of itinerant farm laborers. The love-starved farmer’s wife, the sexually-immature farmer, the not-so-bright, the lonely and the morally upright. This movie is, in particular, a deeply-felt drama about male bonding in which men open up to each other emotionally in quite a natural and unforced manner.

As the title implies, the best-laid plans… are merely dreams that keep the generalized loneliness of the various peripatetics shown here at bay. They lack the communal and familial roots that give one a good reason to get up in the morning and to keep on going - they are simply going around in ever-decreasing circles until the end of their days.

That this movie has a downbeat ending would be an understatement, but it is not entirely unexpected and is, ultimately, strangely welcome and certainly dramatically satisfying.

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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.