Franny Armstrong's The Age of Stupid (2009) does a great service: in a pithy, entertaining way, it is conciousness-raising. How does it work? Several stories are interwoven in a way that draws the viewer in, from multiple perspectives: a world archivist in the year 2055 (played by Pete Postlethwaite, who died earlier this year), dudes from post-Katrina New Orleans, from Mumbai and France; Iraqi refugee kids living in Jordan; an English family that is trying to establish wind power in their area; and Layefa Malemi, a woman living in rural Nigeria. This approach most definitely personalizes the film, an interesting mix of documentary (present or near past) and fiction (the near future).
Much more to discuss with The Age of Stupid, which was released in that relatively brief period between Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (2010). It also happens to tie in perfectly with the "Arab Spring," "Occupy Wall Street" and other happenings of 2011 by showing how power structures and resource exploitation are more or less the same around the world -- and tied together.
Today's Rune: Opening.
2 comments:
people everywhere are much the same it would appear.
Sounds interesting.
Charles- Your comment kind of reminds me of the quote, 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.'
Post a Comment