A Movie You Should See, And A Book That You Should Read
A Movie You Should See, And A Book That You Should Read
By
Ken Eliasberg
As I indicated weeks ago, I really didn’t want to write anything about Obama — for 2 reasons: (1) I wanted to give the man his honeymoon, and (2) I didn’t want to appear to be a sore loser, offering up sour grapes along with whatever legitimate criticism seemed appropriate. However, as I also indicated, given the legislative hurricane that Obama has visited on us, it was impossible not to respond; America might well have been gone before I had a chance to even make an observation, let alone deliver a critical evaluation. That said, I’d like to step outside of the vortex of the Obama tornado this week and offer my readers a couple of items that I believe will both enrich their existence, while, at the same time, staying close to keeping them in touch with the events that are currently influencing, and will continue to influence and affect, our well being for the foreseeable future. I want to recommend a movie for you to see, and a book that I believe that you should read.
First the movie — it is The Stoning of Soraya M, written and directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. It is based on a book written by Freidoune Sahebjam, and, while a novel, nonetheless vividly portrays events that actually transpired; what it really is is the face of our enemy — barbarism. Or, without meaning to effect too cute a play on words, welcome to the stone age! This film might aptly be described as beauty and the barbarians. The beauty is in the artistry of this film — the cinematography is superb; the storytelling excellent, and the movement of the film glues you to your seat.
In the Stoning of Soroya M, Nowrasteh has outdone himself. He hasbrought forth a movie that must be seen for its message, and that must be viewed for the artistry with which he has delivered that message. If there is truth in the old saw that one picture is worth a thousand words, then the Stoning of Soraya M is worth all the words that one can bring to bear! I don’t want to go into too much detail about the movie because first, and foremost, I want you to see it, and second, because my words, no matter how well chosen, cannot do justice to this film. Suffice it to say that it graphically portrays the backward brutality of living under Sharia law, and the horror that it can bring to bear even on trumped up charges when living in a completely misogynistic society. The brutality of sharia in this context was so shocking that I found myself, almost unconsciously, reaching out to take hold of my spouse to make sure that she was safe and sound. What kind of society treats women in this manner? Indeed, what kind of culture treats animals in this manner? Why are these people so scared of women?
The movie delivers a message — one that I believe America very much needs to receive. I hate to use words like riveting, or gripping, etc. but the movie is all that and more. I cannot recommend this movie too strongly; if you have not been paying attention to what’s happening in some parts of our world today, this movie will return you to reality and make it very difficult for you to leave again. It is a movie that you will never forget, and, hopefully, the memory will be so indelibly etched on your psyche that it will encourage you to do whatever you can to make certain that sharia is a reality that is never visited on our wonderful country. Please, go see this movie; it is playing at the Laemmle Theatre in Pasadena (as well as various other theatres in other parts of Southern California).
Another artistic rendering that I commend to your attention is a wonderful new book United In Hate — The Left’s Romance With Tyranny and Terror (“United”), WND Books (2009) by Jamie Glazov. Glazov is the managing editor of the website Frontpagemag.com, David Horowitz’s website (and I believe that Horowitz’s own publication, Unholy Alliance — Radical Islam and the American Left, Regnery Publishing, Inc. (2004) would be a useful companion read). United not only further illuminates the backward mentality of the barbarians with whom we are at war, but, in doing so, it provides useful insight into the pathology of the left in this country, which almost always favors our enemies over us, whatever the context might be. For example, what sort of moron advances the argument subsequent to the horror of 9/11 that its victims were somehow complicit because of their government’s policies, i.e. there were no “innocent civilians.” Or, asserts, following the outrageous slaughter in Mumbai, that the perpetrators were not evil. Only a mindless academic could come up with something so preposterous, and these are the imbeciles who are teaching your children about their country. Clearly, we have gone from pedagogy to propaganda; as I previously observed, what we have in our schools today is a Hitler youth movement in reverse, i.e. teaching our kids to hate their country (even Hitler got the point here).
The left, of course, would never cop to this; indeed, I doubt if they would even acknowledge the existence of their America-hating predisposition. Hell, they won’t even cop to being “liberal.” What they would probably say, as I have previously observed, is that we are just trying to improve America (how? by first destroying every one of its foundational principles??). By the way, this isn’t personal with me; I value free speech too much to try to restrict it in any way, let alone ban it. That said, while I can accept arguments that are intellectually shallow (threadbare might be a better way of characterizing these rants) and so ideologically biased as to preclude even a small ray of reason breaking through the darkness of these closed (and limited) minds, what I find difficult to accept is this chronic readiness to find your own country at fault, whatever the circumstances. Please don’t misunderstand, I am a great believer in constructive self criticism; I am not, however, a believer in meaningless destructive self-flagellation. Indeed, if these people find their country so deficient, why do they remain here?
United does a masterful job in both outlining the history of the left-wing’s romance with our enemies — any enemy, from Castro to Pham Van Dong and Ho Chi Minh, from Stalin to Mao, from Pol Pot to the Sandinistas to Al Qaeda, etc.; in short, to America’s enemy de jour — and, at the same time, capturing the essence of the pathology that gives rise to this sort of reflexive abandonment of one’s own country. It is a great read, both for its delineation of history and its effort to explain that history. And that’s not just my opinion, that’s the way it is — check it out!