Irreversible is a disturbing movie to watch but it must be seen, the more people who see this film the better.
I cannot understand your theory on possible copycats, if that is the case then you could apply that argument to every film ever made that has contained murder, violence, sexual violence, drug taking, drug dealing (the list is endless) with no comeback on the perpetrator. Where do you draw the line? Who should decide what movies are appropriate to be made and which are not? You? Your thoughts on weather this movie should have been made or not are irrelevant.
As you said yourself people can vote with their wallets and I think that is the only way this film or any other film should be censored, if someone doesn't want to see it they don't have to, no one will sit them down and force them to watch it. As I have said I think the more people who see this movie the better, people should be confronted with thought provoking cinema, cinema that will make them look at the world around them and ask questions. Why do rapists get away their crimes?
This is a quote from your review:
"On the one hand, he holds up a mirror to the world, in the way he sees it. On the other hand, he has potentially reached out, established a line of communication, with a psychotic violent element, with the potential message that the world belongs to the brutal and daring, that they can take whatever they want and still end the day in peace and relaxation, while everybody else bleeds or suffers."
..................can I just point out that the psychotic violent element in all societies are already aware that the world belongs to them, they don't think about who suffers, they will do what they do regardless. A film by Gaspar Noe is not going to have them gather in conference to discuss their new realisation, compliments of Mr. Noe, that they are a law unto themselves and that the world is theirs for the taking, they already believe this. This film is not for them. This film is a wake up call for the rest of us, to show us the error of our ways in the creating of this world that the director holds a mirror up to!!
I am not aware of your background, age, nationality or religious beliefs but I must say that reading your review it would seem that these factors play a great role in the opinions you have on this film. That is sad. For that reason I hope as few people as possible are as unfortunate as me to read your review on this movie and those that do I hope they have a braincell left in their head to also like me realise that they are reading the thoughts of a very small minded person, someone with something to hide deep inside them, someone who doesn't live in the real world.
Next time if you are going to be critical of a movie or anything else for that matter take the time to make sense of what you are trying to say to people because you have failed miserably on this occasion.
Thanks for taking the time to read my e-mail, take care.
Darren
I was also disapointed to see you so strongly dismiss God in about "What I Learned From Auschwitz." You may have forgotten that people make choices. That is one gift that we were given from God--the gift of agency--and it is something that he hopes his children will use wisely, but something he has to let us use. We make mistakes, and if we don't right our wrongs, we will be held accountable for them. God is a just God, and he will not dismiss the sins of those who murder their brothers and sisters. I know that he loves each and every person. I'm sure that he wept, and hid his face when he knew what Hitler was doing, as he does now that the Junjaweed kill people in Darfur, but he did not hide his face because he did not want to stop it--he had to hide his face because he knew he had to allow people to have their agency, and it hurt his heart to see his beloved sons and daughters kill and be killed.
Sometimes such drastic and devistating things happen not because the people who are killed deserve it, but because there are others who can learn from it. Who would remember WWII and the injustice and the justice that was done if it had been one or two deaths? Because so many innocent people lost their lives, we have a piece of history that we can learn from, and be influenced by. People are given the chance to choose the right, or choose the wrong, and maybe some of us will look and understand the importance of choosing the right because we were so deeply moved by the holocost and other acts of genocide.
One thing you need not worry about is this: God is just, and those who killed will pay for it. I hope you keep your mind open to this, and if you would like to learn more about how God loves his children, let me know and I can answer your questions, or find someone who can answer your questions. But thank you so much for having a website that addresses such a powerful, improtant topic of genocide yesterday and today.
Sincerely,
Jenna Claypool
I came across your article on the internet while searching for some answers on "Lying" and just wanted to say a couple of things about your research:
1) First, Thank you so much for writing and posting this article as it said so many things that I have often thought of, but not known how to put into words.
2) Your insights are so on target that I read your article several times just to affirm my concurrence with you and affirm my instinctual barameter regarding the people that I "trust" and my place in society
3) If I could award a gift, for your insightfullness and placing these truths on paper, then I would as in your closing remarks you didn't forget the the absolute truths as this hit close to home...
I wish to navigate carefully through life, and to do so I must be able to calculate my true position. ....When I am lied to then all things change...they know their position but they have given me false information which obscures mine.'...Truth stands as an absolute value, the glue which binds the rulebook. "When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened," says St. Augustine (quoted by Bok), "all things will remain doubtful."
You have helped me tremendously...Thank you
In Peace
Gina
So Walmart and other transnational conglomorates or messin w. the balance of this so called laix fair economy. They need to recognize and own the part of the global devestation and poor quality of life they are perpetuating.
Sincerely,
Victoria Dulce Cepeida-Mojarro
I am a danish student currently writing my masters thesis in anthropology at the University of Aarhus. The topic of my thesis is 'Production and consumption of authenticity among modern subjects'.
Discussing the concept of the authentic, I've found that the perhaps most popular assurance for the authenticity of something or other, is its presumed natural quality.
In my thesis I discuss the ultimately non-rational foundations of the concept of the natural state and natural rights in such contract theoreticians as Hobbes and Rousseau. The notion of the natural nevertheless often clothes itself in the idioms of positive science - In my opinion a typical trapping of for instance psychoanalysis.
I then came across your article Natural Rights don't Exist in 'The Ethical Spectacle' and found myself very much in agreement with your reasoning.
I would now ask if I may translate and quote your fabulous "Don't tell me it offends the universe." as the title for my thesis.
Thank you in advance
Best regards
Anders Sybrandt Hansen