The Man Who Wasn't There

We all know people who are curiously detached from empathy, and yet get on with their daily lives with little turbulence or commotion. It's not quite psychopathy, though technically or diagnostically it's not far off. 

I guess it's less predatory. Psychopaths are ever-vigilant for opportunities to exploit. 

Particularly people.

The Man Who Wasn't There is an excellent portrait of just such a person. It's not perfect in terms of logical progression of the script, but it's yet another Coen Brothers gem of a movie.

VICE

The movie VICE commences with the big lie. It's a lie so big that it's a back handed compliment to conspiracy researchers.

Most people wont know that on 9/11 Cheney didn't instruct the military to shoot down a plane headed for The Pentagon. In fact he did the opposite. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta heard Cheney say the following:

My initial impression, was that the movie was going to be a whitewash.

Not so.

VICE is an excellent portrait of the man. Cheney comes across as ruthless and single minded about war profiteering. No surprises there...

In contrast to this, it's clear he is also a loyal family man, who stood by his daughter, Mary Cheney, when she declared her lesbian proclivities in the 80's. In those days this was anathema to Conservative policy, as the transgender agenda was yet to commence.

VICE is an excellent movie with lots of little details that I wasn't previously aware, such as it was Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia who nixed the Florida vote in the Bush vs Gore election.

That decision had a huge impact on the subsequent history of the USA, although I have since heard (purely hearsay you understand) plan A was for Al Gore to resign post 9/11, ushering his VP pick, Joe Lieberman into power.

This would have meant Israel would be more than nominal President of the U.S.

Sling Blade (1996)

A mesmerising performance from Billy-Bob Thornton. His character looks nothing like the actor above, but I'm assured he played the lead role. I'm reminded of Leonardo deCaprio's role in What's eating Gilbert Grape, except Sling Blade is much more tightly written.

I thought this Coen brothers movie might depress me, but it had the opposite effect.