At the Movies: W. and Religulous

Last weekend, I saw 2 movies I'd recommend to others. First up was Religulous, Bill Maher's documentary on religion. Bill travels all over the world trying to understand why people believe in Christ and Allah and original sin and, well, faith of any kinda. He criticizes those who follow blindly and arrogantly, and proposes doubt as a necessary, humble component for a better humankind, but, like, he's funny about it. He never really criticizes God/Christ (admiring the latter's position of forgiveness and compassion), but rather the screamers who rail against others in his name (to psuedo-paraphrase John Irving). Whether you are religious or not, Religulous presents an interesting (and hilarious) look at what many people in the world believe (most fascinating, for me, was a comparison of the life of Christ to the Egyptian god Horus. Check it out).

Later, I saw Oliver Stone's W. While not up to his old JKF/Platoon greatness, Stone makes a very compassionate, funny and entertaining film about our current Commander-in-Chief. Following Bush from Yale to the Iraq invasion, Stone presents a man driven by passion, guts and daddy issues, who essentially allows his advisers to really run his presidency (Josh Brolin is terrific as W. Who knew Brand from The Goonies would grow up to be such a great actor?). I saw an interview with Oliver Stone where he said he honestly thinks the only mistake George Bush believes he ever made was trading Sammy Sosa to the Cubs while the owner of the Texas Rangers. And that's the man we see. It gave me a new perspective on Bush...a man I've never liked, but for whom I now maybe feel at least some compassion. And a man who really should probably see Religulous.

That's what you call bringing things full circle. Sometimes, I blow my own mind.