Quote of the day

[iambiguous]

God

“A man of God would never burn or harm a temple of any kind - regardless of religion. A true man of God would see every temple or divine mansion built to glorify the Creator - as an extension of the temple closest to his home, regardless of its shape, size, or color. A man who truly recognizes and knows God can see God in all things.” Suzy Kassem

So, sure, go ahead and roll the dice.

“The world is a goddamned evil place, the strong prey on the weak, the rich on the poor; I’ve given up hope that there is a God that will save us all. How am I supposed to believe that there’s a heaven and a hell when all I see now is hell.” Aaron B. Powell

Believe it or not, I was once this optimistic myself.

“The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails”. James Joyce

Just out of curiosity, where did Andy Warhol and his ilk fit in here?

“A miracle is a single mom who works two jobs to care for her kids and still helps them with their homework at night. A miracle is a child donating all the money in their piggy bank to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. That's where you'll find the hand and face of God.” Cathie Linz

Of course, to paraphrase Meghan Cleary, "who brought Katrina?"

“God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” Francis Bacon

Let's take this up into the clouds and [finally] settle it.

“There better not be a God because I'll be in big trouble.” Patricia Marx

Next up: there is a God but it's not yours.

[iambiguous]

The frailty of the human mind. Sometimes it’s just a point of view. Sometimes it’s an overwhelming consensus. And when you throw God into the mix the fragility can know no bounds. Same with the consequences.

Of course when God goes this far out on the ledge some still defend religion by pointing out that “these guys were nuts”. And sometimes that’s the case. So we just go back to square one: there are the good things folks do in God’s name and the bad things.

Just thank your lucky stars that you weren’t raised by a guy who gets visions from God. And we know there are plenty of them out there. And, as such, these will always be some of the scariest goddamn people in the world. With them there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever of being reasonable.

Hell, even I might be a demon to them.

And damned if it didn’t turn out in the end that they really were demons. Or at any rate nasty sons of bitches.

In “psychological thrillers” like this you never really know in the end what to believe because you never really know what is true in reality and what is true in a mind that is…frail.

Or

Loosely based on the case of American serial killer Joseph Kallinger who murdered three people and tortured four families. He committed these crimes with his 13-year-old son Michael between 1974-1975 in New Jersey. Kallinger pleaded insanity, claiming God had told him to kill.

At the title credit in the writer commentary, Brent Hanley says “Frailty to me was always about the frailty of perception, the frailty of morality, the frailty of right and wrong.” He adds “I liked the idea of an abstract title.” IMDb


Fraility

Adam [as Fenton]: Sometimes truth defies reason, Agent Doyle.

A "condition" some call it.

Adam [as Fenton]: That was our family. Just the three of us. All of Mom and Dad’s relatives had died, so there was no-one but us. We didn’t mind though. We didn’t need anybody else. We were happy together. Until…

Not much that can't be, of course.

Dad: The end of the world is coming. It’s near. The angel showed me. There are demons among us. The devil has released them for the final battle. It’s being fought right now. But nobody knows it except us and others like us.
Young Adam: I’m scared, Dad.
Dad: There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’ve been chosen by God. He will protect us. He’s given us special jobs to do. We don’t fear these demons, we destroy them. We pick them up one by one, and we pitch them out of this world. That’s God’s purpose for us. The angel called us “God’s Hands.”
Young Fenton: But Dad, that doesn’t make any sense.
Dad: I know it sounds that way son, but it’s the truth.

Uh-oh, here we go.

Young Fenton: These are real people’s names!
Dad: They may look like people on the outside, but inside…

Demons, of course.

Young Fenton: Dad kills people and you help him!
Young Adam: Uh-uh. We’re just fulfilling God’s will. I’m telling Dad on you!

That can't be good.

Adam [as Fenton to Doyle]: I started digging that goddamn hole, but I did not pray. I would not. I hated God, I despised Him. My hatred helped me dig, kept me going. Dad’s or God’s or whoever’s plan it was, it would not work on me.

Go ahead, try it on me.

[iambiguous]

Iris Murdoch from The Sea, The Sea

... male company, sheer complicit male company: the complicity of males which is like, indeed is, a kind of complicity in crime, in chauvinism, in getting away with things, in just gluttonously enjoying the present even if hell is all around.

Let's run this by, well, you know.

Of course we live in dreams and by dreams, and even in a disciplined spiritual life, in some ways especially there, it is hard to distinguish dream from reality. In ordinary human affairs humble common sense comes to one's aid. For most people common sense is moral sense. But you seem to have deliberately excluded this modest source of light. Ask yourself, what really happened between whom all those years ago? You've made it into a story, and stories are false.

Trust me: some more than others.

Goodness is giving up power and acting upon the world negatively. The good are unimaginable.

New thread. No, really, let's try to pin down what this might mean for, say, all practical purposes?

But it was just luck really if the girls survived. You're like a man firing a machine gun into a supermarket who happens not to become a murderer.

Next up: henry "bazooka joe" quirk ups the ante.

We are all potentially demons to each other, but some close relationships are saved from this fate.

Wow, anyone here want to start one with me?
Win/win we'll call it.

Indeed, now I come to think of it, nearly everything in the world is relevant to my situation.

All the way up to the grave, I suspect.

[iambiguous]

Frailty

Young Fenton [to young Adam]: He can make me dig this stupid hole, but he can’t make me pray.

Uh-oh, another demon?!

Adam [as Fenton to Agent Doyle]: We started the cellar after that. At least that’s what Dad called it. The next night he brought home another demon.

Take a wild guess.

Dad: Come in and close the door. Are you afraid?
[young Fenton nods]
Dad: Of what?
Young Fenton: You.
Dad: Only demons should fear me. You’re not a demon are you? The angel said you were. I can’t believe that. I won’t. You’re my son, and I love you more than my own life. You know what’s funny about all this Fenton? I’m afraid of you.

More to point: any demons here? any frail minds?

Adam [as Fenton to Doyle]: The days came and went. I counted them by the light through the hatch door and Adam’s visits. I only slept when I passed out from exhaustion.
Agent Doyle: What about your dad? Didn’t he ever come back to at least check on you? On the seventh day…
Dad: Has God spoken to you yet?
Fenton: There is no God.
[back to Doyle]
Adam [as Fenton]: I lost count of the days after that. It felt llke weeks. I finally went beyond fear into total insanity. I saw God. He had finally sent me a vision.

That ever happen to you?
Me? Nope, not so far.

Young Adam: It’s not fair! All I get to see are demons and Fenton gets to see God!

Maybe in the next life?

Agent Doyle: I don’t get it. He promised you that he’d bury you here?
Adam [as Fenton]: Yeah.
Agent Doyle: If he killed you.
Adam [as Fenton]: No, not killed. Destroyed.
Agent Doyle: Don’t make any sense.
Adam: Yes, it does. If that man standing in front of you is Adam Meiks.

Or, sure, if you're not a demon yourself, use your imagination.

Agent Doyle: Jesus Christ, you really do believe all this stuff.

Uh, no pun intended?

Agent Doyle: You’re just crazy as hell. Fenton or Adam or whatever your damn name is. I don’t really give a fuck. All I need to know right now is you’re a murdering son of a bitch. And I got you.
Adam: Maybe.

Define maybe?

Agent Doyle: Goddamn you…you dirty little son of a… How did you know?
Adam: You were on my list.

He wondered if he was on anyone's list here.

Becky: Everything okay Adam?
Adam: Everything’s just fine Becky. God’s will has been served.
Becky: Praise God.

One of them for sure?

[iambiguous]

Death

“Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack all dressed in black, black, black
She has a knife, knife, knife, stuck in her back, back, back
She cannot breathe, breathe, breathe. She cannot cry, cry, cry
Thats why she begs, begs, begs. She begs to die, die, die..” Laurie Faria Stolarz

You, you, you, too?

“...and there you have it, another body on the floor surrounded by things that don't mean much to anyone except to the one who can't take any of them along. ” Mark Z. Danielewski

The "house of leaves" he calls it.

“Desire is half of life; indifference is half of death.” Kahlil Gibran

Yeah, sort of.

“The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.” E. M. Forster

Let's run that by these guys: https://youtu.be/QO5dcW0P75M?si=Mimk2KSy0RwXXB3K

“A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough. [Alexander's tombstone epitaph]”
Alexander the Great

On the other hand, "[t]he tomb of Alexander the Great is attested in several historical accounts, but its current exact location remains an enduring mystery." wiki

“Tell me, Doctor, are you afraid of death?"
"I guess it depends on how you die.” Haruki Murakami

Then [for some]: "tired of living, but scared of dying".

[Osric]

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

[iambiguous]

The first thing I wonder: Does what is reflected in this film depict the way things really are in the “hood” more or less than the way things are in the hood now reflect the things that folks see in films like this. Surely, they feed on each other. But just as surely more folks don’t give a fuck about it than those that do. At least so long as they are doing it only to each other.

And the part about America in the post industrial world? The part played by political economy? Way, way, way in the background as usual. As though if by magic the Black Panthers were reconfigured into the Bloods and the Crips.

The bottom line seems rather clear though: What are the odds that either Caine and O-Dog would not end up like this? Not to mention all the others.

For most of us, it’s a whole other world.

Note the look on Caine’s face noting the look on his grandparents’ faces watching It’s a Wonderful Life on television. Speaks volumes about the world they live in.

It’s been thirty years since this movie came out. What’s changed since then? Are things better or worse for folks in these neighborhoods?

Yes.



Menace II Society

Caine [voiceover]: Went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It’s funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when.

Like coming here, he joked.

Caine [voiceover]: When the riots ended the dope began. My father sold dope and my mother was a heroin addict. Moms and Pops were real popular in the neighborhood. They would always be giving parties for friends of theirs who just got out of jail or was on their way to jail. They only got married 'cause I was born. My pop sometimes worked as an electrician or a cab driver or a plumber, but his main job was selling drugs. Sometimes Mom would use 'em all up before he could even sell 'em. Then he’d have to beat her up. Growing up with parents like that, I heard a lot and I saw a lot. I caught on to the criminal life real quick. Instead of keeping me out of trouble, they turned me on to it.

Next up: your Pop, your Mom.

Tony [after Tat shoots dead a man who owes him money]: The fuck you trippin’ off of?
Tat [aims the gun at him]: Do you owe me some money, motherfucker?
Tony [tossing Tat a wad of cash]: Hell no! But here you go!
Caine [voiceover]: That was the first time I saw my father kill someone. But it wasn’t the last. I got used to it, though.

Let me guess: you would never get used to it?

Caine [voiceover]: Now O-Dog was the craziest nigga alive. America’s nightmare. Young, black, and didn’t give a fuck.

Does that sound crazy to you? Or maybe you actually had to be there.

Grandpapa: Now what I want to talk to you two about is the trouble that you’ve been getting into. Boys, the Lord didn’t put you here to be shooting and killing each other. It’s right there in the Bible, Exodus 20:13: ‘"Thou shall not kill.’
Caine: Grandpa, I ain’t never killed nobody.
Grandpapa: Oh, I doubt that. And Kevin, I’ve heard stories about you.
O-Dog: Sir, I don’t think God really cares too much about us, or he wouldn’t have put us here. I mean, look where we stay at. It’s all fucked - It’s messed up around here.
Caine [voiceover]: My grandpops was always coming at us with that religion, and every time it would go in one ear and out the other.

Someone run that by God and get back to us.

Grandpapa: Caine, do you care whether you live or die?
Caine: I don’t know.

Too close to call, right?

[iambiguous]

Philosophy

“Consider the cattle, grazing as they pass you by. They do not know what is meant by yesterday or today, they leap about, eat, rest, digest, leap about again, and so from morn till night and from day to day, fettered to the moment and its pleasure or displeasure, and thus neither melancholy nor bored. A human being may well ask an animal: 'Why do you not speak to me of your happiness but only stand and gaze at me?' The animal would like to answer, and say, 'The reason is I always forget what I was going to say' - but then he forgot this answer too, and stayed silent.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Let's ask the animals here.

“Call no man happy until he is dead.” Solon

Next up: “Call no woman happy until he is dead.”

“What one generation finds ridiculous, the next accepts; and the third shudders when it looks back on what the first did.” Peter Singer

Anyone here recall what that was?

“Neither the sun nor death can be looked at steadily.” La Rochefoucauld

The sun for sure. But death? After all, each day, hundreds plunge right into it. They -- click -- choose to in other words.

“You know how the tightrope guy at the circus wants everyone to believe his act is an art, but deep down you can see that he's really just hoping he makes it all the way across?” Jodi Picoult

Over and over and over and over again, for example.

“When God takes out the trash, don't go digging back through it. Trust Him.” Amaka Imani Nkosazana

How's that working out for you?

[iambiguous]

Menace II Society

Caine [voiceover]: I seen lots of people killed before…but I ain’t never done it myself. I never had a reason to. But when they killed my cousin I knew I was gonna kill them.

No Tin Men here.

O-Dog: Hey, man, who the fuck gonna be old out there at twelve o’clock at night, bitch? Shit, nigga, I’ll smoke anybody, nigga. I just don’t give a fuck. Shit. I’m gonna hit this shit, n*****.
Caine: Look, all right, not me, all right? I’m not killing no kids.
O-Dog: Hey, you know what, n*****? You acting like a little bitch right now. You acting real paranoid and shit. Now, these motherfuckers smoked your goddam cousin in front of you, nigga! Blew his head off in front of your face, and you ain’t gonna do shit? You acting like a little bitch right now, nigga. Man, fuck that. I ain’t letting that shit ride. We gonna go in and smoke all these motherfuckers. I don’t care who the fuck out there. Goddamn it, is you down, n*****?
A-Wax: Man, both of y’all shut the fuck up. Both of y’all acting like some motherfucking bitches. Shit. Scared to peel these punk-ass nigga’s cap. Now, give me my motherfucking joint, nigga.

It was a normal day...

Caine [voiceover]: I thought killing those fools would make me feel good, but it really didn’t make me feel anything. I just knew that I could kill somebody, and if I had to, I could do it again.

On the other hand, that's not nothing.

Caine [voiceover]: Working fir minimum wage was never my style. I like big dollars. I learned how to mix drugs when I was little. Heroin, cocaine…all of it. My dad taught me. That was about the only thing he taught me before he was killed.

That's no excuse though, right?

Ronnie: Why don’t you smile for a change?
Caine: I ain’t got shit to smile about.
Ronnie: You’re alive, ain’t you?
Caine: Yeah, and who says that’s good?

This after racist cops beat him up for…for being black.

Ronnie: You ain’t doin’ jack shit here.
Caine: Ain’t nothin’ gonna change in Atlanta. I’m still gonna be black. Just another n***** from the ghetto.
Ronnie: Why do you say that shit?
Caine: 'Cause it’s true. You act like Atlanta ain’t in America.

In fact, it still is.

Ilena: I’m pregnant.
Caine: Well, what the fuck you tellin’ me for?
Ilena: What? So you just gonna dog me?
Caine: It ain’t mine.
Ilena: Look, you the only one I was with!
Caine: Stop lying, alright? Besides, I had the jimmy on extra tight.

Does jimmy know that?

Caine [voiceover]: After stomping on Ilena’s cousin like that, I knew I was gonna have to deal with that fool someday. Damn! I never thought he’d come back like this, blasting. Like I said, it was funny like that in the hood sometimes. I mean you never knew what was gonna happen or when. I’ve done too much to turn back, and I’ve done too much to go on. I guess in the end it all catches up with you. My grandpa asked me one time if I care whether I live or die. Yeah, I do. Now it’s too late.

Another rendition: https://youtu.be/IJtHdkyo0hc?si=ZZ70D_bAQEkbpoLg

[iambiguous]

Upstairs, downstairs? Hmm. That’s nothing new.

At least this one only goes back to the early 1930s. The ones from the dark ages are really a bit much for me. And whenever you are dealing with the rich, the aristocracy and/or both you’re never all that far away from a punchline. These are folks who, when they eat dinner, have nine pieces of cutlery around their plates. I couldn’t believe it so I counted them. And of course the ladies know their place. Or they are busy showing a few of the men theirs. But a few of the folks are really not at all what they seem. Or are more than they seem.

But you’ll have to decide for yourself which conversations are more excruciating, the ones up there or the ones down here. Or the ones up here or the ones down there.

And here someone is murdered. So we get to follow the investigation from both points of view. And a very peculiar murder too. Someone poisons the victim. And then a second person comes along and, not knowing the victim is already dead, stabs him in the chest! Never seen that before. And how does that work legally? If you think you are murdering someone who has already been murdered…are you still a murderer?

Yes, of course: Maggie Smith -- RIP -- is in it.


Gosford Park

Mary: What was her family like?
Elsie: What you’d expect: toffee-nosed and useless. Her father was the Earl of Carton, which sounds good except he didn’t have a pot to piss in.

And, of course, the equivalent of a pot these days.

Constance: Tell me, how much longer are you going to go on making films?
Ivor: I suppose that rather depends on how much longer the public want to see me in them.

Next up: Tell ME, how MUCH longer IS HE going to go on POSTING here?

Mrs Wilson: Mr. Weissman is an American. They do things differently there.

You first.

Ivor: I should have made it clear that Morris just doesn’t shoot.
Sylvia: Don’t worry. William’s just making a fuss. He has this ridiculous idea that Americans all sleep with guns under their pillows.
Ivor: They do, but they’re more for killing each other than for killing birds.

Okay, but only because they deserved it, right henry?

Morris: How do you manage to put up with these people?
Ivor: Well, you forget, I make my living impersonating them.

Can you tell them apart?

Sylvia: Mrs Wilson, a major crisis has arisen. I’ve just found out that Mr Weissman won’t eat meat and I don’t know what to do and I can’t ask Mrs Croft. I simply don’t dare.
Mrs. Wilson: Oh, everything’s under control your ladyship. Mr Weissman’s valet informed us as soon as he arrived so we’ve prepared a special version of the soup, he can eat the fish and the hors d’oeuvres, there’ll be a welsh rarebit for the game course, I’m not sure what we’re going to do about the entree but we’ll think of something.
Sylvia: Thank you Mrs Wilson. Ten steps ahead as always.

A grandmaster as it were.

[iambiguous]

Bret Easton Ellis from The Rules of Attraction

If you can’t make a girl come why even bother? That always seemed to me to be like writing questions in a letter.

Can you?

'Do you wear a diaphragm everywhere you go?' I want to scream, but stop myself because the idea really excites me.

Something like this, right JJ? https://youtu.be/u88xFHiHiBk?si=TMgu2GXDasQitPFz

...he looked at me with such vehemence that I felt like a blip, a fart, in the course of his life.

And the equivalent of that here, of course.

Did you know I was born in a Holiday Inn.

Is that even legal?

I didn't know. All I know was that the sex was terrific. And that the hippie was cute. She loved sweet pickles. She liked the name Willie. She even liked Apocalypse Now. She was not a vegetarian. These were all on the plus side. But, once I introduced her to my friends, at the time, and they were all stuck-up asshole Lit majors and they made fun of her and she understood what was going on and her eyes, usually blue, too blue, vacant, were sad. And I protected her. I took her away from them. ('Spell Pynchon,' they asked her, cracking up.) And she introduced me to her friends. And we ended up sitting on some Japanese pillows in her room and we all smoked some pot and this little hippie girl with a wreath on her head, looked at me as I held her and said, "The world blows my mind'. And you know what? I fucked her anyway.

Postmodern love they called it.

God, the name Susan is so ugly. It reminds me of the word sinus.

Not my Susan, of course.

[iambiguous]

Gosford Park

Lavinia: I don’t care what’s changed or not changed as long as our sons are spared what you all went through.
Sylvia: Not all. You never fought, did you, William?
Sir William: I did my bit.
Louisa: Of course you did.
Sylvia: Well, you made a lot of money but it’s not quite the same as charging into the cannon’s mouth, is it?

My guess: it's probably not even close.

Elsie: Why do we spend our time living through them? Look at poor old Lewis. If her own mother had a heart attack, she’d think it was less important than one of Lady Sylvia’s farts.

Unless, of course, it's too close to call.

Sylvia: Tell us about the film you’re going to make.
Morris: Oh, sure. It’s called “Charlie Chan In London”. It’s a detective story. Most of it takes place at a shooting party in a country house. Sort of like this one, actually. Murder in the middle of the night, a lot of guests for the weekend, everyone’s a suspect. You know, that sort of thing.
Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?
Morris: Oh, I couldn’t tell you that. It would spoil it for you.
Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it.

Ouch?

Constance: The time to make up your mind about people is never.

Being optimistic, say.

Sir William: And why shouldn’t I be interested in films? You don’t know what I’m interested in.
Sylvia: Well, I know you’re interested in money and fiddling with your guns. But I admit it: when it comes to anything else, I’m stumped.

We all are.

Robert [to Mary]: Can’t a man hate his own father?

This one did:

The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
"Father?" "Yes, son?" "I want to kill you"
"Mother? I want to..."

Mary: Nobody can stab a corpse and not know it.
Robert: Really? When was the last time you stabbed a corpse?

New thread?

Henry: You Brits really don’t have a sense of humor do you?
Elsie: We do if something’s funny, sir.

Gotcha!

Mary: But even if Robert is your son, how did you know that he meant to harm his father?
Mrs. Wilson: What gift do you think a good servant has that separates them from the others? Its the gift of anticipation. And I’m a good servant; I’m better than good, I’m the best; I’m the perfect servant. I know when they’ll be hungry, and the food is ready. I know when they’ll be tired, and the bed is turned down. I know it before they know it themselves.

What gifts do your servants display.

[iambiguous]

For some, all hitmen are scum. And, for others, it depends on who it is exactly that’s being “cleaned”. I suppose we should all strive to emulate the former but try as I might I can’t help but lean from time to time the other way. Indeed, for some bastards I’d even consider doing it myself. Not that I ever actually would, of course. I’m not the inmate type. But who wouldn’t want to put a bullet into Stansfield’s brain?

And this film is as much a how-to manual as anything else.

Mathilda and Leon. Their relationship is to say the least problematic. At least from Mathilda’s point of view. I can just imagine some of the reactions. But films like this are often exploitative. Here they portray Mathilda as mature way, way beyond her years [even with a stuffed rabbit] but they still want her to be viewed as “just a kid”. But then in the next scene she is prancing around the apartment dressed like Madonna singing “Like a Virgin”. She says things like, “You know, a girl’s first time is very important. It determines the rest of her life sexually.”

I mean, come on. She is 11 fucking years old!

On the other hand, Reno plays Leon about right here. At least the part about sex. The line is clearly drawn but, being as precocious as she is, he doesn’t treat her as just a child. On the other hand, he is teaching her how to be a hitman. Meanwhile, Natalie Portman’s family is more concerned with the scenes of her smoking cigarettes!

Is it all just a bit unbelievable? Oh yeah. But aren’t they all?

During the filming involving all of the police cars on the street, a man ran from a store he had just robbed. When he encountered the movie set by accident, he saw all of the “police” and gave himself up to a bunch of uniformed extras.

According to Jean Reno, he decided to play Léon as if he were a little mentally slow and emotionally repressed. He felt that this would make audiences relax and realize that he wasn’t someone who would take advantage of a vulnerable young girl. Reno claims that for Léon, the possibility of a physical relationship with Mathilda is not even conceivable, and as such, during the scenes when such a relationship is discussed, Reno very much allowed Mathilda to be emotionally in control of the scenes. IMDb


Leon: The Professional

Tonto: This is Tonto downstairs. There’s a guy who wants to talk to you.
Fatman: What’s he look like?
Tonto: Serious.

That'll do it for these thugs.

Mathilda [to the headmistress of her school who thinks she is speaking to Mathilda’s mother over the phone]: She’s dead.

I forget: was she?

Mathilda: Leon, what exactly do you do for a living?
Léon: I’m a cleaner.
Mathilda: You mean you’re a hit man?
Léon [reluctantly]: Yeah.
Mathilda [matter of factly]: Cool.

Of course, on some days Mathilda is 11 going on 31.

Mathilda: Do you clean anyone?
Léon: No women, no kids, that’s the rules.
Mathilda: How much would it cost to hire someone to get those dirtbags who killed my brother?
Léon: Five grand a head.
Mathilda: Wow. How about this: I work for you; in exchange, you teach me how to clean. Hmm? What do you think?

What's there to think about?

Léon: And stop saying “okay” all the time. Okay?
Mathilda: Okay.
Léon: Good.

What a team!

Léon [to Mathilda]: The rifle is the first weapon you learn how to use, because it lets you keep your distance from the client. The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn.

Tell that to this guy: https://youtu.be/G_wIEfqTrJo?si=tpZoyXmXDVvrBNp3

Mathilda: Léon, I think I’m kind of falling in love with you. It’s the first time for me, you know?
Leon: How do you know it’s love if you’ve never been in love before?
Mathilda: Cause I feel it.
Leon: Where?
Mathilda: In my stomach…It’s all warm. I always had a knot there…and now it’s gone.

Careful there now...

Hotel receptionist: What exactly does your father do?
Mathilda: Well, he’s a composer.
Hotel receptionist: Ah! That’s wonderful!
Mathilda: Except he’s not really my father. He’s my lover.

Tell us when they go too far, okay?

[Mathilda pours rubbing alcohol over the drug stash and sets it on fire]
Léon: What are you doing?
Mathilda: We said no women, no kids. Who do you think this is gonna kill, junkies and monkeys?

Conflicting goods.

Mathilda: Nobody sent me. I do business for myself.
Stansfield: Ahh…so this is something personal? What filthy peice of…shit…did I do now?
Mathilda: You killed my brother.
Stansfield: I’m sorry. And you want to join him?
Mathilda: No.
Stansfield: It’s always the same thing. It’s when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life. Do you like life, sweetheart?
Mathilda: Yes.
Stansfield: That’s good, because I take no pleasure in taking life if it’s from a person who doesn’t care about it.

Sociopathic logic let's call it.

Stansfield: Tony, you’ve killed for us in the past, and we’ve always been satisfied, which is why it’s very hard for me to come down here today. One of my men was killed today in your territory, and the chinks tell me the killer was of the…Italian persuasion. Now, wait, there’s more. You’ll love this. Not two hours later, a little twelve-year-old girl comes to my building, armed to the teeth with the sole intention of sending me straight to the morgue. And guess who comes to get her? The very same Italian hit man.

It wasn't the A-Team then.

Léon: Stansfield?
Stansfield: At your service.
Léon [handing him something]: This is from… Mathilda.
Stansfield [sees that it’s a pin for a grenade]: Shit.

At least it wasn't a bazooka.

Orphanage Headmistress: Now tell me what happened to you.
Mathilda: OK. My family they got shot down by D.E.A. officers because of a drug problem. I left with the greatest guy on earth. He was a hitman, the best in town, but he died this morning. And if you don’t help me, I’ll be dead by tonight.

Next up: Heat.

[iambiguous]

Aldous Huxley from Brave New World

It isn’t only art that is incompatible with happiness, it’s also science. Science is dangerous, we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled.

To the Pentagon, for example.

When people are suspicious with you, you start being suspicious with them.

Of course, we'll have to make it about something, right?

“Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those who meant badly.

Of course, here, it's always the other way around.

This concern with the basic condition of freedom — the absence of physical constraint — is unquestionably necessary, but is not all that is necessary. It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison and yet not free — to be under no physical constraint and yet to be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national State, or of some private interest within the nation, want him to think, feel and act.

The Deep State let's call it. Unless, of course, that's already taken.

What’s the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when anthrax bombs are popping all around you?

You'll think of something, won't you?

Can you say something about nothing?

You'll think of something, won't you?

[iambiguous]

Some folks get upset because Bush 41 didn’t go all the way. And some folks get upset because Bush 43 did. But what almost all of them share in common is an ignorance regarding what fuels American foreign policy to begin with. And it has little or nothing to do with “liberating” the citizens of either Kuwait or Iraq.

But not to worry. I won’t bother to explain it again. This time.

The message here seems to this: Okay, it was all about oil. But once we challenged the people of Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein we had a moral obligation to join them…all the way to Baghdad.

If this is actually the way things unfolded over there back then [even before the part about the gold] it sure as shit wouldn’t surprise me.

But when these guys do go after the gold, that’s not all they find.

This film was banned in Iraq. No need for that in America though. If you get my drift.

And it surely exposes the ignorance of at least some of these soldiers who actually believed the whole point of the war was to “save the people of Kuwait”!

On a scale from 1 to 10 then how improbable is this? 11. A fairy tale with guns. Though, honestly, would it be all that surprising if it was based on a true story?

And what would you give up 23 millions dollars in gold for? Of course the gold goes back to Kuwait. That’s justice, right?

Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini, who plays an Iraqi defector who sells Maj. Gates cars stolen from Kuwait, was in real life tortured and kicked in the eye by Saddam Hussein’s security forces, blinding him in that eye. Like many advisors and extras in the film, he is an actual refugee from Iraq.

The role of Major Archie Gates was offered to Nick Nolte, who turned it down, saying he was too old. Jeff Bridges wanted to play Gates, but was turned down as a result of the poor box office run of The Big Lebowski. IMDb


The Three Kings

Troy: Are we shooting?
Soldier: What?
Troy: Are we shootin’ people or what?
Soldier: Are we shooting?
Troy: That’s what I’m asking you!
Soldier: What’s the answer?
Troy: I don’t know the answer! That’s what I’m trying to find out!

Military intelligence, let's call it.

Archie: Sit down. What do you see here?
Chief: Bunkers, sir.
Archie: What’s in them?
Troy: Stuff they stole from Kuwait.
Archie: Bullshit. I’m talking about millions in Kuwaiti bullion.
Conrad: You mean them little cubes you put in hot water to make soup?

Military intelligence, let's call it.

Conrad: Man…I didn’t join the army to pull paper out of people’s asses.

Just to steal their gold.

Troy: Conrad, you’ve washed your hands like ten times.
Conrad: Lord knows what kind of vermin live in the butt of a dune coon.
Chief: Why do you let this cracker hang around with you, man?
Troy: He’s all right, man. He’s from a group home in Dallas. He’s got no high school.
Conrad: Don’t tell people that.
Chief: I don’t care if he’s from Johannesburg. I don’t want to hear “dune coon” or “sand n*****” from him or anybody else.
Conrad: Captain uses those terms.
Troy: That’s not the point, Conrad. The point is that “towelhead” and “camel jockey” are perfectly good substitutes.
Chief: Exactly!

Moderation, negotiation and compromise let's call it.

Adriana: Are you ready to work with me now?
Archie: Yeah, I’m ready to work with you.
Adriana: Good, 'cause I’ve got an amazing lead.
Archie: It was in the guy’s ass.
Camp soldier: That’s not the real story.
Adriana: What’s the real story?
Camp soldier: What was in the guy’s dick. They had to pull it out with a pair of tweezers.
Adriana: A ten-page atlas of Saddam’s bunkers?
Camp soldier: Yeah, only real small, like those books you get in a box of Cracker Jacks.

On the other hand, gold is gold.

Archie: Any questions?
Conrad: Yeah, is it true to be special forces, you gotta cut off an enemy’s ear?
Archie [to Troy] Are you able to control him?
Troy : Yes, sir. He’ll be fine, I promise.

Sargeant Wilson, let's call hin. He really did have a jar of "enemy ears" he once showed us. And, as I recall, drill instructor Sgt. Curry more or less confirmed it.