Faucheaux-Traffic

The Steven Soderbergh film Traffic follows three intersecting story lines, all dealing with the narcotics industry in Mexico and the United States.

The first plot follows Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez and his partner Manolo as they are hired by General Salazar to assist him in bringing down the Obregón Cartel in Tijuana. After helping to greatly cripple that cartel, Javier discovers that Salazar is working for the rival cartel of the Obregón brothers. Salazar’s section of the Mexican “anti-drug campaign” is a dupe. Manolo tries to sell this information to the Drug Enforcement Administration, but is found out by Salazar and killed. Javier decides to reveal the truth about Salazar’s alignment to the DEA and, instead of payment, requests for electricity to be run to his neighborhood baseball field. Salazar is arrested and dies in prison and Javier watches the children play baseball at night in their newly lit field. 

In the United States, undercover DEA agents Montel Gordon and his partner Ray Castro arrest Eddie, a drug dealer who pleads immunity and rats out his boss, Carlos Ayala. Carlos is the big distributer in the United States for the Obregón Cartel. When he is arrested, his wife Helena learns of his real profession for the first time. When the lofty lifestyle she has become so accustomed to begins falling to pieces, she goes to great lengths to have Eddie assassinated. The first man she hires unintentionally kills agent Castro instead. Eventually she does have Eddie killed, and without him to testify, Carlos is released. Angry at this and the death of his partner, agent Gordon plants a bug in the Ayala home.

Ohio judge Robert Wakefield is appointed as the new drug czar for the Office of National Drug Control. After she has a little run in with the law, Wakefield finds out that his "honor roll" daughter, Caroline, is a cocaine addict. When he goes to a colleague to get her record expunged, his associate asks if he has ever had a conversation with Caroline about what exactly she has been experimenting with. Wakefield replies “no” and then goes off to investigate the drug detecting activities of the U.S. border instead of going home and talking to his daughter. As the highest authority in the anti-drug initiative, Wakefield’s reaction to finding out about his Caroline’s habit is to ground her indefinitely, and with no real support from her parents, she eventually runs away and prostitutes herself to procure money for drugs. After tracking down and rescuing his semiconscious daughter from a sleazy hotel, Wakefield finds himself at a press conference, unable to continue his speech about his plan for the war on drugs. He walks out of the press conference and resolves to accompany Caroline to her Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

This movie shows that differences in the standard of living turns drug trafficking from a frowned upon but socially accepted norm in the United States into a way of life that is above the law in Mexico.

With the Mexican drug cartels, the criminal activity of drugs is a business; it is a corporation that just so happens to be illegal. The expendable employees and the product loss are figured in already, it makes no dent in the industry. The law does not get in their way, they have more money than the law. There is a definite imbalance of power. The local government and the police have no control and no real authority. At the beginning of the movie, two men moving a truckload of drugs are pulled over by Javier and Manolo. As the officers walk towards the truck, one of the men says, “oh, it’s just the police.”

The main implication of the film is that the war against drugs is not an easy one to win, but the fight must keep going. The ending to each of the story lines gives a message of hope:

Javier watching the kids playing baseball rather than being involved in street gangs and crime, shows that, given the chance, new generations can dig themselves out of the rut that their families and communities have burrowed into.

The microphone that Gordon plants is a symbol of not giving up after defeat. At a world wide, or even on a national level, the “war on drugs” may never end. But never underestimate the significance of little victories.

Wakefield’s acceptance of his daughter’s addiction shows the importance of dialogue between generations on issues such as this. It also shows that the war on drugs mainly needs to be fought on a more personal level. When it comes to your own family, the war waged on drugs is up to you, not the government. 

Faucheaux-American History X

This week’s film, American History X, is one that I have seen many times. Every time I’ve watched it, I’ve noticed something new about it or discovered another subtlety that I have overlooked. It’s intense and deals with touchy subjects. Just like with every movie, there are different opinions of this film and the messages that it portrays. The difference with American History X is the delicate subject matter that it deals with, and deals with quite abruptly. Some think the movie gives a wonderful lesson on the dangers of prejudice, others view the film as too controversial and think that the movie itself is dangerous. I think that it is up to the individual viewer to decide what they get out of the film. In my opinion it’s a powerful movie with an overall positive message, although perhaps not executed perfectly. While watching, I definitely notice details that I would want to change to make certain elements more prominent and to make interpretation of the movie less variable. 

For example, the strict stereotypical look and behavior of the characters. While effective dramatically, the extreme image of the white “skinheads” with their swastika tattoos versus the extreme image of the black gang members can make it seem like the issues that the movie deals with don’t apply in scenarios that take place other than the hoodlum infested streets of Venice Beach, California. In this way, any viewer can pass the buck. 

The movie opens with ocean scenes, which we see again near the end of the film showing little boys playing in the water. To me, the changing waves in these scenes represent the changing of people. The later scene also shows the innocence of the brothers, Danny and Derek Vinyard, as children and the relationship between them. Even at a young age, Derek was an example for Danny to follow.

The movie is a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, filmed in black and white as well as in color, that tell the story of the Vinyard family and the role prejudice plays in their lives. A majority of the flashback scenes are shown in black and white, with the exception of Derek’s flashback to the scene with the kids playing in the waves, while the scenes taking place in the present are in color.

When the movie begins, Danny reveals to us that Derek has been in prison for three years after killing black men that were trying to break into his car. Immediately we see the passionately angry and prejudiced Derek, a killer who is all fury and no remorse, and when we meet Danny, he is well set on his way down the very same path.

In the present day scenes, Derek’s point of view has changed, but he is fundamentally the same person. He is still a controlling and violently natured man, but he is uncertain about the issues that he has fervently stood for throughout the majority of his life. He now sees how hypocritical his fellow skinheads are, he has been made aware of his actions and has finally realized the extent of the damage he caused in his family’s life.

How did this epiphany come about? While in prison, Derek became a victim at the hands of people just like himself and his defender was a person just like all those that he had been hating and tormenting.

During the whole film, there are a lot of tight shots and close ups that frame the characters from their hairline to their chin. This gives a very personal view of the facial expressions of the actors, in particular the adolescents. We can see very clearly their reactions and can almost read the interpretation of their experiences as they are happening. For example, the look on the face of Danny’s shooter shows that he didn’t realize what he was doing until after he did it. He, like Danny, was also under the influence of an older role model.

In my favorite scene, which also includes a lot of tight camera shots, Danny remembers a time when his father was still alive and tells how he believes that the prejudice plaguing his family began with dear old dad. After chastising Derek for reading the “black books” assigned to him in school, the father preaches about the “evils” of affirmative action. What I like about this scene is that it reveals so much about Danny’s character. We see Danny longing to be included as his father delivers his gospel to Derek, who is taking in every word. As the elder son, Derek wants to please his father by imitating him, where as Danny is more skeptical. When the camera goes back to a close up of his face, we can see Danny recognizing the weakness (prejudice) in his father, he sees the flaws in his words. This stunned look of disappointment is almost the same look Danny gives when he witnesses Derek stomping a man’s face in on their front lawn. When the dad is killed, Derek becomes Danny’s father figure and it’s his turn to imitate.

A more subtle topic brought up in American History X is the flawed American legal system. Derek was convicted of two counts of voluntary manslaughter and was let out of prison after serving three years. The black man that Derek worked with in prison was arrested for stealing a television and assaulting an officer (he dropped the TV on the officer's foot, the officer said he threw it at him) and got six years. The movie makes the point that the justice system is harder on minorities. 

Faucheaux-Good Night and Good Luck

In the film Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney, we join journalist Edward Murrow in his struggle to bring light to the injustice of the investigation and conviction of communists in the ‘50s. The main struggle of the film is Murrow trying to show Americans how unconstitutional Senator McCarthy’s methods of convicting communists were. Murrow was not denying the threat of communism and saying that McCarthy shouldn't have been investigating it, he was simply saying that the way in which it was being done was unjust. His purpose was to educate, and to have people want  to be educated about the actions of their government. 

I believe that fear is a very strong theme in this movie. It is ironic to me that we Americans feel fear towards outside threats to the nation as well as towards our own government. It seems to me that most fear directed toward the United States government is in response to its manner of protecting American citizens.

With the government’s “you’re either with us or against us” attitude, prevalent in the ‘50s as well as today in 2011, we can see a kind of control through intimidation. Government institutions like the Patriot Act undermine our basic constitutional rights for the sake of our national security. Undoubtedly, protecting the people of the United States is an important responsibility of the government, however overlooking the rights of the people in order to do so, sometimes to no avail, is counter productive. The personal liberties of Americans do not have to be compromised in exchange for protection from the government. 

Good Night and Good Luck also spurs thoughts on the role of the media, namely television, in our society. In the film, Murrow proclaims “We have a built in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information; our mass media reflects this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses, and recognize that television, in the main, is being use to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture, too late.” A television show meant purely for entertainment is not evil, but we can’t allow ourselves to become completely distracted. Media should be intelligent and educating. Another quote from Edward R. Murrow, “Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East.”

Faucheaux- The Responsibility of Being “Good”

In today’s world, the word “good” has become vague and overused. But what does it take to be a truly good and moral person? In the Vicente Amorim film Good, our main character, John Halder seems to be an insecure and almost passive man. 

When we first meet Halder, we see that he is uncomfortable with the policies of the Nazi party and learn that he disagrees with their ideology. However, he never really speaks his mind or stands up against them. Halder is pushed into joining the Nazi party and starts adhering to their ways simply to save his job as a professor. But as the story progresses, he fights the conformity less and less until he finds himself a Nazi officer in the middle of the vey concentration camp where his once good friend Maurice was persecuted.

The main moral dilemma of the movie is Halder’s relationship with his longtime friend Maurice who is Jewish. Maurice believes that he and Halder are on the same page when it comes to being against the Nazis, but soon finds out just how quickly Halder sells out his beliefs. The pivotal point in their relationship is when Maurice begs Halder to help him escape to France and Halder is faced with a huge decision. Does he have the guts to risk his own life to help his friend? It turns out that he does, but his decision making was too little, too late and he was unable to help Maurice escape. Halder, however, does not accept responsibility for the effects his decisions cause throughout the movie. In fact, when he discovers that Maurice was picked up by the Gestapo, he blames his wife for turning in his friend.

So is Halder really a bad person? Ultimately the judgment lies with the viewer. What we do know about John Halder is that he is a submissive man. Even if he disagrees, he will go along with the power to keep from getting himself into trouble or causing conflict. He avoids calling attention to himself at all cost. At times he even seems to be devoid of his own morals. He is not a proactively evil person, but he does nothing to stop the evil going on around him. 

It is practical that this is a common trait of people living in Germany in the ‘30s and ‘40s who did not necessarily agree with Nazi ethics, but in reality we all know someone like this. Maybe we are like this ourselves at times.

If you don’t stand up for what is good, does that make you bad?

Hailey Faucheaux -About

Here’s some background information; my name is Hailey Faucheaux. I’m the oldest child in my family. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana and I am Cajun French and Irish. I'm proud of my heritage, I love my city and I believe it’s the best place in the world to call home. Growing up in the New Orleans area, I’ve always been influenced by different types of art, especially music. From jazz and a cappella street musicians to punk rock and Johnny Cash, I’ve experienced it all and I love it all. I am currently a Visual Arts major at Loyola University New Orleans. My ambition of the moment is to do special effects work in the film industry. I love creating characters and defining their look. The first scary movie I ever watched as a child was the original Nightmare on Elm Street, I think that's what kicked off my obsession with horror films and sketching monsters.

I'm inspired by all kinds of movies and the way that they make people reflect on their lives and the world around them. I'm fascinated by the thought that a powerful film can have an impact on a person’s opinion and change the way they see things. My favorite movies are Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.

My list of role models include people such as Gilda Radner, Billie Holiday and JPII. 

My general outlook on life was most simply put into words in this quote by Red Skeleton, "If by chance someday you're sad or not feeling well and you should remember some little thing I've said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."