Bill and I had a wonderful date night this past weekend complete with a dinner and a movie. We chose Ides of March because the trailer was intriguing. I tend to avoid reading reviews before I go to a movie because how is some stranger going to know what I like in a movie. And most reviews spoil the movie for me. And, yet, here I am writing a review. So, if you were planning on going to see it. Go. Be entertained and then come back and have a read.
But, I will call this more of an analysis. Yes, I like the sound of that. It is an analysis of what I discovered in the movie to be a powerful statement on the use, purpose, and consequences of abortion. I am fairly certain that this statement was an unintended consequence of the producers, though. Just a guess, but, sometimes, we cannot see what is right before our eyes.
The movie is a behind the scenes look at the dark side of politics during a presidential primary. George Clooney plays an atheist progressive democrat candidate who is running against a Christian moderate democrat. Ryan Gosling plays a young, ambitious, kool-aid drinking campaign adviser to Clooney's character. It is clear that all players will use whatever information they can to promote their candidate and demonize their opponent. Gosling's character discusses various ways to spin information. It's clearly all a game. And you get the sense that "all is fair in love and war" is embraced and played out here.
Enter the intern. A political intern. I don't even have to tell you that the intern is female, do I? And, she is attractive? And that Gosling and the intern engage in a meaningless sexual encounter following drinks one night? You saw that coming. That seems to be what is associated with political interns. Go figure.
On a subsequent encounter with Gosling, the intern reveals that she had a meaningless and unintended sexual encounter with the married candidate played by Clooney. And now she is pregnant. A wall comes up and Gosling's character jumps into campaign mode and finds a way to get campaign funds to pay for an abortion and take care of "the situation."
A child has been conceived. It is called a situation. The intern is called a situation. You can see it in her eyes when that word is used. She is told to get the abortion and disappear. She overdoses on the post abortive medications mixed with alcohol. She has been discarded as yesterdays trash just as the baby was. Life, in this scenario is something to be used and assigned a value based on how it can serve or how it can interfere. The practice of abortion is the practice of assigning value to a human life based on subjective criteria. How can this baby serve me? How can this baby interfere with my life?
What if, she got out of town before she had the abortion? What if she decided that these diabolical political types were going to just use and abuse her and throw her out? What if she went ahead and had the baby and the scandal broke out? What if the dirty games were revealed and exposed? In the end, the baby would secure a just and forthright political process. But, in the end of this movie, we are left knowing that the winning candidate raped, plundered,and pillaged his way to the top. And, nothing is what it seems.
