海角大神

A quick glance at some of this year鈥檚 Academy Award-nominated films 颅鈥� 鈥�12 Years a Slave,鈥� 鈥淲olf of Wall Street,鈥� 鈥淎merican Hustle,鈥� and 鈥淒allas Buyers Club鈥� 鈥� and it鈥檚 pretty clear that these days Hollywood is聽taking a walk on the dark side.聽

Nearly all the聽top films are based on historical events from one era or another and portray the聽most heinous side of human nature 鈥� piracy at gunpoint, the brutal slave trade, rampant homophobia, amoral, greedy drug addicts ruining the lives of ordinary people.

The film Las Vegas odds-makers are betting on 鈥� 鈥�12 Years,鈥� a horrific account based on a true memoir of a free black man abducted into the 19th century slave trade 鈥� has drawn fire from one film critic who dubbed聽the film鈥檚 unrelieved savagery 鈥渢orture porn.鈥�

Whatever happened to the dream factory that produced such uplifting biopics as 鈥�Gandhi鈥� and 鈥淐hariots of Fire鈥�?

Different films for different times, say culture watchers, and these are very different times, indeed.

鈥淲e are a nation that in many people鈥檚 eyes has already reached its glory days,鈥� says Robert Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York.聽鈥淭here is all sorts of evidence of dysfunction,鈥� he says, pointing to everything from the bankruptcy in Detroit 鈥� 鈥渙ne of our greatest manufacturing cities鈥� 鈥� to a dramatic decline in America鈥檚 ability to flex its power and influence around the world.

鈥淚n the rise and fall of empires, there is a strong sense that we are on the downward slide,鈥� he adds.

These films are designed to tap into that psyche, says Mark Tatge, journalism聽professor at DePauw University in Green Castle, Ind.

"The current bumper crop鈥� of films and TV shows 鈥渃ater to our cynicism about society,鈥� he says via e-mail, adding that聽many people are struggling amid a weak economy and high unemployment. 鈥淢any have been downsized out of the work force,鈥� he says, and聽they are not working or if they are working they are making far less than five or 10 years ago.

When it comes to focusing the camera lens, he says, the litany of woes is long, from 鈥渞ural areas ravaged by declining fortunes and meth trailers, tax-dodging rich persons, greedy Wall Street investment banks viewed as exploiting the less fortunate, a vanishing middle class,聽a corrupt Catholic Church with pedophile priests, and a do-nothing, obstructionist Congress.鈥�

There is a deep sense of hopelessness, he says, adding that currently, 鈥渉eroes are in short supply. Hollywood, for better or worse, has seized on this thread."

More precisely, this is the Hollywood that wants to walk down the awards-show red carpet, wearing聽the cloak of a prestige project 鈥� a film that even if it makes no money at the box office, is seen as being about something important.

鈥淪ome of these films are truly hard on many people鈥檚 sensibilities,鈥� says Len Shyles, communications professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia. There are differences, however, between the films, he is quick to point out.

鈥�Dallas,鈥澛燼 film about one man鈥檚 struggle to get the medical help AIDS patients needed back in 1980鈥檚 Texas, begins with a depressing聽line-up of 鈥渉omophobic creeps,鈥� and this environment dominates some 80 percent of the film. But in the end (Spoiler Alert!), the lead character finds redemption in his work to help society鈥檚 outcasts, Professor Shyles says.

While difficult for some to watch, 鈥�12 Years鈥� and 鈥淒allas鈥� are 鈥渟uperb鈥� and deserve all the honors they might get, says Wheeler Winston Dixon, professor of Film Studies at University of Nebraska in聽Lincoln.

鈥淲olf,鈥� on the other hand, he says, 鈥渋s an amoral film that operates in an amoral universe, depicting amoral people doing amoral things,鈥� he says, adding that the characters are 鈥渞eveling in it.鈥�

The film invites the audience to watch a spectacle of Roman decadence, says Professor Dixon, 鈥渁nd also to identify with the protagonists.鈥�

While聽it will all end badly, it seems like an endless party for most of the film, he points out, 鈥渁s long as you abandon any ethical compass. It's a lesser work in every respect.鈥�

Not all聽film-goers agree with this assessment.聽Business聽ethicist John Paul Rollert, writing in the Atlantic, proclaimed聽himself 鈥渟trangely enchanted鈥� by the film, calling it the most 鈥渁nti-Wall Street movie I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥�

But it鈥檚 not just critics who might take a dim view of Hollywood鈥檚 dark side. Films based on聽modern history also run the additional risk of drawing fire from those whose lives were impacted by the actual events that inspired the film.

Such is definitely the case with 鈥淲olf,鈥� which is based on a memoir.

When the film came out in December, Christina McDowell (the real-life daughter of聽an associate of Jordan Belfort, the lead con man depicted by Leonardo DiCaprio), penned an open letter in LA Weekly blasting the film and its director, Martin Scorsese.

鈥淵ou people are dangerous. Your film is a reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining,鈥� she says.聽鈥淲e want to get lost in what?鈥� she asks, 鈥淭hese phony financiers' fun sexcapades and coke binges? Come on, we know the truth,鈥� she wrote,聽adding that this kind of behavior brought America to its knees.

Ms. McDowell, who changed her name after her father went to prison and devastated the family both financially and emotionally with ongoing criminal activities,聽called on audiences to boycott the film.聽She addressed聽the director and star directly:

鈥淵ou're glorifying it 鈥� you who call yourselves liberals. You were honored for career excellence and for your cultural influence by the Kennedy Center, Marty. You drive a Honda hybrid, Leo. Did you think about the cultural message you'd be sending when you decided to make this film? You have successfully aligned yourself with an accomplished criminal, a guy who still hasn't made full restitution to his victims, exacerbating our national obsession with wealth and status and glorifying greed and psychopathic behavior.鈥�

But filmmakers with the clout of Martin Scorsese will always be able to get their projects made, no matter their聽critical reception, says Sid Levin, longtime Hollywood agent and founder of The Levin Agency.

鈥淭here is no studio executive in town who would turn down a Scorsese project, because his movies continue to make money for them,鈥� he says.

However, adds Mr. Levin, if he had his way, Hollywood聽would turn the lens on people whose lives truly merit the attention.

鈥淭here are聽firefighters, policemen and women, veterans coming home from wars,鈥� he says, 鈥渢hose are the real heroes round us. Hollywood would do well to tell some of their stories.鈥�