Saturday, October 10, 2009

The Informant

Dave and I saw this movie last night. It stars one of my favorite actors, Matt Damon, is directed by Steven Soderberg and produced by George Clooney. The reviews have been, generally, good, with some mention of Matt being nominated for an Oscar.

But it hasn't been well attended. Yesterday there were seven other people in the theater. Mostly people don't think it's entertaining.

It's a true story. In all of the reviews I've read it's been described as being about big business and corporate greed.

I don't think that at all. I think it's about mental illness.

Matt Damon's character is bi-polar. He's a good natured liar of global proportions. Most of the time he's a happy, lying genus/duffas who calms himself with irrelevant thoughts that constantly race through his brain,

Here's the question we discussed on the way home. Does mental illness excuse our actions? I don't think so. Anybody as smart as Matt's character has got to know that there's something very wrong with his mind.

So then there's Jesus' question: Do you want to get well?

If you see this movie be mindful of Marvin Hamlisch's excellent music. It helps us understand this man's feelings.


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