“Our films should tell the truth and not pat us on the back. [Otherwise] isn’t there the slight chance that we might be revealing America as it is not? Would that be encouraging us in our own delusions about ourselves?”

-- director George Stevens in 1946 after returning from World War II as a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps and filming the libreration of both Paris and Dachau prison camp, as relayed in Mark Harris' “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.” Stevens was part of the push for truth-telling in cinema that led to the directors revolution of 1967 to 1977. Blockbusters like “Star Wars” helped put an end to that movement and we wound up in a worst place than where we started. But yes, Stevens is right. Most movies now, most media now, encourage America in its delusions about itself. See Fox News for one. See most action blockbusters for another. 

FURTHER READING:

• On Truth, Innocence and the American Way
• Why Breitbart's Big Hollywood is Wrong About Almost Everything
• What Liberal Hollywood?
• Review: Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Tags: Five Came Back, George Stevens