Manchurian Candidate

The Manchuran Candidate is a chilling picture of the extremes to which globalization can reach when politics and economics become one. Democracy becomes an ideal of the past and the bottom line, made up of the lust for money and power, rules the world.

I thought this remake an admirable updating from fear of the Red Menace to fear of the global corporation. Meryl Streep is an interesting evil mother figure; Denzel Washington plays the role that Frank Sinatra made famous - the brainwashed soldier realizing what the government and commerce are creating: another new world order.

Here is a link to an essay was published last week in The Tidings, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The essay is an attempt to explore the culture of fear that Hollywood is reflecting on through recent releases:

The Corporation & Manchurian Global:
The psychology of fear in the new world order

http://www.the-tidings.com/2004/0820/fearfilm.htm