Dark Film, Dark Night

New York

It's been awhile since I've posted, dear readers. The late fall, with all the elements of getting ready for new light, new warmth, after the solstice in just 13 short days, always makes me pensive.

No Country for Old Men fits the bill when one is pensive. The story, originally written by Cormac MacCarthy, centers around west Texas, a sociopathic killer/drug dealer, an aging sheriff ( whose ancestors had been west Texas sheriffs before him ), and a "retired" welder, Llewelyn Moss, who finds a couple million dollars on the Texas/Mexico border.

The film has the same chilling impact as In Cold Blood when the killer, Sugar, relentlessly hunts down Llewelyn, intent on killing him and recovering his drug money. The path to Moss is easy since Sugar placed a transponder in the suitcase amidst the crisp stacks of $1000 bills.

In the course of the movie, Sugar, his dark eyes lifeless like Jeffrey Daumer's, travels the countryside, victimizing everyone from an old timer-gas station owner to the resident manager of Moss' trailer court. His weapon: a shotgun with a silencer.

I don't think most of us see evil with quite the bigger than life edge that is portrayed in this film. I do, however, think that we see evil in much more pervasive and subtle ways in our day to day lives. In the past two months, I've watched colleagues of mine remain silent when what was called for was a voice of dissent. I've watched fellow neighbors offer no cry of outrage when faced with an unethical decision by a peer. I've listened to leaders whine when they weren't agreed with--not based on principle but based on ego. That kind of darkness requires someone to cry foul--to have the courage to step up, speak out. Courage is the antedote to evil. And speaking out is the cure to injustice.

It's almost the solstice, almost Christmas. A good time to think about light, darkness; good, evil. The possibilities of human beings to change just one thing, to step up and say:
This Isn't Right.