"Make My Day": SCOTUS and America's Gun Fetish

I have to admit that I'm a Clint Eastwood fan -- though I never got into the Dirty Harry movies from which I took the title of this post.  Yesterday the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck down Chicago's 28 year old handgun ban.  In this decision, they extended an earlier decision to strike down the District of Columbia's ban to all jurisdictions.  Though leaving room for regulation, outright bans will not be permitted.  Now, it's important to note that Chicago's ban really hasn't worked well.  Handgun-related homicides remain extremely high in that city, but of course when you have a patchwork set of regulations that cover the nation, it's pretty hard to regulate gun ownership and use in a city the size of Chicago.

What is disturbing about yesterday's decision, to me, is not just the reasoning behind the decision, which props up even more the idea that the 2nd Amendment grants every American the right "to keep and bear arms," but the ongoing love affair that a considerable portion of America has with guns. 

Before I address that love affair that is celebrated in the Westerns of yesteryear, including those of Eastwood, let me note the reasoning given by the majority, that gun ownership is a fundamental right.  Even though they leave room for regulation, the NRA is adamant that they oppose most if not all forms of regulation.  Thus, this isn't the end of the debate, and with the current makeup of the Supreme Court, which not just leans right, but is firmly on the right (Anthony Kennedy doesn't seem to be swinging left very often these days).     

The question that I want to raise at the end of this concerns the American Gun Fetish, the one pictured in those classic westerns.  A goodly number of Americans seem to long for the days when everyone strapped on their six-shooter and walked around town, fully loaded.  Don't get me wrong, for some reason I like all those old movies and shows, but I don't long for the days of the old west when the quickest draw won the day.  I don't see the need to ban guns entirely -- many of my friends are hunters -- but I think we need sensible gun laws that first of all keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, that require instruction and licensure to use them, and that cross state lines so that one state's or city's regulations are not undermined by the laxity of laws in nearby jurisdictions. 

So, go ahead and make my day by making sensible laws that protect the populace from runaway gun violence.  And most of all, let's let go of this gun fetish!  You know, that fetish that led to one state recently legalizing the carrying of guns in churches -- like we need that -- or even more bizarre the churches that bless the guns of members.  No need for such things.

Invictus -- Video Review

It is hard to believe that has been twenty years since Nelson Mandela was released from his long imprisonment on Robben Island, an event that would transform the nation of South Africa.  Not too long afterward, Mandela was elected President of the nation and faced the difficulty of uniting a very divided nation.  Whites feared retribution and loss of property and businesses that had been established during the long years of government directed Apartheid policies.  Blacks were angry at being denied their rights for so long, angry at having been imprisoned for their efforts to free themselves from bondage to a white minority government.

Clint Eastwood's movie, now out on DVD, Invictus, tells the story of Mandela's decision to use a rugby team's participation in a South Africa hosted World Cup Championship to unite the nation.  The movie, which stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, portrays Mandela as being intent on bringing together a nation, understanding that the national rugby team, the Springboks were beloved by the Afrikaners, but hated by Blacks who saw them as poster children of apartheid.  It's revealed in the movie that Mandela, while on Robben Island, would root for whoever was playing against the Springboks, because this got under the skin of his guards.  More broadly, black South Africans as a whole rooted for whoever played against the Springboks as a sign of their protest against apartheid. 

According to the movie, Mandela believed that if the Afrikaners understood that they wouldn't lose their beloved team and that Blacks could embrace it, then there would be the first step toward reconciliation.  Pienaar, at least as portrayed in the movie, came from a middle-class Afrikaner family that detested the new president, in large part out of fear of what might happen.  Pienaar has his view of the world changed when the President invites him to tea.  They talk briefly about rugby, but the focus is on leadership.  After the meeting Pienaar realizes that Mandela not only wants the team to win the World Cup, but that he has been charged with helping lead a nation toward unity.

I realize that with any movie such as this there is artistic license and created dialog.  We don't know what exactly went through the minds of the primary actors, but we're helped to understand the process by which reconciliation was attempted, and that a rugby game, which was described in the movie as "a hooligans game played by gentlemen" could be the vehicle.

Freeman is masterful as Mandela, while Damon plays Pienaar with an understated dignity.  Both deserve their accolades.  But what struck me, besides this interplay between sports captain and president, was the interplay within Mandela's body guards.  Mandela brought with him the body guards that had protected him prior to his election, but now that he is president, the head of this unit realizes that he needs more staff, and receives that help in the form of several white police officers, men who had protected the previous president.  These officers represented all that the men in this unity hated about apartheid, but as the movie progresses these men come together and not only form a solid unit, but actually begin to develop a friendship.

The title of the movie, Invictus, stems from a Victorian poem written by William Henley, which according to the movie, sustained Mandela while in prison.  Shortly before the final championship match, Mandela gives Pienaar a hand written copy of the poem as an inspiration.  The last stanza of the poem is key:

It matters not how strait the gait, 

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Pienaar hears this as a call to be the master of his own fate, even as Mandela had been of his.

As for the movie itself, it is well acted, well written, and tells an important story that many of us have let creep into the recesses of our minds.  What the movie does for us is provide an excellent opportunity to consider the question of reconciliation and forgiveness when the alienation is at its greatest.  We're reminded that this is not easy, nor that it comes quickly.  And, sometimes you need symbolic opportunities to come together to build relationships, such as a rugby match.   It is, a message whose time has come!  

Movie Quotes That 'Make My Day'

In 2005 as a part of the celebration of their 100th anniversary, the American Film Institute released the top 100 movie quotes of all-time. The most quoted actor was Humphrey Bogart, who edged out Marlon Brandon by 4-3. Bogart's highest-rated was the #5 ranking of "Here's looking at you, kid" from 'Casablanca.' Brando had two of the top five with both "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" (#2) from 'The Godfather' and "I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am" (#3) from 'On the Riverfront'. The top-ranked quote of all-time? It was the classic Rhett Butler line from 'Gone With the Wind' as uttered by Clark Gable: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." The all-time top film, 'Gone With the Wind' had two more entries in the top 100, both Scarlett O'hara lines as uttered by Vivian Leigh: "...tomorrow is another day" (#31) and "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again" (#59). It wasn't just oldies either, as many modern films were well represented with top lines. A pair of Arnold Schwarzenegger classics make the list: "I'll be back" from 'Terminator' (#37) and "Hasta la vista, baby" from 'Terminator 2" (#76). The highest rated quotes from the last 25 years have been: "Go ahead, make my day" (#6) by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan in 1983's 'Sudden Impact', "I ate his liver with some fava beans, and a nice Chianti" (#21) eerily delivered by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in 1991's 'The Silence of the Lambs', "Show me the money" (#25) as delivered by both Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr in 1996's 'Jerry Maguire', and "You can't handle the truth" (#29) as shouted by Jack Nicholson's Colonel Nathan Jessup in 1992's 'A Few Good Men'. Maguire's Renee Zellweger also made it with her character Dorothy Boyd's classic heart breaker at #52: "You had me at hello." The only quote to make the list from the new 21st century was at #85, the "My precious" as Andy Serkis' character Gollum whispered in 2002's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'. Perhaps the most unlikely actor to make the list was actress Estelle Reiner, whose one-liner from 1989's 'When Harry Met Sally' was delivered with unparalleled timing and attitude in response to the classic public simulated-orgasm of Meg Ryan: "I'll have what she's having" came in at #33. So many great films, so many great one-liners. It may be the single most important skill of a screen writer in coming up with that signature. But it usually takes impeccable timing by a great actor or actress in a memorable film for a quote to truly become a part of our everyday lexicon. Click into the title of this entry to see the full list of 100 top quotes.