Manchurian Candidate: A Wake-Up Call to Voters

http://www.manchuriancandidate.com/whoisthemanchuriancandidate.html

Nick and I saw The Manchurian Candidate, and we both liked it very much. If you haven't already seen the film, wait to read this because I'm not going to be careful about giving away the plot.
This movie isn't exactly what we expected. I thought it would be a fairly blatant attack on Republican's stereotypical corrupt association with big business.. After all, Manchurian Global is an obvious stand-in for Halliburtin and it's long-standing government contract work. But the story is not about Republicans at all. There are only vague references to the the incumbant administration which suffers in spades the same criticisms of the current Bush administration. Of the two heros, Ben reveals no party affilliation, and Ray is clearly a Democrat. The leading villain in this film is a dead on ringer for Hillary Clinton. If the makers of Manchurian Candidate did not mean them to be Democrats, they failed.
Don't get me wrong . . . I don't think this film is meant to tell you whom to vote for or which party to believe. I think the film is pointing to the surreal nature of politics. The main characters, Ben and Ray, represent us, the voters. Senator Shaw and Manchurian Global represent those forces that seek to prevent us from making informed, autonomous decisions. Their weapons are lies and intimidation. Here's a real-life example: The writers of "Unfit for Command" face lawsuits from John Kerry's lawyers. Mabe they deserve it, but even if they're telling the truth, they'll have to pay large sums to defend themselves. If the suits are unfounded, there is no penalty to Kerry or his lawyers. That's pretty compelling intimidation. Also, just as in the movie, people have a hard time finding the truth. News reports, TV politics, radio shows, rock music, movies, etc all are rife with distortions, partial information, lies and plain mistakes. Our hero Ben said that his dreams seemed more real than the real world. I think we all get frustrated trying to sort the true from the false. But the point of the movie (and my blog) is this: deep down we have what we need to make the right choice. Ben and Ray, though controlled by implants and coerced by threats, know that they can find the truth and free themselves. We too know when things aren't adding up. We too can fight for the truth. We can't eliminate deceit in politics any more than Ben can defeat Manchurian Global. We can, like Ben, exercize the only real power we have: The power not to be another man's tool.