Care to catalogue exactly what statements he has made that are demonstrably dumb?
You said it, but then you did pass judgment immediately after, more or less, with the comment about Germans vs Italians when it comes to voting for ancestors of dictators. Oh, the Germans wouldn’t, but the Italians would. You’re implying something there.
Okay, please get Spike Lee on the case so all Italians can be set straight and act like the Germans.
This is Spike Lee we’re talking about. Do you have room for the encyclopedic collection bound in harback, or will you wait for the 100-disc CD-rom version? 
Funny, I don’t see any actual examples here.
Well, sure. Hitler didn’t have any kids. But seriously, that’s what partisans do. It’s what the Italian partisans did, it’s what the Viet Cong did, it’s what the Iraqi rebels do. When large forces of the regular army come, they hustle out of there and leave the civilians to their own devices. Guerilla warfare isn’t generally very nice that way.
Would it be alright if Italians made a movie showing American blacks are not facing up to their responsibilities either?
Why wouldn’t it? You think they should have to apply for a license?
Do you really think it would go over well in America? Or even in Italy?
You asked me if it was “all right.” I didn’t know that clairvoyance was demanded.
In either case, the only criticism that would matter to me would be actual errors in depiction or outright falsehood. I’m still waiting for a sample of those volumes and volumes of “dumb” things that Spike Lee has said about Italy and the Second World War.
The non-Spike-Lee cohorts American and British movie industries, just to name two, have courageously taken on the task of depicting just about any goddamn time or place or society they wanted to. Why shouldn’t Spike Lee do it? And why shouldn’t the Italians?
Spike Lee is a perfect example. He was annoyed by the neglect of black soldiers by Hollywood directors like Eastwood, so he went and made his own movie about black soldiers in World War II.
I’m not seeing a lot of GQ-type answers here so far. I think this is probably better suited for GD.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Considering that the Italian people are still electing fascists in the 21st century, I don’t really have an issue with this.
Maybe I’m wrong, and if I am, I’ll accept it, but I do feel like Germans wouldn’t pull this shit. I’ve had conversations with Germans regarding their country’s WWII past, and there is definitely a sense of horror and shame and a strong owning up to their ancestors’ sins - maybe too strong, even. I find it mildly disturbing to hear people speak with such shame about events that occurred long before their birth. I don’t think they would sunbathe and play frisbee on a beach while dead children of an ethnic minority lay on the sand just a few feet away. But in Italy, it’s okay, they’re only gypsies.
I traveled to Italy a number of years ago and just loved it. Had a great time. But I will not be returning any time soon.
He complained that Eastwood didn’t insert black people in a plot that didn’t have any and then created a negro-centric war movie of his own.
I’m guessing the Italians know their history better than somebody who made a racial grudge movie to prove a point.
Why wouldn’t it? I really don’t get it. People make movies about foreign countries all the time. Should we have not made “Memoirs of a Geisha” or “The Last King of Scotland”?
If this was anyone but Spike Lee, this wouldn’t even be in the news. I mean, a minor special interest group complains their group isn’t portrayed as saints. Who really cares?
Perhap’s, if she’s trading on her grandfather’s name the way Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte traded on his uncle’s. And since she’s part of Berlusconi’s party, it wouldn’t surprise me.
I’ll accept that some Italians might look pretty right wing to you. But when American public opinion starts complaining that Western Europeans aren’t liberal enough then I’m struggling to take the point seriously.
Oh, Spike… You complain that black Americans have been given a bad shake because Eastwood’s movie contorted reality and didn’t give black WWII soldiers the credit they are due. Ignoring the fact that your assessment is incorrect, you then seek to remedy the situation by doing to the Italians what you complain about yourself.
:rolleyes:
Sandwich, I’m not complaining about anything and I’m not American. What the hell are you talking about?
Sorry, Philster, but I never meant to imply the things that you seem to be reading in my post. Read it again, it’s just not there. Also: read up on this lady. This is someone who’s using her family name and history as political capital, someone who has publically embraced her grampa’s past and his political beliefs rather than renounce them. The fact that this lady has actually managed to start a successful political carreer to me suggests that at least in some pockets of Italian society, the approach to Italy’s fascist history is not one of remorse and regret. In this respect, Italy is not unique but it does differ sharply from some other European countries with a similar background.
Just wanted to add that, according to Time magazine:
I like Spike Lee’s films. I like the fact that he’s putting out a work that highlights the contributions Blacks made on the front lines during WWII. But defending a deliberate distortion of history in that same film? Bad call.
Interesting idea.
(I know nothing whatsoever about this movie so my comments are neutral in so far as it is specifically concerned)
So if Hollywood makes a multi million dollar movie that portrays all homeless people as child abusers and animal torturers showing it worldwide, then its up to the homeless people themselves to put the record straight by making their own multi million dollar movie and showing it internationally.
(Always supposing of course that they can get around U.S. protectionism in the industry to ensure general distribution in America).
I think that I can see one or two flaws in your in your argument.
This is the highest bullshit. He never asked for a false portrayal of blacks. He never said that real people who were not black should have been depicted as being black. His complaint was that blacks were inappropriately unseen generally.
Wow, your phrasing is revealing.
A “racial grudge movie”?