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Marxism

The Young Karl Marx – The Birth of a Revolution

February 22, 2018 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

The 19th century Industrial Revolution created great wealth—but also great poverty and oppression. As the great divide between the workers and the owners widened, some came to believe that society needed to change drastically. That is the setting for The Young Karl Marx from director Raoul Peck.

The film’s title may focus on Marx, but it is really about the friendship and collaboration between Marx (August Diehl) and Fredrich Engels (Stefan Konarske). The two young men were both passionate about wanting to change the world. Marx was something of an academic and writer looking at things from a more philosophical perspective. Engels, the son of a mill owner, knew firsthand the inequities of the world—although he was one of the privileged class. The film covers the years from 1843-47, and the publishing of The Communist Manifesto.

One of the interesting points is that these two founders of modern Communism both came out of the middle class of the time. Engels continued working at his father’s textile mill even while he fought to change the system that it represented. Marx faced the difficulty of many writers in trying to get his works published and at the same time support his growing family.

It is interesting that while many know who Karl Marx was, they may not really know his ideas, only how they were co-opted by various despots who saw in his writings the way to grab power. By focusing on Marx’s as a young man, the film is able to show us how the inequality of that time helped to form his ideas. The film serves as a primer for the development of Marxism. I was led to do a few Wikipedia searches for people and groups that play a part in this the story—including some Christian communist groups of the same time. The film seeks to present the early Marxist thought without the baggage it has picked up during the 20th century.

Many people of faith will automatically think that anything to do with Marx is anathema. Part of that may be his comment about religion being “the opium of the masses” (a metaphor that can be interesting to unpack). Another issue is the way we often look at various Communist dictatorships that are built upon Marx’s foundation. However, we often overlook that Marx was reacting to oppression, exploitation, and injustice that were systemic to the European growing economy of that time. And because such disparities continue in many places in the world, Marx’s ideas continue to resonate with many people.

When Liberation Theology came to the fore in the 1970s many of those theologians were accused of being Communists because their thinking was very like Marx—albeit with a spiritual and biblical perspective added. This film may give people a glimpse at the things Christianity and other religions hold in common with Marx’s ideas.

 

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: August Diehl, Communist Manifesto, Fredrich Engels, Karl Marx, Marxism, Raoul Peck, Stefan Konarske

Captain Fantastic – A Good Father?

August 1, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“We are defined by our actions, not our words.”

What does it mean to be a good parent? Is it doing what you can so the child is ready for the world? What if you think society is by and large a failure? Can you teach your children to be “philosopher kings” by stepping away from all the flaws of the everyday world? The family we see in Captain Fantastic may seem to be a brilliant experiment—or it may seem to be a form of child abuse. How do we decide how to think about this family?

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) is raising his six children off the grid in the Pacific Northwest. For the last ten years they have hunted and raised their own food. They exercise daily. They learn to protect themselves, read and discuss. In some ways these children are advanced far beyond others their age. But they have no social interaction outside the family. Ben has been raising them alone for the last three months while his wife has been in the hospital dealing with mental illness. After she dies, Ben’s father-in-law (Frank Langella) is angry, banning Ben from the funeral. Ben and the children load up their bus and head to New Mexico in spite of the threats. For the younger children, this is the first experience of the outside world. It is a challenge for them, and at times for Ben, as they encounter all the things they have avoided through the years.

The family has been educated in a very countercultural fashion. They celebrate Noam Chomsky Day instead of Christmas. They view consumerism through Marxist eyes. There is a sense of anarchism, but they have developed a clear moral code. Ben seems to have no qualms about leading the family in a huge shoplifting spree at a grocery store, nor with giving them lethal weapons (even the youngest). They disrupt the funeral, but do so because Ben’s wife would not have wanted a service like this.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

The grandparents and other family all want what is best for the children—and so does Ben. The question is what will be best for them? Would it be better if they had been raised like their cousins who are constantly in front of screens and don’t know even the basic concepts that define America? If they had been raised in the world of McDonalds and Walmart, would they be as mentally and physically fit as they are? On the other hand, the oldest son, Bo (George MacKay) would like to go to college, but has no social skills, which becomes apparent when he connects with a girl at a campground. Is it possible to be outside of society and yet be a part of it?

The crisis for Ben comes when he discovers that he may have short-changed his children, even though he feels he has done the right thing all along. Perhaps, he comes to think, they would be better off with people who can care for them in other ways. He may even wonder if his ego is in the way of the well-being of his family. All these years he has believed that he has set his children first in all things. But what if he has been wrong?

Parenting is a challenge. Often we look around us and see what others do and think it must be right. New parents read the latest books on childrearing and resolve to try to form children into good people. For Ben and his wife, it seemed like another way would be best—would save their children from the corrupted world. So they tried to take them to an Eden. In the beauty of the natural world—with no screens or technology—they fashioned children that they thought would be prepared to live full and productive lives. Were they right? Are they the best parents ever or the worst? That is the question we ask ourselves at various times in the film. It is also the question that parents may often ask themselves over and over through the years.

Photos courtesy of Bleecker Street

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: counterculture, Family, Frank Langella, George MacKay, Marxism, Matt Ross, Noam Chomsky, off the grid, parenting, shoplifting, Viggo Mortensen

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