New Bond Film Is Attack On Imperialism (SPOILERS)

Liberals and conservatives alike seemed to have picked up on a distinctly anti-imperialist strain in the new Bond film "Quantum of Solace." A warning that there are minor spoilers below.

via the liberal Juan Cole:

The reviews of director Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" have complained about the film's hectic pace (reminiscent of Doug Liman's and Paul Greengrass's Bourne thrillers), about the humorlessness of Daniel Craig's Bond, and even about the squalid surroundings, so unlike Monaco and Prague, in which the film is set (with many scenes in Haiti and Bolivia). They have missed the most remarkable departure of all. Forster presents us with a new phenomenon in the James Bond films, a Bond at odds with the United States, who risks his career to save Evo Morales's leftist regime in Bolivia from being overthrown by a General Medrano, who is helped by the CIA and a private mercenary organization called Quantum. In short, this Bond is more Michael Moore than Roger Moore.

The plot of the film was developed by producer Michael G. Wilson during the filming of "Casino Royale." New York-born Wilson is from a show-business family (his father, Lewis Wilson, was the first actor to play Batman on screen, and his step-father, Albert Broccoli, was long the producer of the Bond films). But Wilson did a law degree at Stanford in the 1960s and worked for a while at a firm specializing in international law. Outrage at offenses against international law are as much at the heart of this film as the more personal vendettas of Bond and Camille (Olga Kurylenko).

and over at the National Post, this aspect was cited with annoyance:

Too much Naomi Klein in the plot line. When I was a kid, James Bond fought the Soviet Union and prevented terrorists from blowing up nukes. In Quantum of Solace, the villain ... wants to privatize Bolivia's water supply. When the camera starts taking in poor Bolivian villagers moaning helplessly as the villain shuts off their water pipes with one of his dams, I felt like I was reading one of Klein's columns in The Nation.

Comments

[linzy]

The times they are a changin'. Saw it, liked it, despite the brutality and over the top special effects, and felt it was relevant to the political situations facing the 21st century. Darker Bond, better story.

[wm1066]

I suggest people read the original short story by Ian Fleming.
Its not a typical Bond story but it is very good story, dealing with human emotions and revenge.
The only action is when Bond tells the reader he is in the Islands to blow up some of Castros munitions. And then he mentions if he had his druthers he would be helping Castro instead of working against him. I can't remember if he actually refers to Castro or that he implies its Castro.

[ptarantino]

Bechtel is the real life company that exploited Bolivia's water supply & Halliburton was the real life company that dug the gas pipelines in the Country.

I really enjoyed a Bond film that had as true underlying narrative. Pretending that the CIA & UK inteligence force is all good is a joke.

[islandchris]

I don't think its inappropriate to discuss the Bond movie here. I enjoyed the movie as basic entertainment, and was pleasantly surprised by the "politics" being reflected. The Bond movies were careful from the outset in NOT assuming Russia or China were the enemy. The Daniel Craig series looks like a complete "reboot", and the arch-enemy to come is hinted at in this movie.

There's a telling exchange between Bond and Felix Leiter in the bar, where Bond observes how "well" the U.S. has 'stitched up" South America, and Leiter ripostes saying "Coming from a Brit, I'll take that as a compliment".

Our group laughed at that exchange, but no one else in the audience (US) seemed to get it. Most of the world audience is fully aware of how the British and Americans have conducted business for the last couple of centuries (for better and worse). It would be a bonus if the domestic American audience would begin to catch up. Maybe with an Obama presidency this country can get a little more connected to the world and its own history.

[Solex]

Don't count on it-Obama will do the same things that Clinton, Bush (Gore if he'd been elected) did when they were in office, except that it will be Pakistan that gets the brunt of it all, as well as Afghanistan. If you people had voted for Ralph Nader like you should, then things would be different, but I don't think that they will be. The hangover will be in the offing when he becomes President, mark my words.

And I am definitely going to be seeing this movie on Saturday night.

[MO4Obama08]

Uh...Hello! This was a MOVIE... you know, ENTERTAINMENT! And, damn good entertainment too! Good follow up to the Casino Royale ending, good plot line, Craig was AWESOME of course, great action (although a bit too fast and dizzying at times). I'm just glad we're FINALLY seeing the Bond that Ian Flemming envisioned, and not the tuxedo wearing-martini drinking-never get dirty Bond of yore!

Geez... there are plenty of posts about politics to comment on, do we really have to go there with a movie review?

DANIEL CRAIG ROCKS! Period!

[totalliberal]

Read the headline mental-midget.

[Hirnlego]

War is sweet to those who have no experience of it. But the experienced man trembles exceedingly in his heart at its approach.
Greek poet Pindar, 518-438 BC

"As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."
- Abraham Lincoln

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in." - George McGovern

The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do. - Samuel P. Huntington

[observer007]

So people are complaining that the average joe won't get the message - if a few right-wing nutjobs get it, they'll talk about it, then people will go see it. A few who can think for themselves will get it, and that may be a few more than those who see through corporate-imperialist exploitation now.

Others complain that there isn't any of that silliness - ever read any of the original books? Well, I shouldn''t ask that of anyone who wants international incidents that threaten the lives of millions to be funny.

[lvogt]

Yeah, I was surprised, The message was very anti-corporate. I thought it was nice to see some social conscience in a spy thriller.

[sbvpav]

have you read the new le carre book, "a most wanted man?" speaks volumes in a spy novel about our country's rendition and torture.....

[totalliberal]

They even privatized rainwater. Bet you didn't see these scenes on MSM TV news.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=UwbdetTT3ws

[totalliberal]

What a crazy off-center idea. The thought that private companies could take over a poor nations water supply. That's why Bond is fantasy.


"-On January 10 the citizens of El Alto took to the streets en masse to demand that their water system, privatized in 1997 under World Bank pressure, be returned to public hands. Three days later Bolivia's president issued a decree canceling the water concession, led by the French water giant Suez, and an arm of the World Bank itself. The El Alto water revolt follows, by five years exactly, the now famous revolt against water privatization in Cochabamba, in which a company controlled by the Bechtel Corporation was ousted from the country.-"

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050214/shultz

[donaldw6]

I haven't seen a Bond film in a long time, but I'll make it a point to see this one. Bond was the Cold War prop-agandist, but my, how he's changed!

[leeman79]

Even bond gets it.

[honeydiva]

who cares? the movie was pure intrigue & action...why does everybody want to be so deep, trust most folks didn't even grasp the political message, they were just entertained for a couple of hours!

[RRG64]

entertained or briefly programmed?

[tiredandworried]

I thought the message was: There is corruption at high places. And that is something imperialistic regimes foster all too often. What I found hard to follow was which exactly were the good guys. But I guess that was also part of the plot.

Next film: double/triple crosses in the financial world?

[muypolitico]

You could not follow who were the good guys because in politics they seldom exist. Many appear to be so, but you never know who is the real thing. And even when you a good guy (or woman), there will be so many around him whose true nature is unknown, that often all you can do is to make educated guesses as to where people truly stand.

[Marcantm]

Please read some Noam Chomsky.

[one4obama]

Just one question - who the he!! is Juan Cole?

OK, two questions - And why is he relevant?

[andyg]

He a college profesor, anti-imperal, arab lover.

[Maloysius]

Why is this news? Anti-imperialism has been a constant theme in creative expression from Joyce through the Simpsons. The Ugly American is an archetype for a reason. This reminds me of the supposed leading dim bulbs of the punditocracy debating whether or not Wall-E was anit-capitalist film. Debating whether James Bond or cartoons are in truth political subversives - wasn't this a Seinfeld episode?

[Marcantm]

The reason it is relevant is because when most people think of imperaiism they think of it as government run 19th-20th century imperialism. Seldom do we think about corporate imperialism/exploitation facilitated by the protection of the CIA or other government agencies. The illustration that the Bond film provided was sheer genius.