2.26.2012

Class War and 'The Grapes of Wrath'

Last night was John Steinbeck night on the Turner Classic Movie channel. 'The Grapes of Wrath' is one of the best movies ever made and even though i've seen it many times it still held the same magic. It should be mandatory viewing for graduation from school [at any level] especially now, when history is repeating itself again.

Henry Fonda's performance as Tom Joad is, perhaps, the greatest role ever in movie history. Tom Joad's legend will always live on in the music and stories of the working class as long as the class war exists. As Tom Joad says in his famous last lines while saying goodbye to his other near the end of the film, "I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too."

Please take a few minutes to watch the video below titled 'Let Your Life Be A Friction To Stop the Machine'. It's a powerful, look at the history of the American empire from Class War Films.