Yesterday I viewed a lively podcast with Marc Elias and George Conway,who has also donated 1 million to Harris campaign.Conway spoke of watching the German(subtitled) movie Downfall about Hitler’s last days in the Fuhrerbunker to try to grasp what it was like when his ex was working in Trump’s bunker.Regarding the future of the RNC, Conway pointed out that Trump had moved the RNC to Florida and merged it with his campaign…and what happens to political campaigns after a candidate loses ?
In the mean time, trying not to “drink the poison” and GOTV.💙🇺🇸
Z. I remember seeing it in an art house theatre in Memphis.
Paranoia is certainly rampant these days. Last night, I found myself sitting in a bustling, upscale Las Vegas restaurant with our two closest friends. It was my first outing since my beloved cat passed away last Sunday. I hadn’t wanted to go, fearing that I might break down in tears, especially knowing they would want to talk about him. Yet their invitation was so kind and sincere, we couldn’t bring ourselves to decline. And yes, we did talk about the loss of my sweet boy. But somehow, the conversation drifted into familiar territory—once again, the looming presidential election.
Our friends, who recently donated over $1 million to the Democratic National Committee for various campaign efforts, shared their thoughts. Think about that—over $1 million. They are, like us, a married lesbian couple. And, fraught with worry over the results of the coming election. I had the honor of officiating their wedding, and my wife was matron of honor for her best friend. We’re incredibly close, bound by years of shared memories, but last evening we found ourselves locked in a heated debate—whether or not, depending on the election, we should leave the country.
Tentative plans linger in the air. We have penciled in a trip to New York for Thanksgiving, and we’ve loosely mapped out a drive to Utah for Christmas. But “tentative” feels like the key word, a fragile placeholder in a world filled with uncertainty. How do you make plans when everything could go sideways? How do you sit across from three people who either believe the worst is inevitable or nothing will happen and we are overreacting? Aching with grief, I was too exhausted to think about it yet agreed we should have a plan.
We sat there, disagreeing in hard, jagged language, teetering between hope and dread. What do we do next? How do we carry on with our lives when everything feels so precarious? Do we start making evacuation plans like we did 37 times while living in Southern California? Or do we wait, paralyzed by the coming election, hoping for a clear answer afterward? Will we, like those in World War II, find ourselves scrambling for escape from a regime borne of Project 2025?
The death of a pet is so hard. Such a feeling of emptiness is the only way I have to describe it. Seems grief is being compounded given this election. I think I've reached the conclusion that the election is just one step in what will likely be a long road toward a social and political reawakening to what is really important. What is really most important is solidarity with one another no matter the effort of a minority, and it is a minority with a deadly agenda. That we keep standing together for and with values of love for all might be the best medicine for us in our individuality as well as in community.That will require lots of personal resilience and the capacity to resist the worst this minority will keep shoveling no matter how the election turns out. Seems important to not lose heart or our nerve. Too many people before us have made the hard, sometimes backbreaking, heart rending sacrifices to expand democracy and freedom in the US. That irks people like Muck and jd and the heritage foundation fascists. Such efforts have always irked them because they have only themselves and their bank accounts. But we as a people are so much more. We go forward bearing our grief but not giving in to the kind of world these guys dream about. Grief is about recognizing an ending. Grief can also be and often will become a springboard to a new beginning. These heritage foundation types and their guys and some poir little gals are everywhere, not just in the US. They are Muck jumping up and down in PA wearing a hat that proclaims "Darth Maga"! They reveal who they are every day. The goal is to scare the shit out of us. In 2016 a friend in Germany emailed, "You can move in with us until he's gone!" We thought about it then said, " The struggle for a better world is right here where we live, where family live, where what we do here will matter". So we stayed. At any rate did not intend to "sermonize"...it just spilled out. Whatever you decide will be what you most need to decide. You will know why.
Wow. I remember seeing Z in Boston over Christmas break 1969–70 with three of my antiwar organizer buddies. The line to get in was long, it was snowing, and we made it in. I was a college freshman at the time. I still have the soundtrack on vinyl. It was my real introduction to the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, many of whose recordings I've acquired in the decades since. Now I *have* to see it again!
Thanks Tom. I don't remember the Greek problem, but I certainly remember the criminal Democrat Daley's. They professed to be Democrats but were in fact crime bosses who were a stain on the Democratic party when they first came to National attention with the disgraceful Democratic Convention of 1968. Tom Hayden was one of those jailed.
Wow! I had no idea Z had been re-released! I remember seeing it when it came out. I was either in Hamburg, Germany or in Cincinnati,OH. Either way it is a film that has stayed with me since then. That it is back out now is great. A must see. I really appreciate that you have taken your readers through the plot and its incredible intricacies. I wonder if at any time you began to wonder why Z is part of putin's invasion of Ukraine? Who/what is it that "lives" in the midst of all the usual hidden and diabolical connections that are almost impossible to see UNTIL after all the cards have been played and outcomes revealed. The revealing can take a very long time. And in my experience often only when the key players are safely ensconced in power or dead and buried. The living must carry on in the aftermath of the horror. Gotta see it again. That's sure.
Delighted to hear it's out there. Z and The Pawnbroker were the two movies from my college years that have stayed with me. Well, plus Phaedra--which has the distinction of the first date I ever went on on the back of a motorcycle.
The other memorable movie, from later, (besides the obvious Big ones) was Apartment Zero but I don't know if I could bear to watch that again. I left the theater thinking I had just encountered pure evil.
I remember watching it at the time Tom, and you are right it does speak loudly to our times. It was one of those powerful statements like "Burry My Heart at Wounded Knee" was in book form. A lot of us were paying attention, for some of us our attention wavered, but it seems we are focused again. I doubt that anyone who understood "Z" at the time is a fascist today. Thanks for the heads up, I'm looking forward to voting on Tuesday. 💥
I saw it while in high school. My brother was involved in a film club at Northwestern University, and at his urging I saw it with some friends, maybe in 1970. I have never forgotten the film, that's the kind of impact it had on me. I'm forwarding your piece with my brother. So very timely..thank you, TC.
I got to attend the big NYC premiere (I'm remembering an end-of-year 1969 release, probably to make it eligible for Oscars, but I could be a year off) because my father had been active in a group of US academic people who were instrumental in getting Mikis Theodorakis (who scored the movie and was one of the two or three major Greek songwriters) released from house arrest to take a teaching job in America. I was also very close friends with several of them (stories too long to tell here) because they'd been my teachers. so, for some reason, I managed to get an invitation. it was very cool being this hippie-looking twenty-year old in a cool black velvet suit among a very starry group. I remember seeing Burt Lancaster there and I'd been a lunatic fan since the first time I saw "His Majesty O'Keefe" on TV when I was about ten.
"Z" already felt like an instant classic and it made Costa-Gavras into an important international director. Trintignant was one of the greatest actors of his time, and he was on a roll during this period, because he played this super-prosecutor within a year or so of also giving his famously amazing performance in Bertolucci's famously amazing--and equally career consolidating--"The Conformist" (which is also about as intense and sickening a study of fascism as I know, "1900" notwithstanding).
I don't have the Criterion Edition of "Z," but their edition of "The Conformist" has LOADS of great extra material.
I'm glad you made this recommendation...for a long time, this movie was hard to find on most streaming platforms. it's beautifully made and very exciting and takes some real delight in showing that the villains were every bit as stupid as they were evil.
much more fun talking about movies than... need I continue?
I remember this film but plan to see it again to steel myself against any tactics from the film that the 2025ers have in store for us. ( We know that even if they lose with Trump, it will be full speed ahead in the states.) The only edge we have now is our cell phones to record some of life's wickedness and the internet to post it on.
Yesterday I viewed a lively podcast with Marc Elias and George Conway,who has also donated 1 million to Harris campaign.Conway spoke of watching the German(subtitled) movie Downfall about Hitler’s last days in the Fuhrerbunker to try to grasp what it was like when his ex was working in Trump’s bunker.Regarding the future of the RNC, Conway pointed out that Trump had moved the RNC to Florida and merged it with his campaign…and what happens to political campaigns after a candidate loses ?
In the mean time, trying not to “drink the poison” and GOTV.💙🇺🇸
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ybDTqnL_0
Very good!!
Z. I remember seeing it in an art house theatre in Memphis.
Paranoia is certainly rampant these days. Last night, I found myself sitting in a bustling, upscale Las Vegas restaurant with our two closest friends. It was my first outing since my beloved cat passed away last Sunday. I hadn’t wanted to go, fearing that I might break down in tears, especially knowing they would want to talk about him. Yet their invitation was so kind and sincere, we couldn’t bring ourselves to decline. And yes, we did talk about the loss of my sweet boy. But somehow, the conversation drifted into familiar territory—once again, the looming presidential election.
Our friends, who recently donated over $1 million to the Democratic National Committee for various campaign efforts, shared their thoughts. Think about that—over $1 million. They are, like us, a married lesbian couple. And, fraught with worry over the results of the coming election. I had the honor of officiating their wedding, and my wife was matron of honor for her best friend. We’re incredibly close, bound by years of shared memories, but last evening we found ourselves locked in a heated debate—whether or not, depending on the election, we should leave the country.
Tentative plans linger in the air. We have penciled in a trip to New York for Thanksgiving, and we’ve loosely mapped out a drive to Utah for Christmas. But “tentative” feels like the key word, a fragile placeholder in a world filled with uncertainty. How do you make plans when everything could go sideways? How do you sit across from three people who either believe the worst is inevitable or nothing will happen and we are overreacting? Aching with grief, I was too exhausted to think about it yet agreed we should have a plan.
We sat there, disagreeing in hard, jagged language, teetering between hope and dread. What do we do next? How do we carry on with our lives when everything feels so precarious? Do we start making evacuation plans like we did 37 times while living in Southern California? Or do we wait, paralyzed by the coming election, hoping for a clear answer afterward? Will we, like those in World War II, find ourselves scrambling for escape from a regime borne of Project 2025?
Paranoia. What an ugly word.
Portugal. Easy to get a visa and everyone I know who's gone there loves it. Plus Spain is next door and France is one over.
Thank you. 🙏
My sincere condolences on the loss of your cat. I fully, understand having lost a few of my feline friends over the years, it is devastating.
Grief is the gaping wound left when a piece of your heart is ripped away.
The death of a pet is so hard. Such a feeling of emptiness is the only way I have to describe it. Seems grief is being compounded given this election. I think I've reached the conclusion that the election is just one step in what will likely be a long road toward a social and political reawakening to what is really important. What is really most important is solidarity with one another no matter the effort of a minority, and it is a minority with a deadly agenda. That we keep standing together for and with values of love for all might be the best medicine for us in our individuality as well as in community.That will require lots of personal resilience and the capacity to resist the worst this minority will keep shoveling no matter how the election turns out. Seems important to not lose heart or our nerve. Too many people before us have made the hard, sometimes backbreaking, heart rending sacrifices to expand democracy and freedom in the US. That irks people like Muck and jd and the heritage foundation fascists. Such efforts have always irked them because they have only themselves and their bank accounts. But we as a people are so much more. We go forward bearing our grief but not giving in to the kind of world these guys dream about. Grief is about recognizing an ending. Grief can also be and often will become a springboard to a new beginning. These heritage foundation types and their guys and some poir little gals are everywhere, not just in the US. They are Muck jumping up and down in PA wearing a hat that proclaims "Darth Maga"! They reveal who they are every day. The goal is to scare the shit out of us. In 2016 a friend in Germany emailed, "You can move in with us until he's gone!" We thought about it then said, " The struggle for a better world is right here where we live, where family live, where what we do here will matter". So we stayed. At any rate did not intend to "sermonize"...it just spilled out. Whatever you decide will be what you most need to decide. You will know why.
Thank you for your insightful, thoughtful comment. 💙
Yes.
Wow. I remember seeing Z in Boston over Christmas break 1969–70 with three of my antiwar organizer buddies. The line to get in was long, it was snowing, and we made it in. I was a college freshman at the time. I still have the soundtrack on vinyl. It was my real introduction to the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, many of whose recordings I've acquired in the decades since. Now I *have* to see it again!
Thanks Tom. I don't remember the Greek problem, but I certainly remember the criminal Democrat Daley's. They professed to be Democrats but were in fact crime bosses who were a stain on the Democratic party when they first came to National attention with the disgraceful Democratic Convention of 1968. Tom Hayden was one of those jailed.
Wow! I had no idea Z had been re-released! I remember seeing it when it came out. I was either in Hamburg, Germany or in Cincinnati,OH. Either way it is a film that has stayed with me since then. That it is back out now is great. A must see. I really appreciate that you have taken your readers through the plot and its incredible intricacies. I wonder if at any time you began to wonder why Z is part of putin's invasion of Ukraine? Who/what is it that "lives" in the midst of all the usual hidden and diabolical connections that are almost impossible to see UNTIL after all the cards have been played and outcomes revealed. The revealing can take a very long time. And in my experience often only when the key players are safely ensconced in power or dead and buried. The living must carry on in the aftermath of the horror. Gotta see it again. That's sure.
Delighted to hear it's out there. Z and The Pawnbroker were the two movies from my college years that have stayed with me. Well, plus Phaedra--which has the distinction of the first date I ever went on on the back of a motorcycle.
The other memorable movie, from later, (besides the obvious Big ones) was Apartment Zero but I don't know if I could bear to watch that again. I left the theater thinking I had just encountered pure evil.
I remember watching it at the time Tom, and you are right it does speak loudly to our times. It was one of those powerful statements like "Burry My Heart at Wounded Knee" was in book form. A lot of us were paying attention, for some of us our attention wavered, but it seems we are focused again. I doubt that anyone who understood "Z" at the time is a fascist today. Thanks for the heads up, I'm looking forward to voting on Tuesday. 💥
I saw it while in high school. My brother was involved in a film club at Northwestern University, and at his urging I saw it with some friends, maybe in 1970. I have never forgotten the film, that's the kind of impact it had on me. I'm forwarding your piece with my brother. So very timely..thank you, TC.
I got to attend the big NYC premiere (I'm remembering an end-of-year 1969 release, probably to make it eligible for Oscars, but I could be a year off) because my father had been active in a group of US academic people who were instrumental in getting Mikis Theodorakis (who scored the movie and was one of the two or three major Greek songwriters) released from house arrest to take a teaching job in America. I was also very close friends with several of them (stories too long to tell here) because they'd been my teachers. so, for some reason, I managed to get an invitation. it was very cool being this hippie-looking twenty-year old in a cool black velvet suit among a very starry group. I remember seeing Burt Lancaster there and I'd been a lunatic fan since the first time I saw "His Majesty O'Keefe" on TV when I was about ten.
"Z" already felt like an instant classic and it made Costa-Gavras into an important international director. Trintignant was one of the greatest actors of his time, and he was on a roll during this period, because he played this super-prosecutor within a year or so of also giving his famously amazing performance in Bertolucci's famously amazing--and equally career consolidating--"The Conformist" (which is also about as intense and sickening a study of fascism as I know, "1900" notwithstanding).
I don't have the Criterion Edition of "Z," but their edition of "The Conformist" has LOADS of great extra material.
I'm glad you made this recommendation...for a long time, this movie was hard to find on most streaming platforms. it's beautifully made and very exciting and takes some real delight in showing that the villains were every bit as stupid as they were evil.
much more fun talking about movies than... need I continue?
Agree totally about The Conformist. What a take on selling one's soul.
That premiere sounds totally cool.
it certainly was.
I remember this film but plan to see it again to steel myself against any tactics from the film that the 2025ers have in store for us. ( We know that even if they lose with Trump, it will be full speed ahead in the states.) The only edge we have now is our cell phones to record some of life's wickedness and the internet to post it on.
Thank you for your review of this important film.