Talk:Land of the Blind

Opening Date
While Land of the Blind may have been screened in film festivals prior to June 16, 2006, that is the date it officially opened in New York and the date a review appeared in the NY Times. (Regarding release date in info box I just created.) DL77 19:45, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

First Shown?
The article currently says the film was first shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. According the IMDB entry, "The film had its World Premiere in competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2006." One or the other has got to be wrong. :-) 149.8.226.148 16:22, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Elephants?
Anyone feel like shedding some light on the elephant metaphors interspersed throughout the film? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ailes Grises (talk • contribs) 19:23, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The blind men and an elephant is used in one scene, but I think there is also an elephant in the room somewhere. Paradoctor (talk) 21:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Thoughts on this article
There are a few points on which I feel like we're not doing this film justice. For instance, in the lead-in, we state that the film is based on several incidents throughout history in which tyrannical rulers were overthrown by new leaders who proved to be just as bad, if not worse. While this statement defines an entire subgenre of literature and drama (several Weill/Brecht works immediately come to mind--Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, for instance; Kazan's Viva Zapata! would be an excellent example), I don't think that this was quite the point of Land of the Blind--I think that it was deeper and more reflective than that. Particularly in its presentation, the film makes me uncomfortable with this description; as Kim Jong Il was not overthrown by the Islamic Revolution, as the Islamic Revolution did not lead to the establishment of the Khmer Rouge atrocities and Mao's Cultural Revolution, and did not end outside of a bunker in Berlin, I am inclined to think that its point is deeper than simply saying that the would-be liberators who overthrow tyrants tend to become tyrants themselves. I see the film as being more of a pastiche of several centuries worth of totalitarianism with more to offer than simply the claim that revolutions rarely produce better governments than those they overthrow. It is more of a kaleidoscope of absolute government.

(Incidentally, as I'm writing this, I find myself thinking of both myself and this article's authors as the blind men feeling an elephant described in the film. Kind of cool.)

I also have a few issues with the list of historical references in the film. Absent from our list are Hitler, Mao's Cultural Revolution (although the Iranian Cultural Revolution is correctly noted), the Taliban (which I only know for certain was referenced because I saw the director say so), Kim Il Sung, maybe Adolf Eichmann, and almost certainly others. I have been trying for days to figure out how Rudolf Hess is supposed to have been referenced and cannot see the connection (not saying that he isn't in there, just that I don't understand how).

Other than those things, I thought that the article was very well-written. Parts of it were exceptionally well-phrased. I wish that I had time to rewrite the intro, but I don't have time right now. I might later, if nobody else does and there are no objections. Heather (talk) 15:57, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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