Machine Gun Preacher - dumbest American propaganda ever !
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joerg-nezmeskal — 13 years ago(August 06, 2012 01:57 PM)
Sorry, I dont get why this one should be "propaganda"? Neither the americans are glorified (the protagonist gets nearly no help from his fellow countrymen and pretty much despises his own country and lifestyle therefore) nor did it glorified the christian religion (Childers, played by Butler, lost his faith in god and therefore religion during the latter half of the movie after all) and hell even the hero was show with a lot of weaknesses and faults (having a bad temper, being violent, leaving alone child and wife). Yeah, the whole movie might have been corny and not very authentic but it make the audience think how far you are willing to go to help someone or to do good (at least in your opinion) and if violence is an answer. During the movie, the hero, Childer is compared to his nemesis because they both use violence to make their point. And comparing our (the western civilizations) economic problems to the genocides in africa (and no, its not propaganda, people die there in masses) is a joke!
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JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies — 13 years ago(August 05, 2012 05:50 AM)
The incredibly stupid thing about your comment though is that this is a true story. As unlikely as the events may seem, this is what happened.
As for your (1), the catalysts were almost killing the guy they gave a lift to, in conjunction with not wanting to lose his family for good, etc.
For your (2), okay, you don't like it, but that's what happened.
(3) - Again, that's what happened.
(4) He was no stranger to guns, siege tactics, etc.the film
showed
you this. I don't understand, you live in some other world where no one is familiar with weapons, there are no criminals, outlaw bikers, etc.?
http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies -
trunksofac — 13 years ago(September 14, 2012 11:47 AM)
I'm going to reply to this without looking at any previous replies, so some of this may be redundant at this point.
I'll answer these in the same numerical order as originally posted:- He gets high with his buddy, picks up a drifter and when the drifter pulls out a knife he lets emotion take over and stabs the man what appears to be 20-30 times, then leaves him to die on the side of the road, we then flash forward and find him at home trying to scrub the blood out of his clothes. Why would he be scrubbing the blood off of his clothes why not simply trash them? While there's many possible explanations it's pretty obvious this scene was to convey him trying to wipe blood from his hands and being overwhelmingly horrified at his actions. It's why he asks his girlfriend for help. He's hit rock bottom. Many people turn to religion in these situations, it's one reason Alcoholics Anonymous uses the whole "higher power" mantra.
- If you had listened, he clearly states why he's building his own church. He does so in order to cater towards ex prostitutes/junkies/ect the "dregs" of society. While most (if not all) Christians are taught to not look down on these types of people, they do; it's human nature to do so. He's personally been in their situation so he's better prepared to deal with it and wont look down on them, a good enough reason to want to build your own church.
- Yes, yes he does; and yes, yes they do. I'm not sure where you were going with this one.
- Several things here, he does not just decide to lead the resistance fighters, after he's raided the first time he is actually on his way back home and ready to give up when he is convinced by his girlfriend (probably wife at this point) to pick up and try again, which he does. As for his combat prowess? In America, specifically the Mid-West and Southern states, gun usage is legal and many many people hunt as well as skeet/target shoot. This guy was raised in that environment and at some point this guy became involved in the drug racket, it's not clear how involved he was but it's safe to assume that he's no stranger to real combat situations with live people. As for telling the "soldier" about cleaning his weapon, Do you not know anything about the Sudan People's Liberation Army? They're a guerrilla movement. Meaning they're a bunch of ordinary people that rallied together to fight, they have little to no formal training when it comes to military tactics; it's not uncommon at all for them to not know about weapon maintenance. Now, when you're in life/death situations frequently you either learn quickly or die, this is why Deng would know little about basic weapon maintenance, and more about guerrilla tactics.
As for Sam being a hip firing badass, that is where Hollywood comes to play. It's a movie, and its meant to entertain, this type of over exaggeration is present in all forms of entertainment around the world, it makes for a more engaging story.
The fact that you have such criticisms is fine in my book, we all have different views/tastes when it comes to entertainment and that's what makes discussion of entertainment so entertaining. Its when people start bringing in nationality into the mix when it is simply unwarranted that I have a problem with it.
No, I think you have a little bias against Americans in general. You're not the first, and it's not exactly unwarranted. I just ask you to take the time and use basic logic before you dismiss something simply due to its country of origin.
To sum up: I'm not trying to pick a fight with you and wont engage in one if you decide to reply back with any inflammatory remarks. Just know that I don't hate you, no matter what country you come from, and that no, I am neither a Christian, nor a person with any sort of political/religious agenda, just a normal average joe that is sick of the hate.
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alexterrio — 13 years ago(October 01, 2012 06:05 PM)
your a piece of beep beep for trying to bad mouth a hero, and a not only a hero an awesome guy like butler who got this thing into production. i hope someone elbow strikes you in the face and caves your beep head in.
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Howlin Wolf — 13 years ago(October 29, 2012 01:52 PM)
I don't think it's that harmful, if it's based on the truth (yes, I'm aware that some of it will have been fictionalised but some of the things you mention did also undoubtedly happen)
Besides, what is 'lying' going to do to people - turn them all into missionaries dedicated to leading better lives? It's not exactly a bad thing. It's meant to be an inspirational story, and - theoretically, at least - there's nothing wrong with that
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!" -
winston9109 — 13 years ago(February 09, 2013 08:46 AM)
Propaganda:
Noun
Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
The dissemination of such information as a political strategy
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So you never said what agenda this so called "propaganda" piece is trying to promote? If a story is westernized or exaggerated, that doesn't make it propaganda. It makes it a movie.
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"Of course the bad guys want to destroy it"
Do you have any idea what is actually going on in Sudan and what kind of "bad guys" they're dealing with?
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"Of course he's not like the rest of [the?] Christians, I mean why would he want to go to an already built, old Church" - so every Christian who builds a new church isn't a christian, so everyone, what, post 18th century isn't a Christian? What if there's a place - like in SUDAN where there isn't a quaint, old church?
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Its a tradition to now anoint anything against your own ideals propaganda on IMDB. It surely makes us ambivalent to the very real propaganda that exists, and susceptible to it. -
cableaddict — 11 years ago(April 13, 2014 09:35 PM)
No it is not, and you're a moron for thinking so. Do a little research before embarrassing yourself further.
The movie is loosely based on a story written by the protagonist.- A guy who is a known arms dealer, who has been denounced as a fake by the people he claims to be working with, etc etc.- And all this has already been pointed out in this thread. You're calling others retarded, yet you have the IQ of a turnip.
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cormac_zoso — 11 years ago(August 06, 2014 05:29 PM)
shows what you know about dumb american propaganda try The Cubs are going to win a World Series ever again
and they still fill the stands every damn day
that's dumb american propaganda this ain't even a close second rofl
take care,
cormac
"One star in the sky
so I named it Otis Redding"
John Hiatt -
Prismark10 — 11 years ago(January 17, 2015 03:39 PM)
If the events depicted in the film are true, then the preacher is an unlawful combatant. He is neither Sudanese nor Ugandan and has no interests in taking arms against the various factions and is not a member of a recognised armed force operating there. At worse he is a murderer given that we see him kill people in cold blood.
Its that man again!!