This was a very good movie. It takes place in 3 places -
Afghanistan, Washington DC, and a college campus. Tom Cruise, a
congressman, is promoting a dubious new military approach in Afganistan
to Meryl Streep, a reporter. Robert Redford is a professor
chastising a talented but lazy student in his
political science class, and talking about 2 former students of his who
graduated and joined the Army Rangers, who the movie follows in
Afghanistan.
The conversation between the professor and the student was very close
to home for me. I only had one professor reach out to me like
that in college, and, pressed to graduate and not needing his class, I
dropped it. What's more, it was a polisci class. So the
movie was kind of a guilt trip to me. The conversation was so
much the same - your performance is lackluster, but you stand head and
shoulders above the rest of them in class participation, and I really
expect more from you.
Many people I know constantly run down the Bush administration and
Republican policies, but the movie makes an excellent point - much of
the blame lies in others: the apathy of the population in general, in
the uninformed voters, the reporters who fail to criticize the
government because it's the source of their leads, and last but not
least, the talented students who don't apply themselves.
