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National Treasure
Went to see National Treasure this evening, looking for brainless mind candy, and all I can say is wow. Just wow.
Well actually, I'm going to say a lot more than that.
This film presents itself as a cheesy knockoff of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and in all likelihood that is how it will be remembered. There are improbable plot elements, bad jokes, an amazingly stupid sidekick and some fairly stupid villains. I'm not going to address the plot; that has been done elsewhere. (and a thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kevinjdog for setting my expectations appropriately).
This film is apocalyptic literature at its best. What do I mean by apocalyptic? Not "of or pertaining to the end of the world," but rather I am using the term in its older sense, meaning literature that obscures a secret that can be decoded by those who care to, but is sufficiently hiiden to evade the wrath of a potentially hostile regime. And indeed, the film's premise is an invitation, it says "decode me! decode me! Even as I tell a tale of decoding."
So then, I shall attempt to do just that.
The film's premise is that there is a treasure map encoded invisibly on the back of the Declaration of Independence. The protagonist discloses this fact to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Archive, in the course of telling each of these agencies of the antagonist's plan to steal the Declaration. All are dismissive of him, and maintain it cannot be stolen. We know what narrative imperative calls for in this case, and that does indeed come to pass, but the question bears asking, "why this artifact?" There are reasons of plot, of course, but it is worth noting that we get an image of a government that is quite unwilling to give the Declaration the attention it deserves, and because of that apathy, Independence is stolen.
So there we have lesson 1: A cocky, self assured government, convinced of its invincibility, allows for the theft of the core values of the nation it governs.
Our protagonist, unable to get any assistance from the government to protect the document from a theft he knows will take place decides to protect it himself by means of a pre-emptive theft. He is motivated to this extreme by the following words in the declaration itself: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." This is the declaration's call to action, and gives us, as an American Value, the responsibility to undermine a government that does not meet its responibilities. During the course of the theft itself, the protaganist raises a toast to "High Treason," laying out the fact that this is what the Declaration constituted in the eyes of the British Crown and detailing the types of punishments these men were risking by signing.
And that is Lesson 2: When a government no longer serves the people it represents, it is that people's moral duty to shuck that government by any means necessary, including, as the film itself puts it, "High Treason."
Next I must address a fundamental difference between this film and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In this film, the family of the protagonist are Knights Templar. I am not going to go into that whole conspiracy thing, as it is largely a plot device in the film, but here is one place in which it is significant: The protagonist's father has abandoned the quest for this "National Treasure," and is upset that his father, the protagonist's grandfather, has disclosed it to young Ben, our protagonist. This is the opposite behavior of Indiana's father. What happens in the story is that the protagonist's father is engaged in the quest BY FORCE and AS A HOSTAGE despite having spent most of his life avoiding it.
That is lesson 3, and a rabbinical precept: no generation is expected to complete the work, but nor are we free to desist from it.
Well a bunch of stuff happens, the bad guys get thwarted, and the treasure hall is found at last. Scrolls to statues to gold, all five stories under Trinity Church (which is quite near to the old World Trade Center; I do not think this location choice is an accident), illumined by a quite improbable pyrotechnic display. This is the National Treasure, to great to be kept by one man, just as, the protagonist tells us, the power of governance is too great to be held by one man. At his insistence, the wealth is distributed throughout the nation. All because he took the Declaration of Independence and examined it closely.
This is Lesson 4, and The Moral Of Our Story: only by paying close attention to the precepts of our nation's founders can we hope to preserve, maintain, and share our greatest National Treasure of all: our freedom. Defending that freedom may demand of us, as it demanded of the founders, actions that place us at great personal risk.
Now the question remains: why such a stupid side kick? Comic relief - maybe, but this can be obtained with a sidekick smart enough for witty repartee -- the answer is that the protagonist is treated as a Quixotic figure by most, so his sidekick must play the role of Sancho Panza. This is lesson 5, what looks insane on the surface may have a truth to it that we ignore at our peril.
The background of the closing credit lingers not on the treasure, but on the words of the Delaration itself, writ in fire against a black background, letters dancing across the screen.
I expect I will own this one on DVD - I imagine that more is buried in there.
Well actually, I'm going to say a lot more than that.
This film presents itself as a cheesy knockoff of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and in all likelihood that is how it will be remembered. There are improbable plot elements, bad jokes, an amazingly stupid sidekick and some fairly stupid villains. I'm not going to address the plot; that has been done elsewhere. (and a thanks to
kevinjdog for setting my expectations appropriately).This film is apocalyptic literature at its best. What do I mean by apocalyptic? Not "of or pertaining to the end of the world," but rather I am using the term in its older sense, meaning literature that obscures a secret that can be decoded by those who care to, but is sufficiently hiiden to evade the wrath of a potentially hostile regime. And indeed, the film's premise is an invitation, it says "decode me! decode me! Even as I tell a tale of decoding."
So then, I shall attempt to do just that.
The film's premise is that there is a treasure map encoded invisibly on the back of the Declaration of Independence. The protagonist discloses this fact to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Archive, in the course of telling each of these agencies of the antagonist's plan to steal the Declaration. All are dismissive of him, and maintain it cannot be stolen. We know what narrative imperative calls for in this case, and that does indeed come to pass, but the question bears asking, "why this artifact?" There are reasons of plot, of course, but it is worth noting that we get an image of a government that is quite unwilling to give the Declaration the attention it deserves, and because of that apathy, Independence is stolen.
So there we have lesson 1: A cocky, self assured government, convinced of its invincibility, allows for the theft of the core values of the nation it governs.
Our protagonist, unable to get any assistance from the government to protect the document from a theft he knows will take place decides to protect it himself by means of a pre-emptive theft. He is motivated to this extreme by the following words in the declaration itself: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." This is the declaration's call to action, and gives us, as an American Value, the responsibility to undermine a government that does not meet its responibilities. During the course of the theft itself, the protaganist raises a toast to "High Treason," laying out the fact that this is what the Declaration constituted in the eyes of the British Crown and detailing the types of punishments these men were risking by signing.
And that is Lesson 2: When a government no longer serves the people it represents, it is that people's moral duty to shuck that government by any means necessary, including, as the film itself puts it, "High Treason."
Next I must address a fundamental difference between this film and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In this film, the family of the protagonist are Knights Templar. I am not going to go into that whole conspiracy thing, as it is largely a plot device in the film, but here is one place in which it is significant: The protagonist's father has abandoned the quest for this "National Treasure," and is upset that his father, the protagonist's grandfather, has disclosed it to young Ben, our protagonist. This is the opposite behavior of Indiana's father. What happens in the story is that the protagonist's father is engaged in the quest BY FORCE and AS A HOSTAGE despite having spent most of his life avoiding it.
That is lesson 3, and a rabbinical precept: no generation is expected to complete the work, but nor are we free to desist from it.
Well a bunch of stuff happens, the bad guys get thwarted, and the treasure hall is found at last. Scrolls to statues to gold, all five stories under Trinity Church (which is quite near to the old World Trade Center; I do not think this location choice is an accident), illumined by a quite improbable pyrotechnic display. This is the National Treasure, to great to be kept by one man, just as, the protagonist tells us, the power of governance is too great to be held by one man. At his insistence, the wealth is distributed throughout the nation. All because he took the Declaration of Independence and examined it closely.
This is Lesson 4, and The Moral Of Our Story: only by paying close attention to the precepts of our nation's founders can we hope to preserve, maintain, and share our greatest National Treasure of all: our freedom. Defending that freedom may demand of us, as it demanded of the founders, actions that place us at great personal risk.
Now the question remains: why such a stupid side kick? Comic relief - maybe, but this can be obtained with a sidekick smart enough for witty repartee -- the answer is that the protagonist is treated as a Quixotic figure by most, so his sidekick must play the role of Sancho Panza. This is lesson 5, what looks insane on the surface may have a truth to it that we ignore at our peril.
The background of the closing credit lingers not on the treasure, but on the words of the Delaration itself, writ in fire against a black background, letters dancing across the screen.
I expect I will own this one on DVD - I imagine that more is buried in there.
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Did you notice how extraordinary were the protections given the Declaration of Independence -- and that the techniques used to steal it were ludicrous, and that the "weaknesses" of the protection -- such as an obvious and real-word password -- were obviously fictional?
You can bet that the protections are even better than you know.
===|==============/ Level Head
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