6070 (6070) wrote, @ 2007-05-09 00:58:00

CHINATOWN (1974)
This "detective movie" is more than a detective movie.

It attempted to be a bigger film about American society. In 1974, Americans watched the first president of the United States resign because he was caught lying and would have been impeached. They also learned that the military had consistently lied to them about the Vietnam war.

Stories about America's past also came out and it looked like our history wasn't nearly as perfect and as glorious as people were taught in school.

In Chinatown, a private eye named Jake Gittes comes face to face with the corruption that built not only Los Angeles, but America as well. It is all about money and power. Who has it. Who stays in control. Who can buy "the future" as Noah Cross puts it.

The most famous scene in the film is the revelation of "My sister!/my daughter!" The incest is the nasty rape of decency and the "innocent" child is the one thing Noah Cross and his daughter battle to the death over. You can discuss the metaphor of this if you want. What sequences stood out for you and why? What feeling did this film leave you at the end?

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