Red Dawn (1984)
The AC went out late yesterday afternoon on the hottest day of the year - 110*F at the height of it. By bed time the temperature in the house had risen to 89*F. Basically, the temperature had equalized with the out doors night time temperature.
In any case, sleep came hard so I stayed up for a while and caught most of the movie "Red Dawn", a 1984, "B" movie staring a very young Patrick Swayze and an equally young Charlie Sheen about the invasion of the United States (between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River) by the combined forces of the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Several teenagers headed for the mountains to hide out while family members were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and, in some cases, executed. In retaliation, the teenagers waged a insurgent style resistance to the occupying forces.
I was struck by how blatantly patriotic it all seemed when the insurgency was ours - against an invading army from foreign parts. It seems to me there are some lessons to be drawn from this "B" movie ... and some insights into the mentality of some of the insurgents in Iraq.
I'd never been particularly fond of the movie in the past. It hasn't improved much with age ... however, it does offer some interesting contemporary parallels that, in many ways, were prophetic. All you need to do is a little mental role reversal to see life from the other guy's point of view.
If you have a couple hours with nothing better to do, rent it and give it a watch.
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