Huh? you might be saying that at the title. What could a movie of fantasy have to do with this American holiday? It is great for the kids with its fantasy. It is great for those who read Harry Potter and love seeing movies of pre those times. And it is great for thinking, especially in these times. Full service movie, one might say.
We live in troubled times. There are wars all over the globe, guerilla wars and full frontal wars, cyberwars and games of chicken on the high seas with China and the US. There are internal wars in countries which embraced freedom and democracy after the fall of the Iron Curtain and which now appear to be embracing fascism and dictatorship. And folks, read this carefully, there is already a full fledged war going on within the borders of our own country, a war that will determine what kind of country and what kind of future we will have right here in America.
So, Grindelwold? Well, he is not a monster per se, simply a man who wishes for power, who wishes for his ideals to be the favored theme and backbone of society. He is a clever man who starts out with soft words professing his love of all, just with a recognition, seemingly minor, that there are differences between people. There are the wizards and the others, the Muggles, who are demonized, more and more forcefully, with more and more venom and he talks of a different disposition for them. Sound familiar anyone? Bright people are confused and fall prey to his words and the horrific hoax he wishes to foist upon society and we see the long leather coats a la the Nazis on the secret police of the time. We see the huge and heavy architecture. We see the eagle. We see the mass assemblies, the fires and flame, and the contagious hysteria of the mobs. And one sits and watches and stirs uncomfortably in one's seat, wondering if we are watching a great fantasy movie or perhaps a great warning to all of us.
All throughout the movie there are people taking sides while the hero of the movie resists doing so. He believes he can immerse himself in the world of fantastic beasts and animals and stay out of the fray. He can remain neutral. But he cannot. No one can. He is in a world where good is battling evil and one must choose sides. The same world we are living in today.
Note that the temporary winners of the film are those who cling to good, who finally stand together as one and use their powers to chase Grindelwold off, But it is only temporary as we watch a scene where the future is being addressed by the grooming of an inheritor of the evil. And at that point we see our hero say to his brother that he has taken a side, his side, the side of good, the side where all live together in peace and the future will be a long and hard slog, but we hope, we certainly hope, that good will prevail.
Today we here in America must also take a side. It is a terrible point that we have reached where we have to choose. The Civil War, the Vietnam War and now what, the Trumpian War? Are we going to remain a nation together or are we going to have white supremacists and racists all over again. Are we going to be able to live here as Jews or do we worry for our very lives, again? Are Moslems, and Buddhists, and Mexicans and Hondurans, and whomever, welcome here, or are we going to have to engage in a monumental struggle to define our identity?
Think I am kidding? Unfortunately not. Just read the columns, the analysis, the actions that go on every day, and listen to the voice of another demented man unable to cope, unable to remember, unable to empathize or sympathize or understand the meanings of things. There have been demented and dangerous leaders before in the world - are we going to accept the rule of another and the world of evil and meanness and bad that comes along with him or are we going to realize that we cannot remain neutral in this and must choose a side. Take stock and decide.
It is Thanksgiving time and we need to decide what we are going to be thankful for and what will remain in the future, the soon to be future. Think about it long and hard.
SOC Save Our Country and save ourselves as well.
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