Steven Spielberg is the headless horseman at the helm of the American big-budget film industry, his technical ability to tell stories allowing him to gallop at the head of the pack despite the billing of many blockbusters that have no discernable worth to them. His adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” is a most ignominious example of this.
“War of the Worlds” is not abysmal because of its inconsistent plot, its emotional vacuity, Tom Cruise or its shamefully last-minute voice-over by Morgan Freeman. Sadly, plenty of films made for millions of dollars (in this case $132 million) are just as shitty. This particular film earns the title of worst film of 2005 because it is arrogant, ignorant and, ultimately, very indicative of Spielberg’s detrimentally foolish view of America.
To understand why, one should look at the original H.G. Wells novel that was supposedly being adapted. Wells’ pivotal sci-fi was about a dying breed of accomplished aliens who must leave Mars to find a new home, come to Earth, and use their ridiculously advanced technological status to clear out the pesky humans who already live there. In the first chapter, he alludes to the overall metaphor, “And before we judge them [the aliens] too harshly, we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals … but upon its own inferior races.” The book clearly addresses European colonialism, lashing out at what Westerners proudly saw as moral supremacy — what Wells would argue was merely a temporary technological superiority.
Indeed, the times are plenty ripe for a remake of this novel. The 2005 adaptation is set in contemporary New York. The aliens are buried underground all over America and the world, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce, and they soon do — destroying cities and sucking human blood. The supposed “timeliness” of this film is that there are three or four moments directly from Sept. 11 — people covered in gray powder (not from the collapsed towers, this time from pulverized bodies) and walls of “missing” and “have you seen me?” flyers.
Unfortunately, Spielberg is an absolute moron, and misguidedly thought the story would be best told as though the aliens were metaphors for terrorists, lending to the already incipient idea that Americans are martyrs of manifest goodness in contrast to some great force of evil. The film so perfectly keeps with the current American hegemony, it’s repulsive. Aliens killing innocent Americans? Bastard aliens! Kill, kill, kill, protect, protect, protect!
Wake up, Spielberg — to the “inferior races” of today that H.G. Wells would reference, America is the bad guy. (Gasp!) The aliens — the blood-sucking, resource-squandering creatures of vast technological superiority, the powerful and morally bankrupt force Wells was alluding to — are us. Not the fledgling branches of militant groups who strap dynamite to their chests and hide in desert caves. Nope, it’s the Imperial nation whose financial domination, proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons, absolute moral high ground and cultural ascendancy constitute a stranglehold on the world. We wiped out the American Indians, we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, we induce slave labor on Third World children, we depose democratically elected leaders overseas to maintain our geo-political position, and we bomb the shit out of countries that we pilfer for valuable oil — all in the name of “bringing them democracy.”
Wait, Wells was saying … what? As an audience member, you didn’t think about the global role of America while watching this film? You wouldn’t have any idea that it’s not about freedom-loving Americans versus evil terrorists after the film completely ignores the whole point of the original novel for the sake of a moronic horror picture story.
We’ve grown pretty used to hearing Sept. 11 alluded to by government officials (the day before the opening of this film, President Bush gave a 30-minute speech where he name dropped it six times), but at least politicians use it as a means of sedating the public into mobilizing money and popular support. Spielberg uses his film to mobilize an audience of people to give him money and popular suppo — wait, it’s the same thing.
“I think the film has found a place in society,” Spielberg said at the premiere (in Tokyo). Sure, sure. Plenty of degrading things find a place in society — Japanese internment camps, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay — as embarrassing indicators of social trends, and “War of the Worlds” will eventually become one. Audiences are smarter than Spielberg thinks, and the general discomfiture with this film will one day be felt. It may take us a while, but at some point audiences won’t stand for shallow use of Sept. 11 imagery, nor will they be so susceptible to rich filmmakers who would use it to buttress an empty nationalist agenda.
