GARA (general aviation revitalization act) had the effect of keeping foreign competition out of the small aircraft business, thus assuring prices in America would remain jacked up for all eternity. Private ownership plummeted. Hollywood’s monopoly control of the movie industry in America assures them the same thing. Let’s see, does competition make things stronger or weaker?

America may be good at basketball and baseball, but they are horrible at automobile design and movies. Foreign competition killed our automotive industry. If the movie industry suffered a similar fate it would be more than timely. Long overdue as a matter of fact. TCM this morning happened to be playing this classic from nearly 60 years ago, 8 1/2. Federico Fellini’s masterpiece along with La Dolce Vita.

The IMDB page on it revealed a couple of interesting stats on it. 107,758 people gave it an aggregate score of 8.0 out of 10. Yeah? Okay, can’t argue with the wisdom of the crowd. The one I actually let out a laugh on was the worldwide gross: $188,000. The crap factory known as Hollywood regularly churns out pictures that pull in $100 million dollars plus!

The reviews on the film (at the IMDB page) are absolutely wonderful! What a gamut! One I really liked was from a Howard Schumann. He explains the psychological aspects of the film I wouldn’t have figured out in a million years. I fall in love with the visual aspects of film. I look at cinema for its eye appeal. In the scene at the moment a circus troupe is playing a bizarre tune while marching on the beach at dusk! I love it!

And I think that is where half the reviewers missed it. “Boring”, “Self-indulgent!”, “A waste of time”, “An artist with nothing to say”. All true, if you are unable to see film for what it is. Its not a book. Its not a machine. Its not an oil painting. It can’t be everything for everyone. Its a motion picture. Its a collection of words and images for that specific 2 hours of history. My point is that Italian, French, Indian, Japanese and other directors have done it much, much better than Hollywood. They keep out foreign competition for a reason. Survival.