Dancer in the Dark

Remember I wrote an entry about John Ostrander who wrote the comic book series called Spectre that changed my views about the death penalty? It is true that John Ostrander played a role in making me seeing things differently.

But it was Lars von Trier who totally turned me against the death penalty. Lars wrote and directed a movie called "Dancer in the Dark". The film is about an Eastern European with a young son who moved to America, embarking on their hopes for better life, especially with their degenerative vision issues. But when the mother, performed by Bjork, discovered that as a new immigrant, they cannot access to Medicare and Medicaid to get the proper treatments for her visual problems. Later, she found out that her son also has the same problem. She saved money for her son's treatment.

She lived in a small house right behind a big house owned by a local police officer, who also had a thing for her. The police officer eventually learned about her visual problems and stole her thousands of dollars. One thing led to the other, the police officer was shot. The courts found the mother guilty and sentenced her to death. It was horrible mistake but the courts were *determined* to get rid of her.

In one scene where Bjork had her last walk, it was moving. It made me angry. It made me walk out of the living room for few minutes.

That was good enough to make me doubt the system.

And Bush supported the death penalty.

Go figure.

R-