Movie Review: Lions for Lambs

What an intellectual movie. Some critics feel that there was too much dialog; other felt that there was little action and therefore panned the movie or called it biased. For a movie to directly address some of the issues facing this country today and the political polarization that goes on, I feel that this is perhaps one of the most unbiased and realistic expose of our present time. The movie actually has 2 major subplots which are dramatically interrelated. Storyline one deals with a political science professor who seems to be able to inspire his students to take a real look around themselves. He calls a young student into his office, a typical millenial, who started out being participative but while still making excellent grades, never comes to class anymore. As the movie shifts back and forth between story lines, the true “generation me” characteristics of the student become extremely evident. The students want it all for the least amount of effort and involvement. The true narcissistic nature of this generation is exemplified here. The second storyline involves a young up and coming senator, who although unequivacally says he isn’t running for president, who offers a once top knotch reporter an “exclusive” story on a new initiative that is going to “win the war on terror” and to bring her back to a level of professionalism beyond the “if it bleeds it reads” of today’s tabloid journalism. As the new initiative is being generally described you see flashes to the actual inept military attempt at execution of the “latest and greatest” strategy to win the war on terror which involves two former students of our political science professor who became so concerned about the world situation they felt compelled to enlist in the army. While this could be considered a third plot, it is actually the link between the two major ones. To tell you any more about the movie plot would give it away and in order for this movie to serve its true purpose, you must see it unfold slowly with the dialog so that you can really appreciate the potential power (destructive as well as constructive) of the press; the pursuit of political aspiration in this country with little regard for who it impacts; and the attempt of a college professor who has an uncanny insight into the true potential of a young student and tries to convince him to develop that potential to the fullest. As an educator, this movie presents a true picture of the deterioriation of our society from a number of areas. From the classrooms and poor parental upbringing, poor educational systems, and the coddling of a new society of what will become narcissistic drones incapable of producing any work product as well as the way the press cohorts with aspiring politicians who are not serving in the best interests of the country but rather are playing it like a video game – always attempting to get to the next level regardless of who you have to step on to get there and ethics are thrown to the four winds. A final observation is that it also depicts the poor planning of our military based on faulty intelligence (or lack thereof). The title was taken from a comment made by a German officer during World War I, who said of the British army, “Never have I seen such lions led by such lambs.”

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