Ender’s Game (2013, Dir. Gavin Hood)

I will see any science fiction film that comes to theaters and that goes so far as “if Hitler made a science fiction movie and were in power currently, would you go see his movie and help fund his cause?”. Yes. Yes, I would. Because art is separate from politics. Not entirely of course, I grant you that. Movies make money, money has influence, those with money have influence and I contributed money to those who have influence and they use their powers for evil. So that makes me partly responsible, right?

I am not responsible for how people spend the money they earn and I am not responsible for the actions of others. Sometimes there are grounds to take a stand against art, but it is for political causes and not for the art itself. For me, Gavin Hood directed a movie that I want to see from a story I read as a child (giving the homophobic Orson Scott Card money for his book even at a young age). If you make a movie I want to see, you have done your job in the business sense, and I will judge your work on an artistic sense.

I bring all of this up because of the protest/boycott by homosexuals about seeing this movie. I think they have a point politically. Orson Scott Card has a terrible, backwards views on homosexuality and I will never side with him for that (though some think I already have because I went to see this movie). No, I will keep art separate from politics when it comes to me viewing a product I want to see.

So what if Hilter used that money I gave him for watching his movie to kill the Jews? That is terrible. He should not spend his money that way. But he earned my money by creating something I wanted to see. And maybe I learned a valuable lesson from that art. So to me, that’s business. I learn from art. I make art in the form of movies. It’s my job to see what people put out and there are a lot of horrible people who have created great art. And I am going to see their great art, you horrible people!

Ok, so the deed is done. And Ender’s Game is an enjoyable movie. The story Orson Scott Card wrote is very good. It shows how cruel and terrible humans can be and a plea for enlightenment (too bad he doesn’t take his own advice when it comes to basic human rights like homosexuals being able to marry… but that’s politics). And it has nothing to do with the movie itself.

In the future, humans are fighting a war against the Formics. Children are trained to fight because they are superior with the video game type battle system, they can be cruel, they are easily influenced, etc. Basically, kids make great warriors.

The children’s acting is not so great and Ender is no captain to admire. But he fits the role. He is a kid who has been told his entire life that he is great, that he is a military genius, and he has proven himself in many ways. So he is a bit arrogant. He is still a child in the end, a child who can do no wrong. Expect, when that illusion is shattered for him.

This reveal at the end did give me chills. I read the book, so I knew the story, and still it gave me chills. Ender was doing so well, he thought. He did everything the adults asked of him and did it well. Who knew how horrible we humans can be in war? This is a very difficult realization for Ender. And it is done well in the movie.

It is a movie for all ages, and that’s nice.

So was it worth it to give someone who has very different political views from me my money? Yes. Yes it was.