| Well, I dont really feel guilty when I see films like Schindlers List or Empire of the Sun or Monster. The primary reason being that when I watch these types of films, I feel like I am learning a lot about the realities of life. Just yesterday I was watching Empire of the Sun, where Spielberg accurately portrays that time in which Japan declared war on the British and the Americans. You see so much injustice, so much hatred and confusion amongst humans, it makes you think about many things. I started thinking about those soldiers, and how they can be used to excert pain and suffering upon their fellow man, simply by being programmed to do so. I sometimes even felt a certain amount of shame because its hard for me to believe how one human can bring himself to become so inhumane, to inflict pain on the other, for some political reason. I question myself the following: Why must humans torture each other? Why do we always end up going against each other? Why cant we just live in peace? Why must one human think he has to govern or control the other? How can we succumb to hate so easily? And watching a film like Empire of the Sun can stir up these feelings and thoughts in me, even though its based on real life, and its depicting one of the horrors of our history, its teaching me a lot, making me think about things that matter, making me not want to repeat the same mistakes humanity has made in the past. And thats a good thing in my book. So I guess my answer would be no, I dont feel bad about watching movies based on real life tragedies . Cause that type of movie usually teaches me something about life, and for me those are the most gratifying movies. Unless a film is being exploitative of said tragedy and not treating it with any respect. But filmakers who do this type of film often times try not to be disrespectful with their subject matter, they try to be true to the events and historical facts. |