Land of Plenty – Wim Wenders Film 2006

Wim Wenders presents a troubling film about America’s obsession with terrorism. While stating the threat as real, he focuses on a demented Vietnam vet’s (John Diehl) hunt for a sleeper cell in the high desert north of LA which turns into an odyssey of regaining his sanity with a missionary niece (Michelle Williams). Initially the film’s intentional edginess had my finger itching for the fast forward button. After all Wim Wenders is German and what could he possibly know about America, however the stark setting of LA’s skid row counterweights the power of a 767 crashing into the Twin Towers.

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John Diehl’s mad soldier reminded me of a hundred conversations with men wounded in the head by wars fought far from reason and Michelle Williams’ monologue about Palestinians cheering 9/11 brings us closer to the point of why we can only win by losing sometimes. Neither preachy or pedantic as Michael Moore’s FARENHEIT 9/11, LAND OF PLENTY offers a contemplative insight into a country deeply divided and wanting to be whole again. I give it 3 Beers

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