Cinema and Reality

One characteristic of American cinema is the level of violence, death and destruction in a good part of its filmography. It almost has a monopoly on the genre, beginning with Westerns and their unending killing of Native Americans.

The gangster movies of the 1930s and 1940s created the genre. Directors like Sam Peckinpah made violence their personal trademark (It is appropriate to point out that he was a magnificent director.)

Compared with the cinematography of other continents, America’s movies gush blood. The “gore” genre was born there with “Halloween,” with Freddy Kreuger as its banner. Cinema, like literature and other arts, is a reflection of society. Its mirror.

According to The Washington Post, in 2015, 965 people were killed just by the police alone, an average of three a day. In Iraq in 2010, the toughest year of the war, 711 soldiers perished. It is as if the United States were living a secret war.

A few months ago, The Guardian reported that the police in the United States had killed a number of people in one month that was equal to the number of people killed by the Australian police in 19 years. In 2012, in Germany, the police killed seven people, one every 52 days.

To this data it is necessary to add the victims of firearms that add up to 10,000 per year, which are the figures of full scale wars, not of societies in peace. These are data to think about from a nation that says it is the light of the world and seems more like a target-shooting range.