Nashville

If you want to see the concept of America captured on film then you need not look further than the freeway collision in Robert Altman’s Nashville.  Harkening to Godard’s lengthy uninterrupted shot of a seemingly endless traffic jam in Week End, the sea of confused faces includes businessmen, crazies, entrepreneurs, hucksters, hippies, and everything in between.  Despite their differences they are all stuck on the same freeway and united in their doomed fates.  The old guard is caught up in the jingoistic notion of patriotic righteousness as we surely must have been doing something right to last two hundred years.  The idealistic youth take a more relaxed approach and as they scoff the perceived superficiality and emptiness of the old way they are unable to see the empty superficiality of their own actions.  Despite this the indomitable American spirit carries on under duress and identity crises.  It isn’t in our political beliefs or lifestyle choices that allow this sociology experiment to carry on.  There is a quiet defiance in us that unites us and pulls us through the toughest of times in spite of ourselves, no matter which bankrupt side of the aisle you may stand on.

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