In my opinion, this film very much reflects the current reality in the United States.
A rattlesnake flag hung in the brothers' trailer, which is the symbol of the tea party movement. One of the demands of the Tea Party is to reduce government spending, hoping that the smaller the government, the better. The story in the film takes place in Texas. It has always been heard that the people in Texas are sturdy and want to be independent from the federal government. In the party elections in the US presidential election last year, Republican party candidate Ted Cruz was a Texas senator, and he was also a spokesperson for the Tea Party. The state of Texas in the film is full of decay scenes. With the decline of small towns, local residents are caught in various debt crises. The protagonist’s mother made a reverse mortgage on the farm in front of her. If her mother fails to repay the 40k loan owed to the bank in time after her death, the bank will confiscate the farm. This is also the direct result of the brothers robbing the bank. fuse.
There are many small details in the film that deserve attention. When the old policeman wanted to confiscate the tip of the waiter in the restaurant as evidence, the waiter refused to pay the rent. A tip of 200 yuan was a huge sum of money for a waiter with limited income like her. When the old policeman asked the female clerk who was robbed of the bank if the robber drove a car like a'piece of shit', the female clerk affirmed:'real piece of shit'. Indeed, the people in the movie drove the old and shabby'piece of shit', in sharp contrast to the police cars, especially the new pickup trucks driven by the old policemen who kept appearing in the movie. These new The police car is of course paid for by taxpayers like the male protagonist and the waiter. In the movie, there is a scene of Texas residents chasing the robbers. Although the actor's brother used a machine gun to shoot back in the middle, they finally drove back and helped the old policeman kill the actor's brother. Some members of the Tea Party feel that the federal government is too large, which has increased the taxation pressure of the common people. All departments of the federal government should be abolished, leaving only the police, the army, and the courts. But in the film, I seem to think that Texas residents who are chasing with guns perform better than the police. Then who will replace its functions and responsibilities after the federal government is abolished? The answer is a local community like the church.
When I watched this movie, I just finished watching Arlie Russell Hochschild's new book Strangers in Their Own Land. The protagonists in the story are all members of the Tea Party and supporters of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. They are mainly middle-aged, low-income white Christians living in the southern state of Louisiana in the United States. The book mentioned the concept of deep story. This deep story is about this group of white people who patiently line up to go to a place like the "American Dream". Although the team moves slowly, at least they are moving forward, and they are also far away from the destination. Getting closer. But at this moment, a group of immigrants, refugees, lazy black people, and public servants who ate plain rice jumped in front of them, watching the "American Dream" that was already close at hand get farther and farther away. Supported by the welfare policy led by the U.S. government, the above group of people who jumped in line led the welfare provided by taxpayers’ money and lived a "free life", while the group of people patiently lined up for their hard work. Farther and farther away from your dreams. Not only is life getting harder and harder, but the "honor" (honor) enjoyed by white people has long since ceased to exist. This kind of deep story explains why Donald Trump's'America First' policy is welcomed by so many people, but the content of'America' here is actually not as big as you think.
In the past few years, the two most influential movements that have erupted in the United States are the Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Tea Party Movement. In this film, these two movements are the shadow of you. You can find them all, which is why I said that this film reflects the current American reality very much.
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