The following is a selection of recent letters to the WSWS.

Dear Editor,

I just read David Walsh's review of Bulworth, and over the past year-and-a-half I have read several of his movie reviews, including his review of American Beauty, Saving Private Ryan, and The Thin Red Line, and I have to say that I think David Walsh is extremely insightful. While I don't necessarily agree with all aspects of his opinion and analysis, I nonetheless have to say that he generally provides very interesting prisms and angles through which to understand the movies he reviews. I found this particularly to be case with Bulworth and Saving Private Ryan.

With Bulworth I was especially impressed that Walsh could cogently articulate what many of the movie's audience sensed. Namely, that while the movie suffered from significant problems from an aesthetic point of view, its message and the delivery of this message is fresh and bespeaks of a general frustration with the contemporary socio-economic structure. This frustration is rarely given voice by the mainstream media. I would say, however, that even this treatment of his insightful commentary only conveys part of the multi-faceted and brilliant review that Walsh gives of this movie.

Moreover, I was impressed with his review of Saving Private Ryan -a movie I actually liked before I read the review. After considering Walsh's critique that Saving Private Ryan posited an apolitical and essentially simplistic view of World War II and the motives that compelled soldiers to fight in this war, I adopted a generally negative view of this film.

I could cite numerous examples of when Mr. Walsh expanded my understanding of the movies he has reviewed and even of the human condition generally, but I think the most significant and substantial point to be made is that I have learned a great deal from him. In my view that is the highest compliment possible to someone who is involved in intellectual endeavors.

Gratefully yours,

G G
7 August 2000