From Tragedy to Farce. Megalopolis by F. Coppola

Two things before we start. First, Francis Ford Coppola is certainly one of the best American directors. The Godfather may be the most salient among key works of American cinema (should we take Kubrick out of the equation on the grounds that it'd be difficult to see him as an American filmmaker). Part 2, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation are great. I also like The Outsiders a lot. Second, I properly saw Megalopolis in a theatre. The big screen thing and all...

OK, to the film. I think I understand what Francis was trying to accomplish. He was trying to offer some hope in the more than grave circumstance of the present moment. Which is commendable. However, intentions are one thing, outcomes are quite another. So what has the artist managed to actually deliver? To answer this question, let's take a brief look at his Magnum Opus mentioned above...

The Godfather, released in 1972, is still considered by most people, including its ardent fans, one of the greatest crime sagas of all time. Maybe the greatest. Which it certainly is. But this work would hardly have been elevated to its status all around the world if it was just a stellar piece of genre related cinema dealing with a fairly specific subject. So behind the facade of a gangster epic there was another movie -- essentially, a requiem for the American Dream presented as a modern tragedy. That's why the work was so unique. Because not only did its author manage to organically merge those two dimensions into one harmonious whole (an amazing artistic accomplishment in and of itself), but he also came up with poignant and extremely relevant observations about the very nature of societal shifts occurring at the time. It required the mind of a philosopher as well as the genius of an artist to get it done the way it was. Francis delivered on both fronts...

Now, we are going to have to get back to Megalopolis. And we are going to have to do the same -- to look at this piece in the context of the current state of things. Let's start with tracing some dynamics here. The Godfather, being a very sober look around, offered very little hope half a century ago. How's the situation been developing since? Has it been improving? Stagnating? Deteriorating? Is it better or worse today? I think anyone who is prepared to follow Megalopolis' chief spiritual mentor Marcus Aurelius' rule and "look things in the face and know them for what they are" would have to admit that the present state of economic, political, cultural and virtually any other affairs in the country cannot even be compared to the 60s or 70s. It's literally incomparably worse. So...

What is the source of and justification behind this jejune outburst of happy endings emerging pretty much out of thin air and wrapping up the main story as well as every single subplot in the film's finale? What is it? Because, quite frankly, it feels like neither hopeful truth nor true hope. But rather a bunch of lofty delusional fluff pouring from a really high ivory tower on the supposedly ill-informed and under-enlightened masses. Seriously? America, which somehow successfully -- and quite a while ago, it should be added -- completed the process of turning itself into a patent oligarchy is going to be saved by a lone privileged visionary genius? With a little help from a mega-wealthy banker who is expected to all of a sudden get all anxious about how he's gonna be mentioned in history books? Are you for real, sir?

I'd like to hope i was some kind of joke that I didn't get. Because it's hard to believe that someone who could "look things in the face" so bravely and "know them for what they are" so clearly in the 70s can in all seriousness come up with such elitist takes today. This isn't to say that the visions of Jacque Fresco-esque "organic" cities in the movie aren't fascinating. But what do they have to do with the realities of the declining Empire in question? Which isn't just totally, utterly, and systemically corrupt to the point where its corruption is officially written into its law. It kinda likes it this way. That's the status quo that its rulers are going to protect at all cost and with all their resources. Especially, in times of decline. They ain't gonna wake up one day, do a little meditation, embrace the Zeitgeist movement's ideas and start building some grand high-tech paradise with abundance for all. And, by the way, those who choose to blame everything on the elites should probably have a closer look at the masses at large as well. So no, I hate to ruin the party, but no noble crusade of a rich prodigy who saw the light is going to save the day...

Many people who complained about Megalopolis called its story incoherent or absent altogether. I disagree. I think the movie suffers from the exact opposite. The story is there, but it's rather straightforward to the point of transparency. Not of a good kind, however. Because, instead of being chaste, it's ridiculously simplistic. The film purports to reflect deeply on the current state of things and be some kind of blueprint for the future. But, in fact, it offers zero insight -- whether in literal or metaphorical terms -- into what the majority of the people in the country -- and around the globe -- are going through at the moment or the root causes of this whole mess. And its "solutions" are akin to what Prince Siddhartha could have come up with before he left his palace for the very first time...

Once again, I understand Francis' desire to grace the world with some hope in these dark times. And make it his legacy. But the thing is, the once outstanding auteur sounds like a baby with his latest work. Worse, like a nepo baby that has been fully shielded from reality from the moment it was born. There is this recent documentary called Union. It's about Amazon workers fighting against all odds in attempt to unionize. It's made as cinema verite on a shoestring budget. But it may speak more truth, have more heart, and ultimately provide more hope in these really serious and challenging circumstances than Mr Coppola's $120M canvas. Because you don't create the future by ignoring the present. You don't create hope by building castles in the sky. Real hope derives from realistic outlooks. And that's what Megalopolis so entirely lacks...

Great artists do not "stop time". Rather, they step out of time and discover what lies beneath the surface. Great art was never so needed as it is today. Great artists were never so absent. Francis' artistic abilities and creative ideas may still be there. But he probably needs to get out of his wine-ivo-ry tower on a more regular basis. Then the world has a chance to receive the gift of another artistic revelation. Because the great American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is right about one thing. He is totally free to create it...