Pickup on South Street

My decision to watch another Samuel Fuller film last week accidentally led me to unfiltered cold war propaganda, wherein which informant and criminal alike dislike communism and when asked to explain why, bluntly state, "we just do".

Pickup on South Street doesn't share many reasons to justify its indiscreet candour, it just keeps returning to a shack by the ocean where a pickpocket's hidden secret microfilm and beer (Richard Widmark as Skip McCoy).

If he's caught breaking the law once again it's off to prison for the rest of his life, but he still can't think of anything better to do, so he commits crimes then entertains the police.

They're none too fond of his tactics and have even been suspended for related frank outbursts, the audacious confidence the unrestrained vigour driving them past stock predictable punishments.

They don't explain what the microfilm depicts but it's plain and clear the communists want it, but the pursuing agent doesn't anticipate his seductive love interest falling for McCoy (Jean Peters as Candy).

It's utterly ridiculous spy drama resoundingly critical of argument and thought, just bellicose guttural vindications of shortsighted impulse inanimate standing.

Not that the communists also didn't employ reckless stereotypical reckoning, but when capitalist realms saw an influx of unions there was much more equality less crime and strife (see The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone and the 1980s).

If the two ideologies vigorously balance their stern opposition through democratic means, they can constructively influence one another by forging compromises and embracing diplomacy (not on contemporary television).

A strong left attempts to ensure the reasonable distribution of goods to the curious many, who in turn respond with less crime and corruption since they don't have to struggle to find basic needs.

If the strong left is clever and thinks to the future it strives to ensure the businesses they work for thrive, to facilitate perennial financial sustainability with as much dependability as can be hoped for in a state of flux.

For proof of a left wing country that looks to the future in the capitalist world, look no farther than resolute Norway and its 16 Olympic Gold Medals.

I've wondered how such a tiny nation could so resiliently dominate the Winter Olympics, and I've concluded that the oil wealth it distributes far and wide means everyone can afford to ski and take lessons.

By enabling the majority of its population to take part in cherished winter pastimes, skiing in Norway is like soccer in Brazil, it's a brilliant way to distribute your wealth.

Eliminating the left from your culture and letting despots slowly take absolute control for decades, may leave your country in ruin, if you decide to take on the rest of the world (it's a common shortcoming of dictators).

Trudeau may be somewhat of a fool at times but he's no despot, no Putin, no Hitler.

Give me leaders like him who love all peoples every day at any moment (and hopefully hate the STASI).

Over the narrow-minded jingoistic alternative.