This movie is in the news again because the Wolverines rallying cry is being painted on destroyed Russian armored vehicles.
The consensus is that Red Dawn is pro-war, jingoistic movie.
Oddly, my take on it is the exact opposite. I think it’s a very anti-war movie. It shows the price to be paid for war. Betrayal. Executions. A key character is the Cuban officer who sees himself on the other side of an insurgency.
One of the last scenes is Patrick Swayze on the train out of town cradling his dead brother. The Cuban officer watches them leave and doesn’t shoot.
I can see people watching it in a target audience going: That’s a bummer. What’s the payoff?
Because it always felt to me the ending of the monument with the names and the voice over and then the American flag flapping was tacked on. I don’t know it if it was. Probably not. The monument was probably there to show the price of freedom. But the American flag? Seemed added.
Then there’s Road House and that’s another story.
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