By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
War of War of the Worlds: Maybe that's the job of a critic
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon did not like War of the Worlds and does the art-vs.-life thing in comparing her reaction to that of close colleagues.
“Tim Noah wrote an impassioned essay decrying Steven Spielberg’s abuse of 9/11 imagery… and singled me out as one of the only critics… who were similarly appalled and troubled by the picture. Then on Wednesday Slate[‘s] David Edelstein — who, in addition to being my friend, is also a critic I admire and respect above nearly all others — responded to Noah (and, more indirectly, to me) with a vigorous and carefully reasoned defense of the movie as a valid response to 9/11. He did refer to my and Noah’s reaction… as “screwy” …. In any event, nothing Edelstein, or anyone, can say will change my mind about “War of the Worlds”: My screwy position is, at this point, more firmly and defiantly screwed in than ever…. The response I had… was immediate and visceral…. I’ve gotten a few letters from faithful readers of both Salon and Slate who were puzzled (or at least fascinated) by the idea that Edelstein and I could have such divergent readings of the same picture. I don’t think the difference in our responses is all that remarkable; what’s more interesting, I think, is how strong our feelings were, in comparison with those of so many other critics across the country. …That alone is proof that if you sit down in front of a movie and open yourself wholly to it — maybe that’s the job of a critic in a nutshell — you run the risk that it’s going to hit you right where you live.”