I actually like this film a lot, despite its lame and quirky acting. Yes, it got me thinking about the war (the movie’s obvious intent), but when do we ever stop thinking about it – its soldiers, its civilians, its cost? It also made me wonder about the role of art and its artists in comparison. War has its soldiers, art has its artists. My God, what a strange parallel I’ve made. There are currently 4,078 soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq, 497 in Afghanistan, and just recently, the great Robert Rauschenberg – artiste extraordinaire – passed away. These soldiers may have fought for Operation Enduring Freedom, but Bob fought for Enduring Art. Is it fair to compare and contrast these two events, or for that matter, is it fair to compare soldiers to artists? I believe both living and dying soldiers, and Rauschenberg, are heroes.

It is, however, funny to talk about heroics these days; somehow it feels diluted, misrepresented, less romantic maybe, less important – I don’t know. Why are there so many superhero movies coming out of Hollywood these days? The Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Batman et al. Are we longing for a real American hero or missing relevant role models to look up to? Is it a case of the blues or purely nostalgic? Where’s the Duke and Captain America?

Where is an artist’s responsibility in this war, if any? Despite all the Shepherd Fairey posters of Obama, the art websites and blogs (what I call net surfers for Peace and the end to the war), and the endless “call for artists,” exhibits, auctions, funds, festivals, donations ad nauseam, inclined to stop it. Perhaps, it will be the outrage heard in the heart of D.C. by tens of thousands of artists, chanting in unison, “Bring our troops home now!” It would hardly make a roar. I’m not blaming artists, I’m just wondering how effective their impact on American and foreign politics is. Can we really stop or even hope to change it?

I can hear the cries now, “Besos, not bombs,” but it is still not enough. You could argue, and I would agree, that any fighting should be done on the canvas or between it and the artist. The goal, obviously, is to make the most important piece of art within our times, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. And artists don’t either, except that you couldn’t tell, view all the machinations that surround their exclusive existence within the art world and the supporters – galleries, collectors, museums – who feed off of them. I would like to think that critics are the only ones keeping the artists honest, other than the artist’s themselves – which is even then, debatable. How does the art world match up with the real world, you might wonder? They don’t. But they should, or at least they could blend more.