I just finished watching Prisoners of Conscience, the episode when we find out about McCall's father and meet the man named Payne, who killed him. For me, it is the most difficult episode to watch because of the scenes in which Payne tortures the Chilean writer, Antonio. (Chile seems to have played a very large role in McCall's life....) I am going to write tomorrow about the portrayal of several themes in this episode, like evil, responsibility, and honor.
In this episode, the attempt to get Antonio to name names parallels the fate of Waldo, the professor who now thinks of Antonio as his son. During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, when fear of communist was a collective hysteria, people in many parts of American society were pressured by congressional committees to name "communists." One large target was Hollywood, where Waldo worked. If they did not name the names, they were black-listed and even sent to prison, as happened to him.
There is a line in an earlier episode when a character says about a nasty incident, "yes, it can happen even in America." And it can be done by Americans, sanctioned by their government. But we've thown the sob's out and Guantanimo is about to be shut down. There are still good men and women in this country, and thank goodness enough people who recognized, finally, what terrible deeds had been done by the Bush administration.
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I thought it was interesting, that where Waldo Jarrell would now be willing to name names, that another character (Mickey) thinks that 'some things are worth holding out for.'
ReplyDeletePerhaps that's another theme, that as one becomes older and more cynical and world weary, there are always younger, and more idealisitic people to take one's place.
Anna