Actually predicted the modern left
In 1998, I'm sure the filmmakers thought this was a critique of conservatism. However, 25 years later, the rigid townspeople unable to accept change actually represent the far left, the corrosive ideology that has become the zeitgeist in 2023. Consider the cancel culture that erupts when the guy from the diner paints a nude woman on the window. The mob destroys not only the portrait, but anything associated with art and free-thinking. This is only a phenomenon on the left today. This movie provides a fantastic lesson in how the moral compass can shift and completely change the meaning of a work from the past.
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