I wouldn't call him "lefty" but it is a unique version of the genre. If anything, the most unique part is that there really are no good guys to root for, save Bond. It's all a much murkier moral situation.
Bond doesn't risk his career for a leftist cause, but it could be said he is still naive to what his duty to the queen and instead seems more interested in pursuing what seems to be right in a bad situation--which happens to correspond to his desire for revenge following the end of the last film. Morales isn't mentioned by name, but the CIA's complaisance and bumbling ignorance (on full display in the Ackroyd-esque operative that is the station chief calling the shots) about the basics of the local situation, save the simple labels they can apply and their hunger for control over resources and power, are pretty universal. I am no movie critic, though, so--outside of saying that, in the broad outlines, Cole's is pretty on target--I'll wait to hear the Proyect pronouncement on what to make of this emotive version of the spy movie.
s
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 10:59 PM, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:
>
> Dunno if this is true (I refused to read past this opening paragraph to
> avoid reading spoilers), but it did make me curious to see it:
>
> http://www.juancole.com/2008/11/quantum-of-anti-imperialism.html
>
> A Quantum of Anti-Imperialism
>
> The reviews of director Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" have
> complained about the film's hectic pace (reminiscent of Doug Liman's
> and Paul Greengrass's Bourne thrillers), about the humorlessness of
> Daniel Craig's Bond, and even about the squalid surroundings, so unlike
> Monaco and Prague, in which the film is set (with many scenes in Haiti
> and Bolivia). They have missed the most remarkable departure of all.
> Forster presents us with a new phenomenon in the James Bond films, a
> Bond at odds with the United States, who risks his career to save Evo
> Morales's leftist regime in Bolivia from being overthrown by a General
> Medrano, who is helped by the CIA and a private mercenary organization
> called Quantum. In short, this Bond is more Michael Moore than Roger
> Moore.
>
> <end lede>
>
> Michael
>
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