EDDINGTON: THE MOVIE ABOUT THE COVID ERA THAT WE ALL NEED

Recently, I tragically found myself alone in a movie theater in The Woodlands, TX watching EDDINGTON, the next Ari Aster movie. For those who are aware of Aster’s filmography, drop your illusions about liberal Hollywood. Aster has a habit of taking what appears to be normalized circumstances and turning them into horrific parodies in the best way possible. While his first film HEREDITARY is a stone-cold classic, his next two movies about a cult, MIDSOMMAR and whatever the hell BEAU IS AFRAID is about had more of a mixed reaction with critics and the public. The latter two while interesting to watch initially are both unwatchable on a second viewing due to the content. When EDDINGTON was recommended to me, I decided to buy my eleven-dollar ticket and enjoy the film in a completely empty theater. Little did I know that this would become my favorite Aster movie.

What the hell happened to this country five years ago back in March of 2020 when our nation was locked down for a virus that 99.9% of us would survive (Mortality overwhelmingly favored the elderly)? We masked up and found out later that it was not based on any actual scientific study about its effectiveness. We stayed six feet apart, another rule that was seemingly created out of thin air. We limited people inside grocery stores. We locked down schools, businesses, churches, sporting events. Cancelled the NCAA tournament and shortened the NBA, NHL and MLB seasons. We were all forced into a mindset that government funded “science” was going to save us. But the vaccines are even more controversial than the lockdowns. And did you know that the United States was likely responsible for the creation of COVID-19 in the first place? Hollywood which gave up its ability to talk about political issues in a serious way has abandoned this artistic pursuit in favor of pounding us over the head about social issues and forgotten ethnic histories that always focus exclusively on cultural racism. The days of Hollywood analyzing issues like Watergate, The Killing Fields of Cambodia, or the impacts of the Vietnam War are long over. There still has not been a decent movie to explain what the foundation for the 9/11 attacks were. When Eddington starts in May of 2020, I was impressed that all these political issues mentioned above are front and center during the opening part of the movie.

WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW IS LIGHT SPOILERS. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.

Eddington is not actually about COVID-19 though. COVID-19 is the tool used to expose the slow decline of a once healthy small town and community in New Mexico that slides into an Aster-like outbreak of brutal violence. But the movie is so much more than that if you pay close attention. The opening and closing shots of the movie are the key to the entire plot. The mayor of the town is a sleazebag who enforces masking mandates while violating them whenever he wants is played by Pedro Pascal who is being endorsed by a “supporter” who is pushing for a new data center to be built in the middle of the desert. He is opposed by the sheriff of the town, Joaquin Phoenix, who despises masks and believes that the data center will be used as an evil tool for the government and tech industries. The brilliance of the movie is that it does not demonize either side. It does not focus on conspiracy theories. It focuses on the community division that COVID has created and how that anger leads into political battles on the street like the riots caused by the George Floyd incident. As the movie escalates though, it drops a subtle hint to the purpose of this division. Was this violence orchestrated so a specific party gets exactly what it wants at the end? Who are the people that commit massive amounts of violence in the third act? How much does technology play in our political divisions? These are questions you will be asking yourself at the end. The movie is not perfect. I really think you could have removed Austin Butler and Emma Stone’s characters and improved on the movie. I understand the purpose of the characters but if they had been edited out of the picture, the movie still would have been wonderful. When the movie is over, there is only one real winner as the last shot focuses on it when the credits begin to roll. I did not expect a movie from the 2020s version of braindead Hollywood to make me contemplate what it was trying to say. It was a refreshing change from the stupefying norm.

For another perspective on this film, please read Michael Tracey’s own thoughts on this as a journalist that found himself front and center among many Floyd and COVID protestors.