(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . ICYMI Series: When art tries to imitate life and doesn’t quite get it right [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-04 There isn’t anything more rewarding than catching a good flick or tv show or reading a factual and informative or entertaining book or story. Nothing else can compare. Limiting discussion in this thread to cinematic releases, one of my favorites is the Bourne franchise, but for reasons that may surprise you. As popular as this 5-part series may have been or may still be, it is my opinion, a lot is lost in translation. Okay, so what does that mean, exactly? There are certain aspects, in the real-world-events-portrayal sense, that I outright disagree with. (After reading the rest of this post, you may find there is much here you’re in agreement with). I am going to start, logically, with the first in the franchise: Bourne Identity. It is, again, in my opinion, the best of the bunch, though, like the rest in the run, it is lacking where true-to-life circumstances come into play or play out. So the scene following the Mediterranean-Sea-based rescue of Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) 60 miles off the coast of south France, where the fishing trawler that Jason Bourne spent some weeks on, pulls into port. Jason is given some money and bid farewell. In making his exit while walking away, a few seconds into the shooting, his view from the camera is obscured by some kind of motorized port-service cart. And, once the 4-wheeled utility vehicle passes, quite astonishingly, Bourne is, all of a sudden, nowhere to be seen, thus leaving the viewing audience to ponder just where it is he went. It’s as if he had just vanished into thin air. And that’s not even the half of it. There’s another scene (same movie) where the main character is being pursued by local police in Zurich, Switzerland, and the U.S. Government operative that Bourne is (whose actual given name, incidentally, is David Webb), somehow manages to escape being apprehended just in the nick of time by ducking into the U.S. Embassy based there. Meanwhile, while inside, Bourne is drawing attention to himself by the most conspicuous red bank bag he is carrying. An Embassy official commands Bourne to surrender and he refuses to comply. He gets into a scuffle, outmaneuvers his would-be captors and then flees. This sets off internal alarm bells (sirens, actually). During this time, Bourne is methodically planning his escape, procedurally making it to a fifth-floor-located emergency egress access portal - in this case a locked, steel door. In kicking the door open, Bourne steps onto a cantilevered platform, where he manages to get underneath and hidden from the overhead view directly above so as to avoid being detected by the several armed marine guards whom, it would appear, are closing in on him. The lock and hardware from the hallway door that allows access to the exit, which at this point is sitting on the hallway floor in, presumably, full view, should have afforded the hot-on-Bourne’s-tail marines in pursuit, a solid clue as to what Bourne’s whereabouts were. You would think. At any rate, you would also think that with all of the commotion going on inside the Embassy, and with Zurich police themselves previously being part of the hunt only moments earlier, they would have the Embassy building surrounded. In this scenario, there is not a single soul to be seen. I don’t know. The marines and local law enforcement, what, thought, like in the previously described scene earlier that Bourne just disappeared?! Um, no. It wouldn’t work like that. Sorry. Later, later on in the same movie, after performing what looks to be a thorough intelligence-gathering exercise, intelligence personnel identified where they determined Bourne to be hiding out. And as result, dispatched was an agency operative to go find Bourne and snuff him out. In the French countryside, meanwhile, where Bourne, then on the run with the girl who had been helping him out, showed up at a spread that belonged to a relative of hers. Bourne and Marie Kreutz, the girl’s character name (played by Franka Potente), were holed up there. Of course, the operative later during the night did also, and placed a bomb on the stolen car that Kreutz and Bourne stole, drove and used to make their, at that time, Paris escape. He was on to them. Having stayed there through the night, by daylight all was quiet and it wasn’t long before Jason recognized that all people inside the digs that they were occupying were in danger and implored everyone to get to the basement. Bourne also located a shotgun and bullets on premises, and it was his objective now to put a stop to the operative’s plans. After exiting through one of the home’s many doors, Bourne loaded up the shotgun, took aim, and shot at the stolen car that he and Marie had the day before arrived in. So he shoots, the car is struck and then blows up. Of course, this signaled to the operative that now he was the one being targeted. Funny thing was, there were a number of other homes scattered throughout the countryside, there is even a scene showing smoke rising out of the chimney of one nearby residence, and with the sound of the explosion, no one in any of those homes so much as emerged to see what was going on? Come on, for real?! Honestly?! Needless to say, Bourne wound up killing the asset, gathered up the operative’s belongings, returned to the home of Marie’s relative only to find that they, Marie, her relative Eamon and his two kids were vacating those premises and hurriedly. Bourne pleaded with Marie to get away from him because of the obvious danger she would otherwise be in if she didn’t. Bourne insisting that this whole “eliminate-the-threat” tit-for-tat was never going to end. And, off Marie and her relatives in Eamon’s car went. And, wouldn’t you know it, by movie’s end, guess who winds up locating Marie’s whereabouts? Bourne. And, what does he do? He goes to see her to start what has the appearance of the beginnings of more than just a casual friendship developing. At this point, I’m thinking that if Jason can find Marie, the presumption is the intelligence agency in seemingly hot pursuit can too. What was he thinking?! Oh, well. There’s always the next time, right? I’ll have more to say about this in upcoming posts. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/4/2197456/-ICYMI-Series-When-art-tries-to-imitate-life-and-doesn-t-quite-get-it-right?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/