The Tourist

[1]527 words

The Tourist [2], starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie was released in December of 2010 and has come and gone in theaters, but it is now available on DVD [2]. I recommend it highly. It is not a “great” or “serious” movie, nor does it try to be. It is, instead, something far rarer: an unabashedly entertaining movie that is entirely free of vulgarity, stupidity, and political correctness (or propaganda of any kind, for that matter). It is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the 6’8” German aristocrat who also directed the superb 2006 German film The Lives of Others [3].

The Tourist reminds me of the romantic-comic thrillers of the 1950s such as To Catch a Thief [4]. Only the technology – which, mercifully, remains mostly in the background – gives one a clue that this is not a lost film from another, better time. The cast is entirely white, even the extras. The plot is cleverly constructed with a twist ending that I did not see coming – and I can usually spot them a mile away. The dialogue is intelligent, witty, and free of slang and vulgarity. This is a suspenseful and romantic movie, but it is also extremely funny without ever resorting to crudeness. The movie was filmed on location in Paris and Venice, and the settings are absolutely gorgeous. Yet the director does not let the locations do all the work, instead seeking out new and breath-taking panoramas. The score [5], by James Newton Howard, is also quite good. At 1 hour, 43 minutes, The Tourist is masterfully concise and fast moving without recourse to flashy and jarring editing.

Angelina Jolie is perfect in this movie. I have never been much of a fan before, but I am converted now. She is also absolutely ravishing. Her clothes and bearing bring to mind the glamor queens of the 1950s, Sophia Loren and Grace Kelly to be precise. There is absolutely nothing masculine or feminist about her character. She even gives her opposite number Johnny Depp some lessons in “game.” She is a real woman, impatient at the modern world’s shortage of real men. Depp is also brilliant as a shy, somewhat bumbling American tourist who bumps into a seductive stranger on a train (Jolie) and is drawn into a web of intrigue and danger. There is not a weak link in the rest of the cast, either, which includes Timothy Dalton and Steven Berkoff.

The Tourist is a monument to the beauty, sophistication, and glamor of the European race and civilization at their finest. This is a movie that racially conscious whites can enjoy without guilt or qualifications.  Why then, was I surprised to learn that this movie was widely panned by mainstream critics, who were obviously reaching for the lamest excuses to keep you from seeing it? Consciously or subconsciously, they did not want white people seeing this movie because everything about it is a celebration of white virtue and achievement (even the villains are interesting), rather than the studies of white depravity and non-white greatness that the establishment deems salutary. Fortunately, The Tourist did well at the box office in spite of the critics. See it, and see why.