From: strwbery_fields@webtv.net   
      
   Just opinion. Yes, I would agree it's not a "political movie", and I   
   don't think any of his films are, the beauty of allen is subjectivity,   
   in all it's agony, and irony. He's not an objective filmmaker. Yet, his   
   most objective films are the angry ones. Take H&W, and Harry, most of   
   Celebrity, and now AE - he's brutal to his persona. It's rage therapy.   
   His chamber dramas never have happy endings, they are open-ended at   
   best, arguably pessamisic. I feel his comedies, even within the genre of   
   satire - are topical, and not enlightening to a conclusion, they allow   
   for hollywood endings. His mixtures of these elements tend to be the   
   most succesful.   
      
    Whether it's stepping back through a movie screen, the magicians   
   mirror, losing the girl, or breaking the guitar. All points to be made,   
   yet none pretend to answer all the questions. His angry films flat-out   
   resent the questions being asked. They still toss about a subjective   
   crisis for the protaganist, but they objectify a means that others   
   don't. Call it the struggle from agnosticism to atheism if you like. The   
   end of C&M, you can get away with murder if you can live with yourself.   
      
   Interesting idea Falk/Dobel representing the same person years removed.   
   You could read into the magic often referenced in Allen films at work in   
   here. Are the doubts planted his own double against himself for a   
   purpose, or to repress himself, or both? When he types at the computor,   
   and erases it - is he against himself by staying in a bad situation, or   
   for himself in dismissing Dobel. When he finally chooses to go with   
   Dobel, he's rejected. Is Dobel all talk? Wouldn't moving to LA be the   
   same as "laying low for awhile" ? Is Falk running from the reality he   
   knows but can't face up to, or is he merely following the same pattern   
   of switching one old suit for another ?   
      
   Allen seems to say it doesn't matter. It's a classic open-end. Like the   
   Amanda he's fixated on - there's no telling, she could go one way or the   
   other just as happily. It's when she's not moving she's unhappy.   
      
   In Stig Bjorkman's book (interviews with Woody Allen), Woody Allen says   
   that the "evolution, it is death." It can be good for somebody in his   
   life but in the long term, nothing changes really, it is death.<<   
      
   >>That's a Buddhist perspective, the art of drying. Reincarnate until   
   you get it right, nirvana is death.   
      
   Never trust a Naked Bus Driver !   
      
   Off course.   
   --   
      
   You'd be suprised the number of people who do just that, and worse!   
      
   If you take the position that Falk repeats the same old pattern, and   
   "becomes" Dobel, then he is trusting a naked bus driver. Indeed, the   
   wisdom from Dobel is always in his jokes, and not his advice.   
      
   "People will come to you Falk, and give you all their advice what to   
   believe, just say yes that's a wonderful idea, and go do what you want   
   to do anyway."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)