Cry Macho - Cowboys and Indians

 Cry Macho

 

Clint Eastwood - Director

 

Clint Eastwood - Mike Milo

Dwight Yoakam - Howard Polk

Eduardo Minett - Rafo

Natalia Traven - Marta

 

 Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐

 

I am, without doubt, a dyed in the wool participant in the Indian Immigrant community of these United States.  However, there is a significant part of myself I discovered in my American upbringing; the most poignant of these being the male code.

 

Albeit an anachronistic world view largely rooted in working class values, the code continues to pervade the minds of many Caucasian Americans, men and women alike, who now find themselves recovering from 4 years of amoral leadership and a pandemic the likes of which they have never seen.   It is a clearly male instinct, moored in the notion of patriotism, honor, integrity and deference towards women.  To be initiated into the circle of men means being a follower of this unspoken tradition, despite it being everywhere in society.

Mr. Eastwood builds off America's desire for this in presenting this slow-moving story of a father-son bond that develops between an old man and a teenage boy he is asked to retrieve from Mexico.  The acting is stereotypical, the story just as so. But, it tells of doing the right thing, and finding love and meaning in the process.  And, from watching the two young Indian-American men who accompanied me to the theater, it works.

 

I have to admit, it works for me, too, despite my pursuit of a more intellectual worldview.  But, as the 21st Century brings more of Asia to America, I cannot help but feeling like Mr. Eastwood's character. Because men of code seem to be men without a country.