The Oath

Year 13, Day 328 - 11/24/21 - Movie #3,984

BEFORE: I could not have timed this better - but hey, this is what I do. I've arrived at my Thanksgiving film right on schedule, just as I've arrived at my parents' house in Massachusetts to get some kind of holiday dinner ready for them. They've made the move over to assisted living, at least for the winter, and they'll make some kind of decision in the spring about whether to move back to the house or to somewhere else, based mostly on my mother's health and/or mental condition. I've got a cousin who sleeps at their house a few days a week, when he's working in the area and not taking care of his kids, so he's sort of a caretaker for the house, this way we don't have to fully shut it down yet.

I could cook the usual big holiday dinner myself, with a big frozen turkey and making the sides from scratch, but that's SO much work - instead, I opted for a pre-cooked turkey breast dinner package from the local grocery store, with all the sides like potatoes and stuffing and green bean casserole, all just have heat-and-eat instructions. My wife and I picked that up today along with some cheese & crackers and an extra dessert, and all I have to do tomorrow is put some dinner plates together for my parents, and we'll deliver that to them around 5 pm, they're having Thanksgiving lunch provided by their facility.  It should all go pretty smoothly, and then we get to eat a holiday meal ourselves after that - the facility has rules in place right now that forbid us from eating the meal WITH them, but we can join them on Zoom and eat the meal together, sort of.

Jay Duplass carries over from "Manson Family Vacation".

THE PLOT: In a politically divided America, a man struggles to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.

AFTER: I think years from now, people will be able to view this movie and be very aware of what year it was released, which was 2018, midway between the elections and the halfway point of the first (and hopefully ONLY) Trump administration. At the time we thought U.S. politics couldn't have been more divisive, only that was before mask mandates and vaccine mandates, Black Lives Matter protests and a failed insurrection. So now, three years later, the country's even MORE divided than it was then, to the point where "facts" tend to take on two different meanings, depending on which channel is reporting them.  

And that's exactly where this film lives, in a country where two different people watching two different news channels walk away with exactly opposite spins on the same events. Sound familiar? On one channel the insurrectionists are misguided morons supporting a lying loser, and on the other channel, they're our last defense against election fraud and a failed system. How can both things be true? What is "truth" now, anyway? Should the news be true or is it enough for it to be entertaining - while also pandering to people's more basic instincts?  And if this is wrong, what can be done to change it?      

This may be the perfect film for me to watch this week, because the story starts on Thanksgiving of one year, then skips forward to three days before Thanksgiving the NEXT year, and then ends on Black Friday. The President proposes that all Americans swear an oath of loyalty to the country, and many sign that oath right away, but then just as many Americans decide to either NOT sign the oath because of laziness or dissatisfaction with the opposing political party, while a very small, very vocal groups decides that such an oath seems to be in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizens things like freedom of speech, and therefore also the power of dissent.  We've seen debates like this over the Pledge of Allegiance, because if kids in school are FORCED to recite it every morning, doesn't that seem to be in conflict with free speech?  Yes, of course we should love our flag, and the country for which it stands, but that also should be an individual decision that every citizen needs to make for themselves, and other answers should be possible.  

We have the right to protest every decision made by the government, however once a law is enacted, then not following that law has consequences, even if that's an imperfect law, or one we don't like. I might hate the law that says I can't smoke or drink alcohol in public, but that in itself is not enough to justify breaking the law. If I disagree, my time would be better spent trying to get the law revoked or changed.  Therefore, logically, if people in blue states disagree with mask or vaccine mandates, or people in red states disagree with the lack thereof, they're free to protest, but still must pay the penalty if caught not complying with local laws. 

And this brings me to Chris, the lead character in "The Oath", who has defiantly refused to sign said oath, and the deadline is fast approaching. And as his family starts showing up for Thanksgiving, he finds one reason after another to disagree with his brother, his brother's girlfriend and even his parents, who all apparently get their news from different sources as he does. They've all signed the oath, but he hasn't, as a sign of defiance - and around the country protests are turning violent, and certain celebrities who also took a stand against the government policies have begun disappearing. This sounds a lot like the situation with that missing Chinese tennis star who spoke out against a government official recently, so yeah, it could happen. 

When government agents open fire into a crowd of protestors, this news is reported in two very different ways, which calls to mind some of the BLM protests from last year. If you disagree with their cause, then those protestors deserve what's coming to them - but if you agree with them, then they're martyrs whose rights should have been protected. Right? 

But when Black Friday hits, two agents show up at Chris' house - his family lets them in, because he's really been a dick to them for the last few days - and they want to know why he hasn't signed the oath. Liberal (one assumes) Chris points out that the agents have no warrant, and have no cause to be there, so he asks them to leave. Again, he COULD just sign the oath, on paper or the e-version online, but he decides that he needs to make his point - hmm, how did taking a knee during the anthem work out for Colin Kaepernick?  

Everything from this point on sort of falls into the "What else can go wrong?" category, and the standoff between the family and the agents devolves into an illogical situation, and almost feels near the end like the screenwriter painted himself into a corner, however there IS a resolution after the "darkest before the dawn" climax.  I won't spoil it, but again, since this was written in 2018 it feels like a bit of fictional wish fulfillment based on what was happening in the news at that time.

This film may not be perfect, but it's got a lot going for it - like the portrayal of an interracial couple that doesn't keep sticking that fact in our faces, it just sort of is what it is, which makes it feel all right.  And disagreeing with family over politics during Thanksgiving, well, that may not be universal but I think many people would be familiar with this, especially when butting heads with older relatives who are set in their ways and still living according to the social mores of decades past. And it's important to depict the proper way to act as part of the resistance when you disagree with the government - remember, you still have to follow the laws, even the ones you don't like. 

That's it for me this week - tomorrow I'm cooking, delivering food and eating and then setting up my parent's printer on Friday. Back with a new film on Sunday.

Also starring Ike Barinholtz (last seen in "The Hunt"), Tiffany Haddish (last seen in "Like a Boss"), Nora Dunn (last seen in "Tag"), Chris Ellis (last seen in "October Sky"), Jon Barinholtz, Meredith Hagner (last seen in "Horse Girl"), Carrie Brownstein (last seen in "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot"), Billy Magnussen (last seen in "Aladdin" (2019)), John Cho (last seen in "Between Two Ferns: The Movie"), Max Greenfield (last seen in "I'm Not Here"), Jon Lovett, Brian Guest, Kevin Rahm, Josh Meyers (last seen in "Fighting With My Family"), Beth Dover, John Ducey, Bruce Boxleitner (last seen in "Tron: Legacy"), Matt Corboy, Priah Ferguson, Henry Kaufman, with cameos from Richard Herd (last seen in "The Mule"), Seth Rogen (last seen in "Zeroville")

RATING: 6 out of 10 slashed tires