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A pirate dilemma and generational responsibility

A few days ago, while sorting out my room, I came across, hidden amongst the debris, a particularly old, unmarked DVD disc. I played it on my laptop; just to be sure I wasn’t throwing away something of value. It was an old, pirated copy of Road To Perdition. A 2002 prohibition film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks and Stanley Tucci. It was a low quality pirated copy of an arguably lesser film by a very capable director. A low quality pirate copy of a film. A pirate copy of a film. Silhouettes of people carrying popcorn would invade the screen, the audio was terrible and the subtitles were slanted. How far has piracy come, I thought. The most ancient memory of modern piracy I have was using two VHS players to make a copy of a rental. Then came the DVDs and with them came what was advertised by vendors as the oxymoronic “original copy”. I remember visiting the engineering faculty aisle at the Universidad Central de Venezuela on a weekly basis while on film school. Only there could you buy the “original copies” of the classics.I also remember walking out towards my car with a plastic bag full of movies, all the while thinking how insane the country I lived in was.

We now have high definition Blu-Rays, and more prominently, the internet. But, why? Lack of options. Lower price. Ease of access. Dishonesty. Necessity. Five movies available on the movie theater. Five hundred on a kiosk down the street. Five percent of the minimum wage for one movie on the theater. One percent  of the minimum wage for a movie down the street. Going to the theater. Staying safely at home.

Some may argue the difference between stealing a car and downloading a movie. Tangible loss. Intangible loss.  The argument is heated, and the PIPA and SOPA fiasco still lingers in our collective memory. As a somewhat law abiding citizen, confessed pirated movie acquirer, and aspiring filmmaker, I can’t help but feel right in the middle of the issue.Hypocrisy. Was I any different from a thug taking someone’s hard earned cash just to buy another pair of sneakers? Was I any different from a corrupt politician embezzling funds? Was I any different from all these people I so wholeheartedly critique and despised? I thought I wasn’t, until I remembered Werner Herzog.

Werner Herzog is a german director, arguably the most recognizable figure of the New German Cinema, and one the most important living film directors of our time. He also stole a 35MM camera from the Munich Film School to shoot Aguirre, The Wrath of God. “I had some sort of natural right to this tool. If you need air to breathe, and you are locked in a room, you have to take a chisel and hammer and break down a wall. It is your absolute right”. He said afterwards.

Film to some will always be mere entertainment. To others, like me, its air. And piracy our hammer and chisel. Not by choice, but by necessity and right. Nowhere else can we find a sustainable place to breathe. We may critique and complain (rightly so) about  the fact that the country we live in does not foment nor facilitates legal options to satisfy many needs, but we have, in this strangely adverse situation, a great opportunity. One which carries an even greater responsibility. In our shoulders we carry  a much bigger burden than that of “The VHS Generation” constituted by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez and many others.

For what he made with that stolen camera is the reason why Werner Herzog is not remembered as just a thief. Will our generation make all those pirated copies lost among the debris count? Time will tell. But I for one don’t want to be remembered as just a pirate.

“It’s not where you take things from – It’s where you take them to.” – Jean-Luc Godard

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