Watch the full interview with US Army veteran Cristian Ramirez here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m9yFodeGrtLSco0.html

I’d love to see an In Conversation about Pan’s Labyrinth and Jojo Rabbit. They are obviously two very different films, with very different tones. But they both explore how war is viewed through the eyes of a child in very interesting ways.

Only David Lynch could make a movie with a straightforward narrative plot and as few formalist elements as possible and call it his "most experimental film."

The ending to Return of the Jedi makes me cry. When Luke cuts off his father's robot hand, then looks at his own robot hand, and finally throws down his lightsaber I get choked up. He doesn't defeat the Emperor by being really good at swinging his laser sword around, he defeats him by not giving in to his fear and aggression, and appealing to his father's better nature. Then when Darth Vader looks from the Emperor to his dying son, and back again, and finally throws the Emperor down the well, I'm balling.

9:29 While it never returns to the black soldier's family, the poor state of their property suggests they've been screwed over by the system too. Plus, of course, the soldier died because of the government. The movie doesn't dwell on their plight, but at least it establishes the problem. And is it a surprise that the whitebread town has black families banished to the outskirts? To me, it feels sadly realistic and comes off as foreshadowing of what Rambo's going to encounter. (Like someone saying "Don't go to that cabin!" early in a horror movie.)

"RAMBO: He just wanted something to eat." "TWIN PEAKS: They've got a cherry pie in there that'll kill you." Definite crossover potential.

“The Straight Story shows us that speaking can be a powerful act.” Damn, that’s a good observation. That’s going to stick with me for a long time.

ok but now I want to see a video comparing the Great Gatsby and “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”

In the book the sheriff is a Korean War veteran there was animosity between Vietnam veterans and World War 2 and Korean War veterans. Since we failed to meet our military objectives in Vietnam they were oftentimes seen as losers especially as compared to World War 2 veterans.

I interview a lot of veterans about their experiences in the US Army - most often wartime experiences but not always. When it comes to war vets I find the Vietnam vets are the most open, blunt - if they’re willing to sit down in the first place they likely made their peace for the most part long ago, vets from the 1980’s to early 90’s are also straight shooters but that’s mostly operational stuff, War on Terror vets are an eclectic bunch and it’s a whole range of different attitudes and experiences but mostly it’s just hard to find one willing or able to take the time for an oral history in the first place. The most challenging to interview are the WWII/Korea vets. They’ll agree to an interview, we’ll go through the process, the research phase, everything will be fine and then when it’s time to conduct the interview - which are often dry affairs more reminiscent of a fact-finding venture - it all comes pouring out, because often this is the first time they’ve even spoken about it - period. They know they’ll be gone soon and they want to leave a record, so they push themselves to do it and surprise themselves with how emotionally taxing it is to ruminate on these experiences. I get asked a lot of tough questions in return during those interviews. Ones that don’t necessarily have answers. I get the feeling being able to ask those questions aloud means more to them than any answer I could give them. WWII historiography is a history of the world’s largest conflict overwhelmingly dominated by the input of relatively few of its participants. Perhaps not coincidentally it’s of the most mythologized and mischaracterized conflicts. Shaped by narrative and media, ruled by iconography and aesthetic - and seldom really understood on an individual level.

The Straight Story is the reason I can tell people my 6th grade teacher showed a David Lynch film in class. We also read and watched the Lottery that year, that teacher was awesome.

So fucking glad someone is talking about the straight story. Such an underrated classic. My family watches it every thanksgiving

my stepdad was a Vietnam vet and watching The Straight Story with him one day was like the only time I ever saw him cry at a movie. And a movie whose ending always makes me cry...there's probably better answers I can't recall right now but the ending of Punch Drunk Love always gets me emotional.

One thing about Rambo that the movie First Blood misses, because Sly Stallone was in his mid-30s at the time, is that he was a kid. He was in his very early 20s during the story, and most of the stuff he did in Vietnam he did when he was a teenager. That fact really puts a different light on his actions.

I refuse to believe anything even remotely positive ever came out of MK Ultra, which is why I believe Maggie was born with the power of Astral projection.

I lost it at Dune being 50% Lynch. This seems entirely self evident but I can't fully explain why.

Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru really hits me. The futility of working within the system, the way it just grinds people and their motivation down to nothing. 50/50 chance I cry or spiral into enui for a week.

For 2 seconds i thought david lynch directed a rambo movie,which would be quite an event 😂

The movie that always kicks my emotions in the dangly parts is Coco. I am not Hispanic, but my grandmother did spend the last seven years of her life losing more and more of her mind to dementia. The bit at the end where the protagonist makes sure that his grandma remembers her father, and her reacting so strongly and joyfully to it just breaks me every time. It made me start crying as I typed it out, even. Just...fuck the kinds of diseases that make people forget their loved ones and/or make them husks of their former selves.

"Daddy Bush" was surprisingly upsetting phrase to hear.

A big hug for the cthonic spirit that rules this site (the algorithm).

The ending of The Iron Giant gets me every time.

Time is a circle, nothing matters and we're in an infinite loop of terrible. Maggie Mae Fish 2021

The saddest movie I've ever seen was Grave of the Fireflies. It's about two kids in Japan during WW2. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that so many war movies are actually sad.

I agree. Films that can't stand up to spoilers aren't strong ones.

Before looking up where The Straight Story can be streamed, I never imagined that a David Lynch movie would be on Disney+.

I love the inclusion of interviews in your lastest vidoes, really adds a broader experience to the discussion

So other than the fact that I was quasi-fascist in high school before joining the military, my reason for joining and post-military conversion to socialism are very similar to Christian's. I was on free lunch programs most of my time in school, we relied on a food bank for a few years, I'd messed around in high school too much and was afraid I wouldn't qualify for scholarships, had no marketable skills, so I had no idea what I was going to do after high school. The local recruiter had a deal with my high school that all of the juniors had to either take the day long military entrance exam (ASVAB: Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) or sit in study hall for the whole day. I scored really well, so the recruiter called as played on all those prior uncertainties to convince me to enlist, so literally the day after my 17th birthday I was driven to the military entry center in San Diego an enlisted in the Navy (There is a delayed entry program, so although I enlisted half way through my senior year, I finished school and went to basic training that summer). My experience while in the military was similar also. I remember joking about how America's democracy was protected by a communist society, complete with a ruling class (the officers) with access to better food an housing, but who didn't do a damn bit of work. A couple of years ago, someone I had served with took his own life. He was still serving and was struggling with depression and alcoholism. In the aftermath of the tragedy, those of us who knew him formed a massive message group and vowed to reach out to the group any time we have the dark thoughts. It's become a place where we can share things that others just don't have context for. Reconnecting after 10 plus years was also how I found out I wasn't the only one to go socialist after the military. I think it's actually the more common path, especially for those of us from less-well-off backgrounds who saw just how much a little bit of help from the government improved our lives.

The Straight Story has some of the most honest, raw scenes of veterans ever on film. That these men are very, very old and the war was long ago, and the war we think of as "the good war" makes it all the more powerful.

Finally! MMF is back on track. After the best video essay I have seen in years... the Kraken!

"David Lynch movie you haven't seen" *See's The Straight Story* I feel called out. Fine. I'll watch it!

Movies referenced: First Blood (1982) The Straight Story (1999) Hot Shots: Part Deux (1993) UHF (1989) Blue Velvet (1986) Ran (1985) Star Wars A New Hope (1977) Mulan (1998) Rocky III (1982) Spider-Man (2002) The Matrix (1999) Eraserhead (1977) Dune (1984) Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) Rambo Last Blood (2019) Well god damn Maggie... A lot going on here lolz

Movies just make me cry in general. Most things make me cry. I'm kind of an anxiety-fueled emotional mess a lot of the time.

book: tragic story of men damaged by violence in name of authority movies: so... he went back for more... it was cool...

12:23 Honestly, (though I haven't seen either film) the anachronism from Rambo in the final scene is kind of perfect. Even when he clearly understands who has failed him, he still wants to pick a fight with his civilian peers rather than the power structure. In the early aughts (when I was a pre-teen) I was saying "support the troops by bringing them home," this perfectly encapsulates the response that that position yielded, "you're the problem because you don't support them dying in battle."

Going to watch The Straight Story in future. As for a film that always causes sadness, one that immediately comes to mind is Logan, in keeping with the general theme of an old soldier who's desperately clinging to a reason to keep going.

Final scene(s) from a movie that left me an emotional wreck in the moment: 'Shadowlands,' starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, both Joy Davidman's (Winger) death from cancer, and Lewis (Hopkins) dealing with both his own grief and the grief of one of her young sons. The amount of emotional vulnerability and (for me) honesty in those scenes hit me without warning, and I'm grateful for it. As Hopkins says at the end, "I have no answers anymore, only the life I have lived."

Stallone did an interview with Howard Stern and talked about how the first movie was made. He hated the first version so much that he tried to buy it back so he could burn it. It was 3 hours. They cut over 50% of it, including most of his dialogue so that other characters talked about him rather than him talking about himself.

I have come to appreciate these kinds of essays. I like that you are bringing in people with relevant life experiences to talk about these films and how they relate to real life. Thank you for your video.

Isn't the bundle of sticks parable way older? I thought even the 'fasces' symbol of Ancient Rome is a reference to that.

Not to downplay your great work, but man, Christian is so great and so interesting to hear from. Finding him in the middle of this (again, great) video was an absolute delight

The Straight Story is the only David Lynch movie I've ever seen lol

The little town in British Columbia where they filmed Rambo still looks like that. Until today I had no idea Rambo was filmed in Canada, but the landscape is unmistakable, even after 40 years!

Both the climax and the ending of The Green Mile bring tears to my eyes. I related so strongly at the time with the weariness expressed by both John and Paul, and it still brings me back to that time in my life whenever I see it.

Edward Scissorhands, from the moment of, "Hold me." "I can't.", onward, I am a sobbing mess.

The only missing piece to this perfect conversation was a reference to Son of Rambow (2007). The sweetest film ever inspired by Stallone.

I cried the first time I heard the ending speech in Rambo. Anybody with a soul would.

I've seen The Straight Story, and it was gorgeous and it made me cry in a couple of moments.

Shadow appearing over the horizon at the end of Homeward Bound. Tears just thinking about it, darn that orchestral rising.

Good to see you again Maggie.

When I watch a film, especially inside a theater, I give myself over to it fully. I let it pull me along to the emotional lows and highs no matter the content. Unfortunately, I can't think of a movie that always leaves me a sobbing mess. I'm mostly typing this out to feed the Algorithm.

Maybe it's just me, but I always looked at the incompetence of the National Guard in First Blood as a commentary on the "Fortunate Sons" who's wealthy parents secured them places stateside during Vietnam.

Fire Walk With Me is my favorite movie tied with Liquid Sky and Suspiria 2018, but even I haven't gotten around to watching The Straight Story yet. I guess it's like one of those things you keep in your back pocket until after an artist is retired or otherwise unable to produce new work, so you have one last new thing. Like I've never listened to all of Bikini Kill's singles but I've listened to their records hundreds of times. Anyway check out Ant Head, the second best David Lynch movie after Duran Duran: Unstaged.

This video is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan

a final movie scene that always makes me cry? there are a few but the one that stands out is the beautiful final sequence in Longtime Companion. I saw it in a theatre and was crying so hard at it that strangers were trying to comfort me.

i only first watched it recently, by Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence had me SOBBING!! it’s definitely in my top 5 now and i expect i’ll cry every time i watch it. excellent video 💖

I have personally experienced harassment from certain corners of the left just for being a veteran, but it pales in comparison to the baseline day to day harassment I get from (mostly) the right just for being trans.

This was a beautiful video, thank you 💜 Both films are definitely on my watch list now.

I always feel like the end of First Blood the movie is actually *more* tragic than the ending of the book (where Troutman literally has to put Rambo down like a rabid animal) because Rambo basically goes back to his abuser at the end. The Army did this to him, and made him into a machine that can only respond with violence to overcome any obstacle. So much of his hurt is self-inflicted in both the book and film, but it's as a result of his dehumanizing training coupled with the horrors he experienced (and yes, perpetrated) in Vietnam. Even after every single thing he goes through in the narrative of the film, he still can't see the full scope of what has been done to him, and goes back to the arms of the military in a desperate hope for stability and sanity. And they just put him to work killing more people. They don't help John. They just want Rambo.

Thanks for the video, this is great! I'm a vet and I always appreciate this kind of stuff. I've never heard of The Straight Story, but it's definitely on the list now.

Howl's Moving Castle's ending takes me out everytime.

LOVE Films in Conversation, LOVE the midwestern mom-type character, LOVE seeing a Maggie Mae Fish upload in my feed! Really enjoyed this one and I'd never seen either film, can't wait to see what's next your videos have been so entertaining lately.

This may be the most insightful and well stated film review I have ever seen. Thank you for making this. You just got another subscriber.

I loved the straight story! Been years since I’ve seen it. Looking forward to this video!

It's you've got mail. I've watched it a million times but every single time, they meet in the park, I burst into tears right along with Meg Ryan XD

Looks like I picked a good day to rewarch your Breaking Bad/Punishment Park video.

I’d like to see Rambo rebooted. With a black protagonist (honestly the story always felt that way) and in modern day. The beats of police brutality, Veteran abandonment, war crimes and American imperialism could hit very hard To Today’s audience. Hell, Rambo could even have wanted to get out after a particularly unsavory OP and couldn’t because his commander stop losses him. A huge problem in The troop surge 2003-2008

I’m so curious how you’ll connect these. The Straight Story is so underrated

Awesome to see The Straight Story finally getting some appreciation! I spent the summer of 2006 watching every David Lynch film and Twin Peaks multiple times. I remember being surprised to see that David Lynch did a Disney-produced movie, and despite it missing much of the Lynchian weirdness that turned me onto his movies, The Straight Story solidly hit me in the feels, and I've been trying to get other people to watch it ever since. Thanks for highlighting it!

Amazing video as Always !

Another fantastic video, thank you for this Maggie!!

My father is a Vietnam vet and has bought the whole 'Vets being spat on' narrative completely. He gets deeply angry (he has anger issues and PTSD, no surprise there!) if questioned on the matter. Memory is such a silly thing and can be influenced so much by outside sources YEARS after the event occurred. We keep rewriting the memory every time we access it so it's hard for us to notice the narrative shift. I joined the military to get away from an abusive mother (parents are divorced and I lived with her after they split up) and a shitty small town where I had no future. My best friend got to go to college (mostly paid by his wealthy mother) and joined after he was getting his PHD so he got to be an officer. My father didn't get his degree till his 50s (I even helped him out!). So I've seen the different sides of how the military works and the kinds of people who join. This is such a well-done video as always. Thank you!

Yay! Some Maggie May to cheer up my day!

I've always loved the Straight Story, thanks for giving me a clearer insight and for bringing it to wider attention, more people should know it!

Fantastic analysis. Rambo is one my favorite movies and I love it when people don’t treat it as just an action movie but as a dark, complex story about a veteran basically shunted to the side of society and treated like a piece of garbage. I highly recommend the book it’s based on - the police officer and Rambo are given a lot of depth. And the spitting image is a great book, too. Read it if you can get it.

I'm a light touch (my phone suggested Scorpio, which is also true and relevant)-- I cry at the end of many many movies. But my favorite ending to cry to is the final scene of the documentary Paris Is Burning, with the ending monologue by Dorian Corey... highly recommend it in context but even thinking of the last line makes me cry (mild spoiler: if you don't want to read the last line, do not read on!) "if you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you" -- Dorian Corey

I didn't give a shit about Rambo until after I got back from war. Since then First Blood has really stood out in my mind. Another more recent film which impacted me in similar ways was Ad Astra. Brad Pitt's character is left a passive, emotionally empty mess after his experiences and his government is happy to let him languish in obscurity. Then suddenly they find a use for him and force him into more traumatic experiences in the hopes they can exploit his connection to his father. They abuse his passive dedication to duty until he attempts to have an emotion. An emotion awakens within him in his futile attempts to contact his father and the government immediately pulls him from the mission. His reawakening humanity becomes a liability and reduces his potential utility in their eyes. Personally, I am constantly on the hunt for my humanity. I remain hopeful that some day I'll have it back and I'm glad I'm out of the environment that would punish me for it.

Insightful analysis, Ms Fish. Thank you.

beyond happy to see The Straight Story getting some love: it was one of the first things I watched on Disney+ cause I hadn't seen it since I was a kid!

I was not expecting this video to be about what it was about. As an OIF vet with PTSD it was a bit overwhelming at points. But fortunately I already have an appointment with my therapist tomorrow. Thanks for making this video and thanks for bringing Cristian in on it.

Always a pleasure seeing your creations Maggie!

What an amazing video, and an amazing perspective I had never seen. Thanks for making these videos, and teaching us things.

I just got this channel recommended to me by the algorithms. Love it. Subscribed.

First time seeing the “Minnesotian” character and I like it. Seems too natural

I always love the position you look at these movies from. Excellent analysis that is spot on!

hey! This was wonderful. Thank you @Maggie Mae Fish.

Great video! Thanks Maggie!!!

loved the video as always. great input from Cristian. please keep the voice from now on its so cute

The first few movies that come to mind to have me balling at the end are: I Daniel Blake, 120bpm, Pride (good tears), and Parada. I heavily recommend each of those film to anyone. PS: Love you Maggie. Your videos always bring joy to me, piercing through the depression 💜

I enjoyed the First Blood Analysis, Maggie! The rabbit hole goes deeper when comparing the film to the book though; Apparently, in First Blood the book, the Sheriff is relatively more sympathetic whereas Rambo kill a lot of people that he didn't in the film, so the message is even more subtle and nuanced and they balance each other out in terms of right and wrong. Also, Rambo coming to see his friend was a film addition as well as him turning himself in at the end. In the book, Colonel Trautman kills him. Thank you for your insights!

The new thumbnails look good. 💚

You gave an absolutely brilliant presentation. Thank you so much, thank you for the interview with the gentleman in the arm services, you speak a lot of truth. Big David Lynch fan. Laura Palmer I think, honestly, it is most important character.

This was so very good, Maggie.

You always make consistently good videos.

Yes, I wanna see more movies hooking up!!! Great video! Thanx!!!

Great video. Humor punctuating it is a killer! ❤️

The worst thing about being old is remembering when you were young. I've seen just about all there is. I've learned to separate the wheat from the chaff and let the small stuff fall away.

After I watched this video, my wife and I watched The Straight Story and it was really good. My wife absolutely loved in and now makes references to it all the time. Thanks for the recommendation Maggie!

The ending of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. I never cried so much watching a movie. One of the most beautiful films that I have ever experienced

Hey there--I did not know you were doing these, MMF. This is really great analysis. Will be watching/listening a lot more from now on!