Catch 22

Every week in film school, our instructor assigns us to watch a film from a specific time period and then write a paper on it. The first assignment was to watch a film made before 1955. I watched Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt." The next week we had to watch a foreign film pre-1955, so I watched Nosferatu. From there was Jaws, The Sting, LA Confidential, Hitchcock's Notorious, Fellini's 8 1/2, and even Hudson Hawk (my instructor picked that last one.)

When he assigned us a film between 1955 - 1974, I took the opportunity to watch 1970's Catch 22. Tom had always said that I should see it, and he was right.

If you haven't seen the film, or read the book, do yourself a favor and rent it. The film is more relevant today than ever. I swear, the Bush administration must have watched it before planning the war. Catch 22 has it all -- war profiteering, maniacal leadership, extended never-ending tours of duty, descents into madness, and then there's the scene where the Americans bomb themselves.

Sound familiar?