What can life do in the face of horror? – 06/11/2023 – Vera Iaconelli

The images of extreme violence that reach us through the media are seen as acts perpetrated by inhuman subjects. In the same way, the victim, to be eliminated without pity or mercy, needs to be seen as an object, because only then can she be destroyed without guilt. Dehumanization of the victim and the perpetrator are conditions of barbarism perpetrated by good citizens.

In “Killers of the Flower Moon”, Martin Scorsese portrays a haunting and true situation. Can a loving husband reconcile love with the destruction of his wife’s family and even his own beloved? Curious are the designs of human desire that the octogenarian director has the courage to support. There are many “loves” and some may not deserve to be called that name, but who are we to give that hammer?

Molly, a native of the Osage ethnic group, is loved by her husband, as one would love a beloved domestic animal, whose loss would be extremely painful, but not unthinkable. Nothing a new wife can’t fix. Obviously it is not about her being seen as a similar person in strict sense, but about her being a second-class person, for whom one even feels love, but who in times of trouble can be eliminated. The squeeze here is the greed to inherit the money of the Osage natives, owners of land soaked in oil. Hence the interracial marriages common at the time and the resulting murders, which the book and film denounce.

When we see humanized villainy, we remember the apparently incomprehensible cases in which a loved one is destroyed without pity or mercy for a base reason. The unfaithful wife, the gay son, the trans daughter, the pregnant lover… are those who dared to go against the wishes of those who said they loved them.

It is not without relevance that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character —a good actor, but who still fumbles his faces—has just come from the First World War. As in every war, innocent people are raped, killed and mutilated in the name of fundamentalist patriotism supported by governments that only want to plunder their neighbors without ever stepping foot on the front lines. They are the ones who will join hands in shady peace agreements, after having destroyed generations (I recommend watching the well-made and controversial “Golda”). Hence, for the character to massacre the Osage —the other “race”— is just a straw.

The history of humanity is too eloquent for us to believe that there would be one people better than another. We are all capable of love and committing the worst crimes. The government that does not commit atrocities —against its own people or against others— must take a step forward.

We witness, however, the existence of wiser people and more clumsy people when it comes to collective survival and vision of the future. Our culture, unfortunately, is one that heads towards self-destruction with a maniacal smile on its lips. The underground of Mars stalks us and those who get there will have the memory of Earth’s exuberance as eternal torture.

Paul Preciado’s latest book, “Dysphoria Mundi: the sound of the world crumbling” (Zahar, 2023), bets on a peaceful and inescapable insurrection of all those who find themselves on the margins because they do not correspond to the small circle of those considered human. According to the author, the last will not be the first, because it is the hierarchical logic itself that must collapse.

What keeps us resisting the worst in us? There is a question that can only be answered one by one. In my case, it is an obstinacy in dealing with the strange in me, which creates effects of interest in the human.

Furthermore, I resist because I prefer Earth.

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