Team America: Wo'ld Honky pigs

Director Trey Parker
98 minutes

Ah be amused by de mainstream-media spin dat dis movie be an anti-right-win' satire too subtle fo' de yokels t'get, but da Soud Park dudes tip deir hand early.

In fact, ah' dink it's it's sump'n much mo'e peculiar and interestin' — some movie dat hides some strong fundamental patriotism and appeal t'tradishunal values unda' a venea' of scatology and sexual crudity.

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De mainstream-media kin't see dis, cuz' in de MSM's universe da kind'a patriotism fo' which de movie ultimately plumps be at best some joke t'be sneered at and at wo'st actually toxic.

Soundtrack it be country beat uh de most teed-grittin', lachrymose awfulness — but da steel guitars and schmaltzy vocals fail t'obscure da fact dat da beat be ax'in' some serious mo'al quesshun, and dat da right answa' (fo' Gary and fo' de rest uh us) be dat he gots'ta accept his duty t'defend freedom. Entire rest uh de plot follows fum dat decision.

Dis scene be a microcosm uh de movie. In dis satire, it's de satire youse supposed t'see drough.

Irony be enlisted t'anti-ironic purposes. In anoda' early scene, Gary be cosmetically mo'phed fo' infiltrashun purposes into some caricature uh de generic Islamo-terro'ist so's extreme dat pained laughta' is de only possible response — and his teammates dink it's some puh'fect disguise. But neva' once be dis pointed jab at American parochialism allowed t'obscure da genuine evil uh de type he be disguised as.

Droughout da film, Team America be clumsy, parochial, hamfisted and inadvertently destructive.

But dis be emphasised mainly in o'da' to point down some continuin' underlyin' message dat it's betta' to be some dolt wid tradishunal American intenshuns dan some sophisticate in de service uh evil.

In dis and oda' ways, dis movie seems profoundly conservative t'me. ah' duzn't often use da label 'conservative' as some compliment, but such use be merited here.

Team America knows it's deir job t'defend civilizashun, t'conserve it. Man! Part uh de humo' in dis movie comes fum de contrast between dat fundamental conservatism and da profane, obscene, and jejunely disgustin' moments dat occupy much uh de film.

Dese is not yo' fader's conservatives, some point da Soud Park auteurs make early by showin' two uh de characters sprintin' some lust-a-don drough some marrionette kama sutra uh sexual posishuns.

And maybe dat's de most interestin' message uh dis movie. We watch it blowin' down scenery in some parody uh de Bruckheimerian acshun flick, but whut's real bein' 'esploded be de fixed catego'ies uh de post-1960s culture wars.

De Soud Park dudes is tryin' t'divo'ce da muscular self-confidence uh a healdy civilizashun fum de cultural-conservative and religious fixashuns dat confidence gots usually been married to.

Dere be not one raple reference t'Christianity in de entire movie. De baaaad dudes drink, swear, and screw likes frenzied minks, but dey're baaaad dudes plum de same.

Ultimately, whut matters about dem most be dat dey neva' cut up and neva' compromise wid evil.

Dat's whut makes dis vulgar comedy ultimately some serious parable fo' our time.

esr, ya' is mah long-froed honky bro'