Films on the 4th of July

It’s a holiday weekend! Time for bonfires and illuminations, for remembering what America is all about, from our history to our freedoms to the work that still needs to be done to ensure those liberties for all. To put you in the spirit, here are some movies you probably know and love in a compilation from Nelson Carvajal of Fandor Keyframe. He says, 

In short, what the movies have reignited in us, time and time again, is the urgency that comes with the responsibility of being “free.” The freedom to vote, the freedom to speak, the freedom to love—they all have their trappings and burdens. It’s easy to take for granted what we have in this country, and in the age of hyper-opinion and the Internet, it’s even easier to thwart innovative ideas and political discussion through online hateful diction and campaigning. Sometimes re-watching a good movie can stir the right feelings inside of us and make us stand up with a little more gusto, and a little less cynicism.

What we have done as a nation, through a ritualistic smoke-and-mirrors trick every summer, is rest on our laurels by looking helplessly towards the sky at those wondrous fireworks. It’s astounding how simple we all are at the end of the day, when you think about it. Some bursts of light in the sky and we’re haplessly in a trance. Hopefully soon we can start seeing the brilliant bursts of light in each other and unite productively as a nation again. Then we will truly be free.

(via Laughing Squid)