A short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.
"I finished making this video essay a couple of days before the fires took over wide swaths of Los Angeles, where I live. And while it might not seem directly connected—the assassination of a healthcare CEO and wildfires ravaging LA — after walking through the wreckage of the Altadena fire to survey the damage of my friend’s home, I couldn’t help but feel all of it was endemic. American carnage.
We have lived through forty-plus years of a culture built on abject greed. We’ve constructed a national ego that has rewarded this individual greed, all at the expense of the collective. We’ve built a perverted moral armature that not only excuses this greed, but convinces us that it is somehow innate or unavoidable. Or that it is good, even.
It is not. It is a choice. And it is a choice we can no longer make. Like so many in our city, I’ve been overwhelmed with emotions. Not only witnessing the unimaginable destruction, but also a feckless regime of entrenched private interests masquerading as public service.
I’ve also seen the best of humanity. Dedicated first responders working tirelessly to prevent further tragedy under unimaginable conditions. I’ve seen communities come together to offer support. And then I’ve seen opportunists, offering emergency housing at ludicrous prices.
It’s going to take a long time to rebuild from here. But also, in this effort there is an opportunity, a choice we must make about what we actually want to build for the future.
More totems to individualism?
More American carnage?
Or do we build community? Real community. Built on a radically reimagined moral grounding, where we recognize our responsibilities to one another. And take up that responsibility with enthusiasm, pride, and generosity."