2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1967)
Let's face it, we love war. We pine after war because it brings something interesting to talk about into our mundane and assembly line-like lives. And let's face it, we've never once gone to war for altruistic purposes. Here's a recap: in the American Revolution we were not fighting for our freedom, we were in open rebellion over taxes. Mind you, taxes in America, now or then, have never been as large as taxes in countries like Norway, so we really have no level to complain on there. In the Civil War, we weren't fighting to free the slaves, we were fighting to bring the South back under our heel. (Emancipation didn't become our 'goal' until 1863 and that was only a diplomatic move anyway.) In WWI we were profiteering. In WWII we were profiteering. In Vietnam we were doing something, no one really knows, but it wasn't beneficent. And in all of the wars we've fought in the Middle East since, it's been about oil. (Of course, we can look at the dismal reaction the American government got from the public regarding its consideration to enter into war with Syria and say, "See? We're getting tired of it!" No, we've just had enough war for the past 10 years and need a break from it. If this Syria affair had waited five years to happen you better believe we'd be sending red, white and blue painted tanks of democracy to sort through that sandbox.) The title of Dr. Strangelove is enough to merit its placement on this list because it exemplifies perfectly how we react to war. We're reluctant at first, because no one really knows what the war's actually about. Then some influential posturer invents a reason that ignites the fires of 'patriotism' in the people and off we go! The film is also a commentary on our sadistic love of mass killing. I mean there's a character in the film named Jack Ripper and Slim Pickens rides the bomb down to Earth like a cowboy on a bronco. Mass murder is an obsession (for more, see entry #3, Monsieur Verdoux).