I talked to Judy Irola today at the Denver Film Festival about her new documentary Cine Manifest. Some of the things we talked about included the political nature of filmmaking, the proliferation of small film festivals, the current political climate, and her favorite political films.

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Starz Denver Film Festival, Spout podcast, Cine Manifest, Judy Irola

I just read Marie-Claire’s entertainment guilt “confession,” (in the form of a comment on our blog) and loved it. I can completely imagine myself in the same scenarios.

But it got me thinking about Munich, the film that sat unwatched on Marie-Claire’s coffee table for more than a month. I have a relationship with Munich that’s different from Marie-Claire’s. I’ve actually seen it twice. (OK, I know Paul and some others who have very little affection for the film are cringing at the thought. Get this: It was actually up for trial in the spout.com Worst Movie Ever group. Harsh. But I digress.) The first time I saw Munich was in the theater, with my dad, brother, and uncle, who were all home for the holidays. We went pretty much because we wanted to go the movies and it was the best thing showing that none of us had yet seen.

The second time I saw Munich, just recently, I rented it because my boyfriend, Jason, and I had been talking a lot about Israel and I wanted him to see the movie as additional fodder for our conversations. Of course, it isn’t a documentary, but I still think it provides an interesting look at some history of the Jewish state, the people’s deep sense of pride, and their efforts to protect their community from getting walked all over. Jason and I ended up having a really good discussion about the difficult political and cultural situations they’re finding themselves in, yet how violence begets violence, and doesn’t solve problems.

So this is what I ended up wondering about, in regards to the “entertainment guilt” concept: Do the films we end up seeing as a result of an “I-should-really-see-this-even-if-I’m-not-in-the-mood” attitude end up feeding more interesting thought and discussion than the films we tend to feel like seeing? If so, should we discipline ourselves to watch these more difficult films as a part of our continuing education? Can anyone think of a purely fun, entertaining, easy-to-watch film that spurred some great discussion? I’m sure there must be some, but I can’t think of any right now…