An Unreasonable Man movie review (2007)
Why, for example, didn't Nader run on the Green Party ticket in 2004? The movie doesn't say. If Nader entered the 2000 race with the goal of attracting 5 percent of the popular vote (he only got 2.7, but the movie doesn't tell you that), and then won only 0.4 percent in 2004 (less than Gore's popular vote victory in the previous election, but the movie doesn't tell you that either), what does that say about the support for, and effectiveness of, his candidacy? Who does he represent, and who is listening to what he's saying? If his aim is to change the system from within, is there some deficiency in the message, or there a problem with the messenger? If he's been abandoned by so many of his allies and blackballed by the media, might not someone else make for a more productive and persuasive spokesperson at this point? Or does he simply repeat the same self-justifying behavior, with diminishing returns, expecting a different result (Einstein's definition of insanity)?
"An Unreasonable Man" offers a brisk overview of Nader's early days as he took on the American auto industry, noting in a 1959 article in The Nation ("The Safe Car You Can't Buy"): "It is clear Detroit today is designing automobiles for style, cost, performance and calculated obsolescence, but not -- despite the 5,000,000 reported accidents, nearly 40,000 fatalities, 110,000 permanent disabilities and 1,500,000 injuries yearly -- for safety." At the time, car owners had little idea so many of these accidents, deaths and injuries were preventable with simple safety measures like seat belts, which the manufacturers were keeping off the market.
As Nader articulated in his best-selling 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile, the free market (like democracy itself) can't function freely unless citizens have the facts they need to make informed decisions: "A great problem of contemporary life is how to control the power of economic interests which ignore the harmful effects of their applied science and technology."
Nader became a valuable brand name for consumer rights, and citizen's rights, fighting for regulations to protect consumers and open up government. He put his name and resources behind scores of causes, from food and drug labeling to environmental protections to the Freedom of Information Act -- many of which have been conspicuously defanged by the Bush administration.
Nader says: "I don't care about my personal legacy. I care about how much justice is advanced in America and our world day after day." If that's true, some would suggest -- though not the makers of this film -- that the man needs to take a good look around him, followed by a long, hard look in the mirror.
Note: Director Steve Skrovan will appear Saturday at the Music Box, and there will be a live video conference Q&A with Ralph Nader after the movie's 7 p.m. screening Saturday.
