Betrayed by Constanin Costa-Gavras :: Movie, Film

The opening lyrics to America the Beautiful, ï ¿ ½O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,ï ¿ ½ demonstrate how agriculture and wheat farming have been ingrained, to almost mythical proportions, as quintessentially ï ¿ ½Americanï ¿ ½ amongst citizens in the United States. As the Great Plains of the Midwest helped establish the U.S. as a major economic superpower throughout the twentieth century, the nation grew by distributing vast amounts of grain across the globe, providing those farming in the region both a secure and profitable existence. But with the proliferation of farming technologies enabling foreign nations to establish a foothold in a new global economy, the U.S. and its farmers faced increased competition, and their stranglehold on grain exportation waned. ï ¿ ½You just canï ¿ ½t make a living growing wheat anymore,ï ¿ ½ says Greg Grenz, a farmer in Eureka South Dakota, as many ï ¿ ½U.S. farmers are increasingly under pressure as Americaï ¿ ½s ru n as a wheat powerhouse, and the dominant player in global agriculture, is under attack from a crop of newly emboldened, low-cost international rivals who are striking at one of the main pillars of American economic might: food exportsï ¿ ½ (Roger Thurow, 2004). Security and prosperity it seems are dwindling in the nationï ¿ ½s fertile plains. In most cases, with little recourse available, todayï ¿ ½s farmers are faced with a frightening decision: change their farming practices, via planting new crops or utilizing new techniques, or quit farming outright, forfeiting lands that may have been in families for generations and, more importantly, losing an identity that many consider to be most ï ¿ ½American.ï ¿ ½ ï ¿ ½Constanin Costa-Gavras, in his film Betrayed (1988), uses this framework of economic hardships caused by a declining farming industry to present his audience with some farmers who have decided on another option, lashing out violently at people who they believe are responsible for their plight. The film about ï ¿ ½star-crossed love [and] death and danger in white-picket-fence Americaï ¿ ½ (Kemply, 1988), involves a fictional community that employs white supremacist ideology to spread hate and intolerance as they blame Jews, non-whites, and the government for the economic conditions which they endure. The film also demonstrates the early use of the computer to branch out and connect these hate mongers, forecasting the use and proliferation of the internet to recruit new white supremacists around the country. As Randy Blazack, sociologist from Portland State University, elaborates in American Skinheads (2007), ï ¿ ½whether youï ¿ ½re recruiting people to be suicide bombers or recruiting foot soldiers in the racial holy war, youï ¿ ½re going after the same set of people, youï ¿ ½re going after people who feel like theyï ¿ ½re at the end of their rope, and the only recourse left is one of violenceï ¿ ½ (Geographic, 2007).