"The Master" is a movie I can barely wait to see. Especially after reading this rather brilliant post from Noah Gitell:
We can read “The Master” as an allegory that shows how contemporary America is adjusting to a new reality brought on by a different act of war – 9/11 – and how we have reacted to the destruction of our old moral order by clinging to new certainties. In one crucial scene, Dodd’s methods are questioned by a skeptic at a party. Their exchange, in which Dodd becomes increasingly agitated and defensive by a set of simple questions, reminded me of nearly every talking head I have seen on cable news of late – the kind of pundit that is wrapped so tightly in his or her narrow philosophy that real engagement becomes impossible. Freddie Quell gravitates towards Dodd’s certainty, but those of us who are desperate for such moral certitude today must choose between Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher.
Anderson is not one to imbue his films with lessons exactly, but the end result of Dodd’s work to cure Freddie of his ills are instructive. Freddie takes on many of the Master’s qualities and especially his contradictions – Dodd’s certainty begets Freddie’s fierce devotion to The Cause – but he never sheds the problems that led him there in the first place. He remains violent and impulsive, like a dog who is given enough food to stay alive but deprived of everything else. Through this tumultuous relationship between two very strange men, Anderson asks his audience what a person – and a nation – are to do when they come face-to-face with the world’s darkness.
The Dish 