L.I.E. (Original Uncut Version)

Promotional materials for L.I.E. intimate that the movie breaks "the last taboo" of Western culture. I found this claim particularly appropriate for such this film, as the film explores the concept of "taboo" in a powerful and convincing way.

This taboo is, of course, pedophilia. It is fascinating how cliché of a figure Big John is at the beginning of the film - an overt appeal by the filmmakers to summon up the viewer's most terrible mental images. But L.I.E. turns this cliché on its head, by demonstrating that this archetypal monster is actually a real human being, with real needs, real humor, real problems, and (God forbid!) a real mother. And anyone who has a sweet old mother, of course, cannot be all bad.

Indeed, Big John isn't all bad. And indeed, Howie isn't all good. In the case of Howie, the writers strike upon another much needed insight into our society: kids aren't built perfect. There is no magic in childhood that gives one the ability to distinguish good from evil, love from hate, life from death. Howie becomes disillusioned about peer friendships, about parental relationships, about sex, and about trust.

And into this situation of Howie's profound disaffectedness, Mr. Pedophile enters. He wants one thing - Howie's body. This is his personal form of evil. But, unpredictably, almost inexplicably, Big John does not act as a further source of disillusionment for Howie. In what seems to be an almost Herculean act of self-control, Big John is the first person to show Howie what it actually means to love - that is, to look out for another person's interests, even at the expense of one's own desires.

The conclusion of this movie points to a major missing component in the modern age: mentoring relationships. Mentoring, in the Greek concept, is meant to foster virtue. In Ancient Greece, intergenerational relationships were given a place in the culture; not for their sexual content, but for their moral content. There is no better moral teacher than the disciplined lover - not in Greece, and not today. The fact that Big John breaks the pattern of his life, and resists the easy indulgence of the moment, is the first real life lesson that poor Howie learns in this movie. The viewer is left hoping that it will not be the last.