Last weekend, I watched one of my favorite movies, â??Total Recall,â? a sci-fi flick based on a Philip K. Dick novel and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Is Schwarzeneggerâ??s character an intergalactic double agent who saves the mutants on Mars from the evil plans of a nasty profiteer or is he a lowly construction worker who merely is enjoying a virtual vacation thanks to the implanted memories from a company named Rekall Inc.?
The movieâ??s brilliance comes from our not knowing even through the final scene whether this is real or a dream. Shortly after my latest viewing of it, the real Schwarzenegger was in the news for having fathered a child with a housekeeper who worked at the Schwarzenegger compound for 20 years. Throughout â??Total Recall,â? we wonder whether itâ??s real or fake. Thatâ??s part of the fun in watching it again â?? looking for clues between the fight scenes and weird looks of the mutants. But Californians need to be honest with ourselves about Schwarzenegger. We all knew â?? or should have known â?? that he was a fake from the beginning. Republicans in particular should have realized that his commitment to free-market principles was never deep.
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