Fildelis Cloer is no ordinary salesman. His product? Finely crafted armored vehicles, made in Germany and meant to withstand bullets ands bombs. War is good for business, and business is brisk in this macabre slant on the Willy Loman story. To this German war profiteer, the trip to Baghdad represents the road to opportunity. "Terror creates the demand," says Fidelis, who also acknowledges that failure, the death of a client or destruction of one of his vehicles, provides an opportunity to improve his product. As the war spins out of control and Fidelis massages the underside of fear, he also exposes the greed and corruption of both the Americans and Iraqis. Ultimately, the chaos in Iraq breeds competitors, and Fidelis moves on to "new" opportunities in Afghanistan. Fidelis is simultaneously charming and creepy and the film, a fascinating and disturbing portrait of the excesses of capitalism in a world gone mad. (Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.) |
