Brad Pitt’s latest movie paints a bleak picture of the broken American dream, blending a violent but comic gangster story with overt criticism of politicians’ failure to address the economic crisis. ‘Killing Them Softly’ takes place in an unspecified U.S. city which has borne the brunt of the financial collapse-houses are abandoned, shops are shuttered and petty criminals and mobsters alike are struggling to get by. Pitt has asserted that his new flick speaks more of the great toxic divide in American, and is not to be viewed as an attack on President Obama. The actor criticised the “toxic” politics of the US election campaign as he launched his latest film in Cannes. “I think we’re going to see more negative ads than ever before, and I certainly don’t want this film to in any way be mistaken for that,” the Politico quoted Pitt as saying. While the movie, due out in September, is based on a 1970s crime novel, it is set during the 2008 presidential election and economic crisis. Clips of then-Senators Barack Obama, John McCain and then President George W Bush are played throughout, in addition to grim imagery of those struggling because of the financial collapse. Instead, he said that the movie ‘Killing Them Softly’ mostly reflects “a toxic divide” in American politics. “It’s a serious, serious problem,” Pitt said. Criticising the way the financial crisis was handled, Pitt said it’s “criminal that there still haven’t been any criminal repercussions” for people who caused the meltdown”. It was “at the apex of the mortgage loan debacle” that he had first looked at the script. “I felt that I was reading a gangster film and it wasn’t until the very end that it coalesced for me as far what the direction of the film is pointing to overall-that this microcosm is actually saying something about the greater, macro world.” Pitt added.
