Conversations about freedom of expression are always welcome, even when they centre around what looks like a half-bright buddy comedy.
The Interview, featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco as dopes duped by CIA spooks to dispatch Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, is destined to be the most discussed, least seen movie of the season, at least theatrically.
Ironically named hacker group Guardians of Peace recently targeted the movie and its distributor Sony Pictures, eventually getting the flick pulled from theatres after threatening violence.
Basing a movie around the murder of a real person - even a dictator - may be in terrible taste. The Interview itself may be stupid, unfunny or unworthy of our time, but its disappearance has made it important.
Censorship reduces the present and cheats the future out of knowing the past.
We can't allow threats of violence - or even actual violence - to limit what we think, laugh about or discuss.
We may minimize a movie as mere fantasy, but as the great director Martin Scorsese points out, a movie is both an invocation of life and an ongoing dialogue with life. Movies remain a cornerstone of our culture, making it the duty of filmmakers to wade into complex, sometimes controversial territory.
While we don't believe Sony's actions are the modern equivalent of Neville Chamberlain doffing his umbrella to Adolf Hitler, we do believe they have a duty to sell the movie to someone who will show it.
Let people avoid the movie out of good taste, not fear.
