Bowling in Columbine

I just received an e-mail from a friend in Iran. He talks about the experience of seeing "Bowling in Columbine" in Tehran. What a bizarre world we live in. A movie like that can have a totally different meaning in a different context. Over there it is used by the regime to justify "Death to America." It is so sad.
Can a movie be made in a way to detach itself from different contexts? To convey the same meanings in different societies? I guess not. I remember reading somewhere about Spanish Civil War and the reaction of the writers and intellectuals of '30s about it. The only two writer who were not supporting the Spanish left wing and Republicans were Samuel Becket and Henry Miller. They were the only politically mature intellectuals of those days. Understanding how stupid is the whole thing they just rejected supporting any side... (actually Becket said some thing like "Morde shoore hardoshoon" meaning "God damn both sides".... hahaha, I am translating Becket from the Persian text I have read... it is really funny when you talk about a writer who have used English language in such a radical way.)
Any way,... God damn politics... long live cinema.

[I got this e-mail later in March 2004 from a reader:
On your weblog, you comment: " I remember reading somewhere about Spanish Civil War and the reaction of the writers and intellectuals of '30s about it. The only two writer who were not supporting the Spanish left wing and Republicans were Samuel Becket and Henry Miller". In fact, when asked to contribute his views to the collection "Authors Take Sides on Spain", Beckett famously replied "¡Up the Republic!". I don't know where you got the impression that his position was "God damn both sides", but I suspect that the Persian translation you read misinterpreted his views completely."
Ok, I might be wrong about that!]