Yesterday I was challenged by one of our boys to come up with a guilty pleasure movie - one which I loved, but which many people didn’t. At the time I struggled to think of anything. But this morning a film release from 1998 came to mind.

If you’ve not had the pleasure, Toy Soldiers is a comedy action movie based around two sets of toys, the Commando Elite, and the Gorgonites, in which both get implanted with military level computer chips by two designers eager for some commercial success. This has the effect of causing the two disparate groups to become cognisant and capable of interacting with the human world. Mahem and, to be honest, some pretty violent but entertaining action ensue, all encrusted in a moral, if fairly cynical, sandwich.

In the film, The Gorgonites are a peace loving band of quirky freaks who spend their time hiding from the Commando Elite, whose only purpose in life is to destroy them. Through the course of the adventure the Gorgonites discover that they cannot stay Hidden from the nasty Commandos forever. If they are to secure a peaceful future for themselves they have to come out of hiding and fight back. Even when all they really yearn for is a quiet life.

I for one identified with the Gorgonites very much when I saw the film. And I still do today. It also seems, as I remember back, quite a pertinent film for the times we are living in right now.

Because it’s true - a quiet life is undoubtedly harder to achieve, or even justify, when conflict, moral confusion, and political uncertainty come charging down the street. Even when it’s not happening down our street.

Trouble is, in real life, the goodies and baddies often wear the same uniforms. It’s not always black and white out there. Life ain’t a movie.

There’s no hiding from that.


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