Do we want filmmakers to get political?

IN his article “Revolutionary Ideas Are Afoot” [March 14], Patrick Goldstein rhapsodizes that “virtually every filmmaker [he] stopped to talk with was at work on a socially conscious film.” And he claims that is a good thing.

Then Goldstein concludes that “perhaps we’re at a moment in history when our artists are better equipped to confront the messy issues of the moment than people who have to run for election for a living.”

Huh? Do you really think that serious issues are best addressed by self-absorbed creative types with little formal education, isolated in gated communities in Malibu, surrounded by sycophants, and with absolutely no experience in government, economics, history or international relations?

Didn’t last year teach you that the naive, one-sided, self-hating platitudes and bromides presented by Hollywood are basically ignored by filmgoers and derided by everyone of any political persuasion with a scintilla of experience or sophistication in domestic and international affairs?

BRUCE GOODMAN

Beverly Hills