Are you the Key Holder or the Gate Master?
–Wilson in Be Kind Rewind

Critics of Be Kind Rewind range from tepid to hostile. Those critics who enjoy the film label it as “cute,”"goofy and endearing,” or “a heart-warming story.” Those who hate it scream “undeveloped,” “ameteurish,” or “a thick stew of awful” (see Rotten Tomatoes).

Many of the critics—-both pro and con—-refer to the story as “fairy tale.” The far-fetched narrative, the flat, nearly caricatured, characters, the simple and quick progression of the story, these things give Be Kind this fairy-tale allure, and they also provide fodder for the critics. Perhaps what most entices me about Be Kind is the way the story never takes the HollyWood turn (that moment in most movies of this genre when the story is absolute and predictable). Alma and Mike don’t fall in love. The potential love triangle that would pit Jerry against Mike with Alma in the middle never develops. Danny Glover’s character Mr. Fletcher does not have a sweet old-person fling with Miss Falewicz, and most surprisingly, despite the positive and uplifting conclusion, the movie does not end with the video shop being save from the wrecking ball.

This cinematic move away from the expected may disappoint the viewer, but it also refocuses the story on what is really happening, namely, a community of people is waking up to its own creative potential. The conflict of the movie is not about love or relationship but between communal creativity and corporate control. As such, Be Kind is a morality play of the Open Source Movement and more precisely of the idea of a Creative Commons.

When Jerry and Mike Swede a film, they enter that gray area of copyright law known as derivative works. Is the Sweded Driving Miss Daisy the same film as the original? Are they plagiarizing? Is the Sweeded Miss Daisy to the original what Disney’s Steam Boat Willie was to Steam Boat Bill Jr, viz. a parody and a stand-alone work of art? Does a community have the right to exercise their creative power in this way? Are they taking money out of the pockets of the actors, directors, and movie personnel (think of those anti-piracy ads featuring the poor, deprived pyrotechnics expert)?

With copyright law as it is today, Sweeding is, in fact, illegal. Even Disney could not get away with a Steamboat Willie, as Lawrence Lessig makes clear in his book Free Culture (a book, btw, that you can download for free). Be Kind puts the lessons of Lawrence Lessig into a visual narrative. The movie shows us what the world, and more specifically what our communities, could be if we were not only unafraid to let our creativity flow but unhindered from doing so.

For a synopsis of the movie visit IMDB.