This biography illustrates the problem of reconciling 3
discrete strategies of political change:
1. Political change from without--e.g., technological
innovation (Thomas Edison and his field representative Z)
to
upgrade all citizens' initial endowments (income).
2. Political change from below--e.g., mutual aid
societies and assassination of government leaders (Lili
the terrorist).
3. Political change by default--e.g., corruption of
extant social norms through criminal activities (Dora the
temptress).
Despite their initial union in 1880, Lili and Dora
separate only to find chance alliance with Z, neither of
which lasts.
This is because the new social environment is
chance-ridden (chance = the donkey)and differs radically
from the "state of nature" (evidenced by incarerated or
exploited animals), so that conventional expectations no
longer apply. With whom to ally in this "maze of mirrors"
called the 20th Century?
Yet, such alliances are what makes politics the "art
of the possible." No Lili, no Dora, no Z can do it alone
(unless you believe that the stars can help rescue you--
even
from Siberia).
And such alliances--despite their perplexity--still
occur, driven by that heady prospect of moving from today's
tributary of narrow opportunities into the vast horizonless
sea of still undreamed freedoms. Thus ends the film.