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United States, mid 50's, after the great effort of the war, America faces the world as a new hegemonic power confronted with the URSS. The American way of life began to be exported to the world... but something was moving on underneath. The social convulsions and debates of the sixties, not only in America but also in the rest of the world, were ready, the established system began to show its contradictions.

The film "Rebel Without a Cause" tried to portrait that effervescent situation, in which the youth was looking for something else beyond the comfortable ways offered by the system. The early death of James Dean, converts the film in a myth and symbol of a generation.

The teenage years are a confusing time for anyone. You start to act different, think different, and realize that you are growing up and there is nothing you can do about it.

Nicholas Ray's classic Rebel Without a Cause is a look into the life of Jim Stark (James Dean) and his attempt to try and figure out what he wants to do with his life. Should he try to become an adult or should he enjoy the little time he has left and cut loose?

Rebellion and rebels is all about that. Is it that something bad? or is it part of the human nature and the youth character?. Rebellion, in my view, is positive, the whole Human Civilization is a rebellion against inertia and death, human life is a constant fight, from the cradle to the tomb.

Rebellion is at the bottom of many social improvements, it is the root of many inventions and discoveries, Columbus was a rebel, and Buddha, and Confucius, and Socrates, and Einstein as well was a rebel, without doubt, and Copernicus, and Galileo... but they were rebels with a cause, with a reason for their rebelliousness.

Rebellion is the very nature of the human being, who prefers sufferings and fighting this earthly life, which procures him wisdom and the possibility of self-improvement, to the eternal inertia of the angels.

True rebellion is participation, involvement in today's problems, indignation against injustice, and thirst for a better and new world. It is a natural characteristic of the youth, and loses its power in the elderly, the tired and the defeated ones.

Rebellion is not violence, for violence is the aggressiveness that does not find a way to channel its energy. Rebellion is clear determination to courageously find a solution for the problems.

When the instinct of rebelliousness cannot find an exit then violence erupts or even worse: withdrawal and negligence, laziness and oblivion.

Where is our Youth? Have a look around and then you will discover it: they are either trapped in the hands of fanatics (where violence and hatred exist) or in the coffee shops! In the fifties, there was confusion, and the result was the violence of the sixties in one hand, and the hippie movement on the other hand.

Today the confusion shows itself in our country in the same manner. There are no more idealists -right or wrong idealists, but idealists. There are no more rebels, but conformist who surrender to the fanatics, because it is better for them not to think; or conformists who pass their time in the luxurious coffee-shops of Cairo and Alex, where the rich youth, instead of undertaking their responsibilities towards their society, expend their hours in doing... nothing and, of course, trying not to think. There are no more idealists; instead, we have "cilantrists", "pasquaists", "thomasists", coffeeing, pizzaing, and hamburgering their fat bellies. The maximum rebelliousness for this youth consist of dressing up with an "aggressive look", but it's only the look, because actually inside there is only softness...

Let's begin to rebel, first of all against ourselves, against our inertia and laziness, against our faults and lacks, and then, once we are stronger and become true rebels, let's work, full of youth rebelliousness, to build a new and better world.