We all have the things we carry along with us. We all have the bag or briefcase, sack or saddlebag that accompanies us. Held in our bags might be our wallets, our identification cards, drivers license, some pocket change, maybe a tiny tin of mints, a creamy lip gloss, a pen. Perhaps we’ll also carry along a worn, treasured love letter tucked between the folds of a wallet, or maybe, by now, frayed pictures of children or grandchildren. A small book of Psalms or a favorite read to have along, just in case some extra time unexpectedly becomes ours. The day’s newspaper rolled under our arm, a papercup of coffee in hand. An umbrella.

These might be some of our tangible carry alongs.

WITH the possible exception of university administrations, there is no institution as bereft of courage as Hollywood.

In Hollywood courage is defined as savaging oil, power and tobacco executives on film. Or producing yet another movie on the evils of the Iraq War.

But if courage means doing what is unpopular — especially among one’s peers — I can recall precious few politically incorrect films made in the last decade (“The Dark Knight” comes to mind as a possible exception).

How many politically incorrect movies has Hollywood made in the last generation? How many films, for instance, have depicted communist evil? Given that Communism murdered more than 100 million innocents — in peacetime! — and enslaved about 1 billion more, one would think that Hollywood would have made a fair number of movies depicting the horrors of communism. But aside from “Dr. Zhivago” and “The Killing Fields,” I cannot think of any.