TO BREATHE OR NOT TO BREATHE—THAT IS THE QUESTION IN INHALE
Inhale, directed by Baltazar Kormákur, begins and ends with factual titles about organ transplanting. In the United States there is 1 organ donor for every 10 organ seekers. According to Organs Watch, some 15,000 organs are traded annually. As the film develops, filmviewers learn that there is a prioritization formula to determine who gets what. For Santa Fe Assistant District Attorney Paul Stanton (played by Dermot Mulroney), what is important is to find a lung for his daughter, elementary school age Chloe (played by Mia Stallard). When a lung becomes available in Santa Fe, however, prioritization requires shipment to a needy recipient in Salt Lake City, though the organ later dies in transshipment. In discovering that James Harrison (played by played by Sam Shepard), candidate for governor, has somehow obtained an organ without waiting very long, Stanton learns that the donor and the operation were both in Mexico. Stanton then goes to Juarez, seeking to bribe a difficult-to-find physician with a large sum of money ($200,000). But his illegal pursuit plunges him into a rough underworld in Juarez (though filmed almost entirely in New Mexico) where he encounters considerably more violence to achieve his objective than he ever anticipates. The fast-paced story, with flashbacks and flashforwards to heighten the tension, is clearly designed to stop Americans from seeking organ transplants in México. MH
MASS MURDERER #1 TRIES TO EVADE JUSTICE IN EICHMANN
The central task of the independent docudrama Eichmann, directed by Robert William Young, is to reveal how he was convicted. Although the drama features his kidnapping in Buenos Aires during 1960, and his signature on a document that he went to Israel of his own free will, the main focus is on seven months of interrogation in his prison cell by Avner Less (played by Troy Garity), whose extended family lost sixty members to the gas chamber, a clear conflict of interest. Filmviewers also view the family lives of both men, breaking the monotony. Eichmann (played by Thomas Kretschmann), of course, claims that he merely followed Hitler’s and Himmler’s orders to execute six million Jews and a half million gypsies, including a half million children, but Less is finally able to trap him with a crucial document, and his execution (after an appeal not covered in the film) follows in 1962. As credits role, a tape recording of Less delivers a message—Hitlers can never emerge in a democracy. Yet Hitler came to power in a democracy, so the purpose of the gratuitous sermon is unclear. (A more potent message is that Eichmann’s seizure was construed by the Israeli Supreme Court as the capture of a “fugitive from justice,” his trial a precedent for the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious offenses.) Nevertheless, having provided details about Eichmann not widely known, the Political Film Society has nominated Eichmann for best film on human rights of 2011. MH
LT.-GENERAL DALLAIRE WIPES OFF HIS HANDS IN SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL
Shake Hands with the Devil, directed by Roger Spottiswoode, has clearly upped the ante from Hotel Rwanda, Political Film Society awardwinner of 2004. Whereas hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of 1,200 Tutsis, Roméo Dallaire (played by Roy Dupuis) saves 26,000 lives as commander of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda in 1994. The film, based on Dallaire’s Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2003), begins with titles that provide a brief history of Rwanda, including the Belgian legacy of dividing Hutus from Tutsis. Then Dallaire is in a psychiatrist’s office, with Dallaire articulating suicidal thoughts. Next, in docudrama fashion, he is appointed head the UN mission with the assignment of monitoring a demilitarized zone between the rival groups that are eager to resume civil war. Detailed accounts of Dallaire’s efforts to negotiate peace, get the UN and the United States involved to stop the genocide, view perhaps more dead bodies than found at Auschwitz, and save as many innocents as he can serve (after handshakes with doublecrossers) serve to explain why he has a breakdown. The film, nominated by the Political Film Society for best film on human rights and best film exposé of 2011, opened in Hollywood only a few days after release of his latest book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers, though the film was held up three years after completion in 2007. MH