In Humanité, directed by Bruno Dumont, an eleven-year-old girl is brutally raped and killed in Bailleul, a working-class town in the French province of Nord-Pas-de-Calais near Dunkerque and the Belgian border. Police superintendent Pharaon De Winter (played by Emmanuel Schotté), an unattractive man in his thirties, is assigned to the case and cannot at first imagine […]
Romantic love is unrequited love between those of different social positions. Western civilization has moved beyond romantic love, largely because barriers of class have broken down and women are liberated. Many parts of Asia, however, retain traditional cultures that present impenetrable barriers. In the Mood for Love, written and directed by Kar-Wai Wong, brings romantic love
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Although not yet commercially exhibited outside the Philippines, Markova: Comfort Gay is a film about human rights violations that deserves a larger audience. Directed by Gil M. Portes, the movie is a biopic of Walter Dempster, Jr., who begins the film at the age of seventy-three; as a title at the end of the movie indicates, he
Sérgio (played by Ricardo Meneses) is a North Lisbon garbage worker who lives in a one-room flophouse in O Fantasma (Phantom), a film noir that takes place mostly at night and has very little dialog. Although a female coworker, Fátima (played by Beatriz Torcato), is attracted to him, he is attracted to men, though he
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is nearly a camp version of portions of Homer’s The Odyssey, or so we are told at the beginning of the film, directed by Joel Coen. When the film begins, Ulysses Everett McGill (played by George Clooney), Pete (played by John Turturro), and Delmar (played by Tim Black Nelson) are escaping from
Why did George Bush Senior take the trouble to invade Panamá at the end of 1999? If the arrest of Panamanian President Manuel Antonio Noriega is accepted as the president’s stated objective for the military action, then why so many casualties? The official bodycount is 500 Panamanians dead and over 3,000 wounded, with 23
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NOMINATIONS CLOSE FOR POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY AWARDS During 1999, some 28 films were nominated for Political Film Society awards, having raised political consciousness in all four categories. Rules of the Political Film Society require that the number of nominations for any category, prior to a final vote, cannot exceed five. The number of nominated films
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ANNA AND THE KING—A FAIRY TALE WITHOUT LYRICS In 1862, Thailand was surrounded by imperialist powers and ruled by the Chakri dynasty. Britain controlled Burma on the East, and France was moving up the Mekong to exercise sovereignty over Indochina on the West. Dissatisfied with religious-oriented education provided to members of the royal court by
ONE WEEK LEFT TO NOMINATE FILMS FOR 1999 POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY AWARDS Since the Political Film Society moved to Hollywood, the number of eligible films has increased considerably in 1999—a record 28 nominations have been made during the year. The rule governing nominations requires that a film must be exhibited for at least one week
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THE GREEN MILE SHOWS THE BLACKNESS OF THE DEATH PENALTY Only one film provoked the British public to repeal the death penalty—5 Rillington Place (1971). Several films have tried to shake up the American public in a similar manner, most recently Dead Man Walking (1996) and True Crime (1999). Now director Frank Darabont ups the