The second nomination in the category of peace is “Regeneration,” a British film directed by Gillies MacKinnon and based on the novel by Pat Barker. The film begins with a scene displaying the squalor of the trenches of World War I and then focuses most of the film on soldiers psychologically unable to continue at […]
Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” has been nominated as the best film of 1998 in the category peace, promoting the virtues of peace over violence. Ostensibly about the heroism of soldiers who did their duty in World War II, the film tells theater audiences that the combat of war is hell, battlefield decisions made on
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TWO FICTIONAL ANTI-WAR FILMS PROVIDE NEW TWISTS Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” has been nominated as the best film of 1998 in the category peace, promoting the virtues of peace over violence. Ostensibly about the heroism of soldiers who did their duty in World War II, the film tells theater audiences that the combat of
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Peter Weir’s continuing effort to inspire filmviewers to reflect on the stupid mistakes committed by those in power has hit the jackpot again. Whereas his Gallipoli questioned why Britain used soldiers as cannon fodder, and his Dead Poets Society depicted the cruelties of authoritarianism and antisemitism, The Truman Show tells us about the most frightening
“THE TRUMAN SHOW” NOMINATED FOR DEMOCRACY AWARD Peter Weir’s continuing effort to inspire filmviewers to reflect on the stupid mistakes committed by those in power has hit the jackpot again. Whereas his Gallipoli questioned why Britain used soldiers as cannon fodder, and his Dead Poets Society depicted the cruelties of authoritarianism and antisemitism, The Truman
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“WILDE” NOMINATED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD The life of bisexual Oscar Wilde, focusing on his affection for young adult men and the consequences of his desire to fulfill his destiny, is passionately portrayed in the British film Wilde. Directed by Brian Gilbert, the film pits Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensberry, whose son is
WARREN BEATTY’S “BULWORTH” NOMINATED FOR EXPOSÉ AWARD Some forty years ago, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl urged Americans to wake up and face the realities of injustice. Similarly, Warren Beatty uses the medium of poetry to expose what he considers the hypocrisies of the Democratic Party of the Clinton era. Fed up with Beltway bullshit, Senator Bulworth
“WILDE” NOMINATED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD The life of bisexual Oscar Wilde, focusing on his affection for young adult men and the consequences of his desire to fulfill his destiny, is passionately portrayed in the British film Wilde. Directed by Brian Gilbert, the film pits Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensberry, whose son is
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Bruno Barreto’s Four Days in September is a retelling of events of 1969, when the American ambassador to Brazil was kidnapped by youthful, idealistic “Marxist” guerrillas seeking to free their comrades from detention and torture by the dictatorship ruling the country. Though the words of the ambassador, Charles Burke Elbrick, we learn how a career
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Mike Nichols’s Primary Colors develops the same theme as Wag the Dog—a president’s campaign is in jeopardy, so political advisers invoke various measures of damage control. In Primary Colors, a Clintonesque candidate is confronted by sex scandals but manages to distract the public into believing that he deeply cares about human problems. Political advisers, including