BARRY IS NOT ABOUT HAPPINESS IN NEW YORK CITY After time in Honolulu, Jakarta, and Los Angeles, Barry Obama (magnificently played by Devon Terrell) hops a plane to the Big Apple on a day near his 20th birthday to go to Columbia College so he can advance intellectual pursuits. Director Vikram Gandhi seeks to explain how […]
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NERUDA IS POETRY WITHIN POETRY In 1945, Chile’s famous poet Pablo Neruda (played by Luis Gnecco) was elected Senator, choosing to run as a member of the Communist Party, which he joined after the election. The following year, Gabriel González Videla asked Neruda to be his campaign manager. But when the Cold War and McCarthyism sweeps
LAND OF MINE SHOWS GERMAN SOLDIERS IN A POSITIVE LIGHT After Germany surrendered in 1945, the German people not only experienced a country in rubbles but left 1,500,000 land mines dotting the West Coast of Denmark, as the Nazis thought that the Allied invasion would come from there. The Danes, while marching German POWs out of
LAND OF MINE SHOWS GERMAN SOLDIERS IN A POSITIVE LIGHT After Germany surrendered in 1945, the German people not only experienced a country in rubbles but left 1,500,000 land mines dotting the West Coast of Denmark, as the Nazis thought that the Allied invasion would come from there. The Danes, while marching German POWs out of
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BOOZE IT UP BEFORE SEEING WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT The pace of Whisky Tango Foxtrot is so fast that instead of an exposé of the perils of a female war correspondent, filmviewers witness how Kim Baker (played by Tina Fey) takes a break in a loud night club, is repeatedly seduced, loses her boyfriend, and in effect is more
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THE SIEGE OF JADOTVILLE EXPOSES UN MISMANGEMENT IN THE CONGO In 1961, the newly independent Congo was in turmoil. President Patrice Lumumba proceeded to do business with the Soviet Union, but he was assassinated. His successor, Joseph Kasavubu, did not have the support of Moise Tshombe, prime minister of the mineral-rich province of Katanga, which armed
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JACKIE SHARES THE TRAUMA OF JFK’S DEATH In 1963, an American president who had brought hope for a new beginning—a Camelot—was shot dead alongside his wife, Jackie (played by Natalie Portman). She had to endure the blood spatter and make painful decisions following his death. Directed by Pablo Larraín, the film Jackie demonstrates much more than most filmviewers
JACKIE SHARES THE TRAUMA OF JFK’S DEATH In 1963, an American president who had brought hope for a new beginning—a Camelot—was shot dead alongside his wife, Jackie (played by Natalie Portman). She had to endure the blood spatter and make painful decisions following his death. Directed by Pablo Larraín, the film Jackie demonstrates much more than most filmviewers
Political Film Review #524 Read More »
LION ROARS ABOUT MISSING CHILDREN Every year, according to a title at the end of Lion, some 80,000 children go astray from their homes in India—and more worldwide. One such child, five-year-old Saroo (played by Sonny Pawar), goes to a train station with his brother, but then his brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) goes off to work, leaving
MOANA INSULTS POLYNESIANS Four directors had a script for Moana to accompany an animated story of how Polynesians moved from one part of the Pacific to their current home in Hawai‛i. Instead of flying to Honolulu to learn how the native population acts and talks, they Americanized the characters. The result was that the Demi-God Māui is