polfilms

Mustang

MUSTANG PROVIDES HOPE FOR GIRLS IN TURKEY’S BACK COUNTRY Yet another film on the plight of females in Islamic countries, the French film Mustang focuses on the positive more than the negative. With occasional voiceovers from Lale (Günes Şensoy), Turkish-born director Deniz Gamze Ergüven depicts the gap between the traditional roles of females in rural […]

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Political Film Review #497

MUSTANG PROVIDES HOPE FOR GIRLS IN TURKEY’S BACK COUNTRY Yet another film on the plight of females in Islamic countries, the French film Mustang focuses on the positive more than the negative. With occasional voiceovers from Lale (Günes Şensoy), Turkish-born director Deniz Gamze Ergüven depicts the gap between the traditional roles of females in rural

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Joe’s War

JOE’S WAR HIGHLIGHTS PTSD AGAIN After serving as a marine for five years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, Joe Caruso (played by Michael Markiewicz) returns to his Staten Island home but is plagued by memories of intense combat, including dead bodies, which are presented on the screen as flashbacks. He cannot sleep without nightmares,

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The 33

PERSEVERENCE WINS IN THE 33 ‘Tis the season for heartwarming movies, and The 33 may top the genre for 2015, just five years after 33 men were rescued from a Chilean mine for 69 days (though filming is at a mine in Colombia). But the film is not entirely a feel-good film because of their

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Spotlight

SPOTLIGHT SHOWS INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST The Boston Globe has a special column called “Spotlight,” written by a team of crack journalists who spend more time developing a story than the rest of the reporters. Yet complaints that Catholic priests sexually abused children as far back as the 1960s were not printed, even when

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Trumbo

TRUMBO EXPLAINS WHY THE POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY WAS FORMED In 1947, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, refused to answer that he joined the Communist Party from 1943-1946, was one of the Hollywood Ten held in contempt of Congress, and was imprisoned for a year while at least 500 in

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Heneral Luna

WHY DID THE PHILIPPINES LOSE A WAR WITH THE USA? HENERAL LUNA TELLS WHY In 1898, as Spain was losing a war over Cuba to the United States, the Philippines declared independence from Spain. But Washington paid $20 million to Spain to “buy” the country. A war against the Americans was then fought, with macho General

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Our Brand Is Crisis

WHY ARE POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS SO ROUGH?OUR BRAND IS CRISIS TELLS WHY  Based on the 2002 election in Bolivia of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada de Bustamante, which was first covered as a documentary with the same title in 2005, Our Brand of Crisis so loosely recreates that election that there is no “Based on True Facts” title

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