ARTHUR MILLER BRINGS ETHNIC HATRED INTO FOCUS Arthur Miller’s novel Focus (1945) has been brought to the screen by director Neal Slavin at a time of national hysteria over international terrorism. Whereas filmviewers will recall how Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) featured a Gentile news reporter who pretends to be a Jew to dig up a story […]
ARTHUR MILLER BRINGS ETHNIC HATRED INTO FOCUS Arthur Miller’s novel Focus (1945) has been brought to the screen by director Neal Slavin at a time of national hysteria over international terrorism. Whereas filmviewers will recall how Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) featured a Gentile news reporter who pretends to be a Jew to dig up a story
Political Film Review #117 Read More »
A GENERAL LEADS A PRIVATE WAR IN THE LAST CASTLE A three-star general pleads guilty in a court-martial and is sentenced to ten years at Leavenworth in The Last Castle, directed by Rod Lurie. The offense is to disobey orders and ignore intelligence by authorizing a foray in Burundi that results in the death of
Political Film Review #116 Read More »
FROM HELL TRIES TO TRACK DOWN JACK THE RIPPER AS AN AGENT OF QUEEN VICTORIA In 1888 Jack the Ripper terrorized the East End of London. At least five prostitutes plying their trade late at night in Whitechapel had their throats slit, and in four cases their bodies were mutilated. Thirteen other victims have been
A GENERAL LEADS A PRIVATE WAR IN THE LAST CASTLE A three-star general pleads guilty in a court-martial and is sentenced to ten years at Leavenworth in The Last Castle, directed by Rod Lurie. The offense is to disobey orders and ignore intelligence by authorizing a foray in Burundi that results in the death of
THE HIDDEN HALF EXPOSES THE ROLE OF FEMALES IN IRAN Many recent films from Iran focus on the oppression of women in post-revolutionary Iran, but none so deeply as feminist Tahmineh Milani’s The Hidden Half (Nimeh-Ye Penhan). Indeed, she was arrested, charged by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court of supporting “those waging war against God” and
Political Film Review #115 Read More »
FILIPINO AMERICANS RESPOND TO ASSIMILATIONIST PRESSURES BY TAKING PRIDE IN THEIR CULTURE The plight of Filipinos in Los Angeles is featured in The Debut. The Mercado family is about to celebrate the 18th birthday of their daughter Rose (played by Bernadette Balagtas), so a fiesta is organized. There is an elaborate preparation of coiffure and
THE HIDDEN HALF EXPOSES THE ROLE OF FEMALES IN IRAN Many recent films from Iran focus on the oppression of women in post-revolutionary Iran, but none so deeply as feminist Tahmineh Milani’s The Hidden Half (Nimeh-Ye Penhan). Indeed, she was arrested, charged by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court of supporting “those waging war against God” and
Do filmviewers need to see another film in which a white man brings black boys to the Promised Land? Paramount Pictures, which produces many films focusing on African Americans, evidently thinks so. Based on a true story, as recounted in Daniel Coyle’s Hardball: A Season in the Projects, the film Hardball focuses on Connor O’Neill
Liam, directed by Stephen Frears, is an English film that focuses on how a precious seven-year-old boy views life as he looks for role models in his long path from childhood to adulthood. Based on Joseph Keown’s novel The Back Crack Boy,the story is set in Liverpool as the Great Depression deepens among the working