EARTH NOMINATED FOR BEST FILM ON PEACE FOR 1999 When Britain contemplated granting independence to India, leaders of the future Pakistan encouraged Moslems to press for a separate country. When the partition occurred on August 15, 1947, with the collaboration of Britain and the Pakistani leaders and over the opposition of Mohandas Gandhi, Pakistan was […]
Political Film Review #52 Read More »
In most Eastern European countries as the Cold War ended, the answer was for the leaders to resign, new leaders to rise to power democratically, and for the situation to calm down as the government was seen as reasonably legitimate. Not so in Yugoslavia, where ethnic scapegoating on all sides led to civil war. We
West Beirut, written and directed by Ziad Doueiri, tells the story of the disintegration of Lebanon from April 13, 1975, through the eyes of high school students who bridged the gap between the Christian and Moslem communities and the parents of one of the students, a Christian mother and a Moslem father. When the film
TWO FILMS FEATURING CITIES IN DISTRESSNOMINATED FOR BEST FILM ON PEACE What happens to otherwise normal people when the amount of civil disorder is so rampant that authorities cannot stop the chaos? Contrast Belgradians and Beirutians in two recently Political Film Society-nominated films: In most Eastern European countries as the Cold War ended, the answer
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HAWAI`I, THAIS, AMERICANS, AND AUSTRALIANS ARE TRASHED IN BROKEDOWN PALACE Summer is rarely a time for release of serious films with explicit political agendas. A possible exception might have been Brokedown Palace, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, whose films have been twice nominated by the Political Film Society. This film, however, appears to have started with
HAWAI`I, THAIS, AMERICANS, AND AUSTRALIANS ARE TRASHED IN BROKEDOWN PALACE Summer is rarely a time for release of serious films with explicit political agendas. A possible exception might have been Brokedown Palace, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, whose films have been twice nominated by the Political Film Society. This film, however, appears to have started with
Political Film Review #50 Read More »
NIXON IS LAMPOONED; HIS SECRETS ARE EXPOSED BY FEMALE FORREST GUMPS Who was the “deep throat” who informed Washington Post reporters the secrets about Watergate? Who caused the 18½ minute gap in President Richard Nixon’s tapes? Since nobody in Washington is likely to divulge the answers any time soon, the puzzles are fair game for
NIXON IS LAMPOONED; HIS SECRETS ARE EXPOSED BY FEMALE FORREST GUMPS Who was the “deep throat” who informed Washington Post reporters the secrets about Watergate? Who caused the 18½ minute gap in President Richard Nixon’s tapes? Since nobody in Washington is likely to divulge the answers any time soon, the puzzles are fair game for
Political Film Review #49 Read More »
A more chilling treatment of domestic terrorism can be found in this year’s Pariah, which goes beyond lastyear’s American History X in showing how skinhead gangs operate. We are not surprised to learn that the gang members are obsessed with sex, and filmviewers see the brutality of their sexual encounters, which are heterosexual simulations of
How extensive is terrorism inside the United States? The film Arlington Road, directed by Mark Pellington, poses this question through the words of Michael Faraday (played by Jeff Bridges), a widowed Professor of George Washington University, who lectures to students that most political assassinations and bombings are pinned to a single person even though logic