Films that bring previously obscured truths about the political process to the attention of the public, showing for example how offices of public trust are used for private purposes.
THE DANISH GIRL FEATURES THE T IN GLBT Based on a true story, The Danish Girl traces the experience of Einar Wegener (played by Eddie Redmayne), who is portrayed at the beginning of the film as the husband of Gerde Wegener (Alicia Vikander), both artists in Copenhagen during 1926. While he is obviously not a top notch artist, […]
MEDITERRANEA EXPLAINS WHAT AFRICANS MUST ENDURE TO CROSS TO ITALY Directed by Jonas Carpignano, Mediterranea begins in Burkina Faso. Several men have decided to go to Europe for economic reasons. The focus is on Ayiva (played by Koudous Seihon) and his son Abas (Alassane Sy), who have paid for passage but do not know what curve balls will
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
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
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
TRUTH SEEKINGDEFINITELY HAS CONSEQUENCES It is no coincidence that in 2004 George W. Bush was re-elected and Dan Rather resigned from CBS news. Truth, directed by James Vanderbilt, explains why but focuses most attention on the career of Mary Mapes (played by Cate Blanchett), who engaged in investigative reporting for Rather (Robert Redford) and Sixty
EXPERIMENTER SHOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PSYCHOLOGISTS IGNORE PHILOSOPHY A biopic of famous social psychologist Stanley Milgram (played by Peter Sarsgaard), Experimenter reviews his career, which is traced back to when he is a grad student of Harvard’s Solomon Asch (Ned Eisenberg), who proved in the early 1950s that most students conform to group pressure, even
BRIDGE OF SPIES RECALLS A TENSE PERIOD IN THE COLD WAR New York insurance attorney James B. Donovan (played by Tom Hanks), having earlier participated as an assistant prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials, is identified early in the film as a sharp negotiator. When Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Soviet spy, is arrested in New
LABYRINTH OF LIES REVEALS INCONVENIENT TRUTHS The last Nuremberg Trial ended in 1946, convicting 133 persons (not 15, as a title in the film pretends). Courts of various countries soon convicted other war criminals, including two in German courts who had been found not guilty at Nuremberg. When the postwar occupation of Germany ended
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON ENDS WITH A GAY PUZZLE After the Watts Riots of 1965, some African Americans in Los Angeles thought that a solution to the tyranny of the Los Angeles Police Department over African Americans was to move to a small town and gain majority control. One such town was Compton, not far from
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