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.
DIFRET EXPLAINS HOW ETHIOPIA STOPPED BRIDE ABDUCTIONS According to Ethiopian tradition, husbands seize brides after consultation with parents by the macho act of abducting them and having sex with them. But during 1986 in a farming area three hours from Addis Ababa 14-year-old Hirut (played by Tizita Hagere) does not like Tadele (Girma Teshome), the […]
THE IMITATION GAME EXPOSES HOW A GAY CRYPTOGRAPHER SHORTENED WW2 Up to 1967, consensual sexual acts between male adults in Britain could result in two years of imprisonment. The most celebrated case is that of Oscar Wilde in 1895, whose health so declined in prison that died three years after his release. A lesser known
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Although Daily Show Jon Stewart claims that he has not directed a “political film,” he is not fooling anyone: Titles at the end of Rosewater note that hundreds of journalists have been at risk of their lives for trying to let the world know what is happening. The film focuses on Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari
BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN SHOWS HOW THE PRAYER WAS ANSWERED In 1984, 40 tons of chemicals leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, resulting ultimately in some 22,000 deaths and 550,000 injuries. Two years earlier, the company was warned about the problem, as alarm and safety systems were scaled back to
GIOVANNI’S ISLAND PROVES THAT A FABLE CAN SERVE TO SUSTAIN HOPE An animated Japanese film, the historical setting of Giovanni’s Island (Jobanni no shima) is another occupation—Russia’s seizure of Shikotan, a Japanese northern island—which took place after the surrender on August 15, 1945, is announced by the emperor. Kanta and Junpei are been named respectively
PREJUDICES ARE OVERCOME IN PRIDE During London’s gay pride parade of June 30, 1984, miners were on strike throughout Britain, harassed by the police and given the cold shoulder by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Mark Ashton (played by Ben Schnetzer) provokes his fellow gays to support the miners financially, as both gays and miners suffer
BLOOD RUNS IN COLDWATER Titles at the end of the fictional Coldwater inform that there is no federal law regulating camps for delinquents, and state law enforcement is lax. When the film begins, macho Brad Lunders (played by B. J. Boudousqué) is arrested and taken to Coldwater, a camp in Colorado (actually filmed in the
SIDDHARTH LINKS CHILD LABOR WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING Bollywood idealizes the high life of India. Not so Siddharth, directed by Richie Mehta. The film is a slice of life of the underclass in India. The story is about Mehendra Saini (played by Rajesh Tailang), who sends his 12-year-old son Siddharth from Delhi to work for a
THE LAST SENTENCE EXPOSES HOW A HITLER CRITIC WAS FINALLY CENSORED In a biopic about Professor Torgny Segerstedt (played by Jesper Christiansen), The Last Sentence (Dom över död man) reveals how his burning hatred of Adolf Hitler nearly got Sweden into war with Nazi Germany. With finely crafted editorials, he incurs the wrath of Hermann
WALKING WITH THE ENEMY IS A BIOPIC OF A HUNGARIAN JEWISH HERO The fame of Pinchas Rosenbaum (played by Jonas Armstrong) can now be shared with those who did not realize the heroism of someone who did everything he could to save the lives of Hungarian Jews in 1944 after Eichmann (Charles Hubbell) came into
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