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.
PHOTOGRAPHERS WIN PULITZERS IN THE BANG BANG CLUB Newspaper photographers are taken for granted, often equated with paparazzi. Not so in The Bang Bang Club, directed by Steven Silver. The African National Congress has declared a boycott of all work for the White establishment, which in turn offers the jobs to Zulus, some of whom […]
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RELEASE OF THE CONSPIRATOR PROVES TIMELY IN MORE THAN ONE RESPECT Robert Redford clearly had a political agenda when he began to direct The Conspirator. Its release in April 2011 is timed to revive memories of the first shots of the Civil War some 150 years earlier. The story is about the trial of Mary
WHO IN CASINO JACK IS THE VILLAIN? Who would have predicted that Jack Abramoff (played by Kevin Spacey) would be the hero of a biopic? That’s what the late George Hickenlooper presents in directing an exposé of Washington that harkens back to Political Film Society awardwinner The Distinguished Gentlemen (1992). When the film begins, the
MAO’S LAST DANCER LEAPS FROM THE SCREEN Directed by Bruce Beresford, Mao’s Last Dancer is a biopic based on the 2003 autobiography of Li Cunxin (played by Chi Cao). With flashbacks throughout, the film traces Li’s life from 1961, when he is selected at grade school for ballet training in Beijing (a project of Mao’s
FAIR GAME DEPICTS HOW THE CIA OPERATED UNDER THE “COMMAND” OF DICK CHENEY According to the Constitution, the Vice President of the United States presides over the Senate, where he can decide a tie vote. Fair Game reveals Cheney’s megalomaniacal quest to establish his “1% doctrine,” that is, that the American government must act decisively
THE BIOPIC JOHN RABE CELEBRATES A NAZI WHO SAVED 200,000 CHINESE LIVES Historians record the death of 300,000 Chinese in the “Rape of Nanjing” of 1937 at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. Similar to Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), the film John Rabe, directed and written by Florian Gallenberger from John Rabe’s diary, reveals
AGORA RECREATES EVENTS OF THE YEAR 391 IN ALEXANDRIA While the Roman Empire was in decline, Alexandria flourished not just because of the famous library and archeological wonders but also the exercise of free speech, philosophy, and science, as depicted in Agora, directed by Alejandro Amenábar. The philosopher of the day is Hypatia (played by
PRINCESS KA‘IULANI DRAMATIZES THE FALL OF THE HAWAIIAN MONARCHY After years of research at the Bishop Museum, Marc Forby directs Princess Ka‘iulani as a tribute to the sad history of the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy. The drama picks up steam when King Kalākaua (played by Ocean Kaowili) is forced in 1887 to sign the
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Vincere (Italian word for “win”) is about Benito Mussolini’s secret wife and child. Mussolini, while an anti-monarchist socialist, was on the wanted list by the Italian royal government. One day, while pursued by the Carabinieri, Mussolini (played by Filippo Tini) is protected by Ida Dalser (played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno), and they carry on an affair.
FORMOSA BETRAYED DEPICTS THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN TAIWAN In 1989, the Political Film Society voted A City of Sadness (Bei qing cheng shi) as the best political film at the East-West Center Film Festival. The film depicted the brutal takeover as the Nationalist China Army retreated from Mainland China to the island of Taiwan, killing