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.
A MIGHTY HEART DOCUMENTS THE KIDNAPPING & DEATH OF JOURNALIST DANIEL PEARL On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (played by Dan Futterman) and his journalist wife Mariane (played by Angelina Jolie) arrive in Karachi, Pakistan. Although scores of reporters descended on Pakistan to cover the war in Afghanistan, by early 2002 […]
BAMAKO PUTS THE WORLD BANK & ITS ACCOMPLICES ON TRIAL FOR MURDER Bamako, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, is filmed in a residential neighborhood within Mali’s capital, Bamako. The principal scene is that of a trial in which residents are the plaintiff and world capitalism (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization,
BLACK BOOK EXPOSES LUNACY FROM NAZI RULE IN HOLLAND Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Black Book (Zwartboek) begins at the Stein Kibbutz in Israel, where a Dutch tourist encounters Rachel (played by Carice van Houten), a teacher, whom she had not seen for 12 years. The scene then reverts to 1944. Rachel and several Jews are
IRELAND’S SOCIALIST TRADITION COMES ALIVE IN THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a fictional story about some of the last years of the Irish struggle for independence. Teddy O’Donovan (played by Pedraic Delaney), an organizer of a guerrilla group in a small town far from Dublin, asks his
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BEYOND THE GATES IDENTIFIES NEW CULPRITS & HEROES OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE Hotel Rwanda (2004) depicts an important hero in the Rwandan genocide. Beyond the Gates provides another look at the tragedy, one that may remind filmviewers that something can be done today in Darfur. On April 11, 1994, some 250 Rwandans died at École
THE TOP AMERICAN SPY’S DOWNFALL IS DEPICTED IN BREACH Directed by Political Film Society awardwinner Billy Ray, Breach is based on several biographical accounts of the life of FBI agent Robert Hanssen (played by Chris Cooper), who was apprehended on February 18, 2001. The movie begins with the announcement of Hanssen’s arrest by former Attorney
BLACK FRIDAY RECOUNTS THE EVENTS OF INDIA’S WORST TERRORISM Beginning and ending with a quote from Gandhi that the world will become blind following the “eye for an eye” maxim, Black Friday focuses on the terrorist bombing of landmark buildings in Bombay on March 12, 1993, in which some 300 died and about 2,000 were
The horrific complexity of the current conflict in Iraq (referred to as “the situation”) is depicted in The Situation, directed by Philip Haas, largely through the eyes of an American journalist, Anna Moiyneux (played by Connie Nielsen), who sleeps for information with Dan Murphy (played by Damian Lewis), a lower-level American diplomat, and Zaid (Mido
THE GOOD SHEPHERD ASKS WHETHER CIA MISCHIEF IS IN THE “NATIONAL INTEREST” The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert DeNiro, seeks to portray the early years of the Central Intelligence Agency. The timespan runs from a flashback to the 1919 suicide of the father of Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon), who at the age of
THE LISTENING SHOWS HOW THE NSA HAS THE CAPABILITY TO IMPOSE “TOTAL TYRANNY” In 2005, Italy began to issue arrest warrants for twenty-five CIA agents who in 2003 abducted Islamic cleric Abu Omar (1963- ), an Italian citizen who had been granted asylum, from a street in Milan and flew him first to Germany and