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 Yes Men, directed by Dan Ollman, Sara Price, and Chris Smith, is an autodocumentary in the same genre as Michael Moore’s Roger & Me (1989). Indeed, Moore appears on the screen twice with his usual eloquence. However, the real inspiration appears to have come from Candid Camera’s Alan Funt, as the two principals, Andy […]
Why would an apolitical medical student from an affluent family in Buenos Aires become a revolutionary? The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motorcicleta), directed by Walter Salles, not only explains why but also reminds filmviewers that the same injustices, which affected him so profoundly, still exist. With one semester to go in order to complete medical
Motorcycle Diaries Read More »
Although Nazi law exempted Jewish spouses from liquidation if they married “Aryan” Germans, in February 1943 the Gestapo rounded them up anyway. When the film begins, sixty-year-old Ruth Weinstein (played by Jutta Lampe) is mourning the recent death of her Jewish husband; her daughter, thirtysomething Hannah (played by Maria Schrader), is not only baffled at
IMAGINING ARGENTINA DEPICTS THE HORRORS OF THE “DIRTY WAR” In Operation Condor, which involved eight Latin American countries from the 1960s to the 1980s, thousands of political dissidents and leftists were rounded up by the police and never heard from again. Military and police practiced torture techniques that were learned while they were students at
Imagining Argentina Read More »
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW WARNS THE WORLD ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING For years, scientists have known that the warming of the earth might result in the onset of a new ice age, which would be caused when Arctic ice melted in sufficient quantity to stop the Gulf Stream in its tracks. Estimates of the critical years
The Day After Tomorrow Read More »
CARANDIRU EXPOSES A SENSELESS PRISON MASSACRE IN BRASIL On October 2, 1992, some 111 inmates of the House of Detention at Carandiru, São Paulo, were brutally gunned down by a riot squad called in to break up a fight between rival gangs. The film Carandiru, directed by Hector Babenco, recreates those events with voiceovers by
THE GATEKEEPER ANSWERS THE MEXICANPHOBIA OF HARVARD PROFESSOR HUNTINGTON When The Gatekeeper begins, a talk-show radio host lambastes Mexicans, saying that they account for 90 percent of the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States, 70 percent of schoolchildren in California and 80 percent of the drug traffic. Further, the voice says that all
BLIND SHAFT SHINES LIGHT ON CORRUPTION ENDEMIC IN CHINA’S CAPITALISM Coalmining, a dangerous and dirty business, is the occupation of the protagonists of Blind Shaft (Mang jing). China has plenty of coalmines, some of which operate illegally. Tang Zhaoyang (played by Wang Shuanghao) and Song Jinming (played by Li Yixiang) are veteran coalminers who have
Loosely based on a true story, Osama is a retrospective about how women coped with the Taliban in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. The film begins with about one hundred women in light blue burkas demonstrating; banners say that they are widows who want to work, as they are hungry, but also say that they are not
THE STATEMENT DOCUMENTS DENAZIFICATION IN FRANCE AS LATE AS THE 1990s The Vichy regime was a part of France not occupied by the German military but instead governed by French who were willing to collaborate with the Nazis. Although much attention has been directed at Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” less well known is