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.
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
BEYOND BORDERS SHOWS THE UGLY SIDE OF REFUGEE RELIEF According to Sarah Jordan (played by Angelina Jolie) in Beyond Borders, there are some 50 million refugees in the world; the United Nations High Commission for Refugees handles half, and various nongovernmental organizations cope with what they can of the rest. Directed by Martin Campbell, the
AMERICAN JOURNALISM ABANDONS ITS DEMOCRATIC ROLE, ACCORDING TO SHATTERED GLASS Journalism is a serious business, according to Shattered Glass. Directed by Billy Ray, the film is a biopic of Stephen Glass (played by Hayden Christensen), an associate editor of The New Republic until 1998, when he was found to be fabricating stories. The film operates
A JAPANESE AMERICAN BUILDS AN EMPIRE IN COLOMBIA IN EMERALD COWBOY Colombia is the world’s main source of emeralds. In the Colombian biopic Emerald Cowboy, based on his biography, a twentysomething Eishy Hayata (played by Luis Velasco), an American citizen born in Tokyo, one day decides to visit Colombia. On learning first-hand that miners are
RUNAWAY JURY DEPICTS THE NRA IN A JURY TAMPERING FRENZY On June 26, 1996, thirty-six-year-old Irish journalist Veronica Guerin was gunned down while driving her car on a motorway outside Dublin. The film Veronica Guerin, directed by Joel Schumacher, tells why she was assassinated and how her death changed the political landscape in Ireland. After
RUNAWAY JURY DEPICTS THE NRA IN A JURY TAMPERING FRENZY Early in Runaway Jury, we are told that 30,000 Americans die and 100,000 are injured each year by guns, statistics that do not stop the National Rifle Association from serving as the public relations front for an industry that rakes in $2 billion each year.