Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM IS THE PREQUEL TO THE 2009 FILM INVICTUS Whereas Invictus shows President Nelson Mandela healing a nation during his first years in office, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedomis the story of his life up to his election as president. Based on Mandela’s autobiography and directed by Justin Chadwick, the […]
CAN ALL GOD’S CHILDREN BRING A BETTER LIFE FOR TRAFFICKED HUMANS? A Canadian man, Peter (played by Michael Ironside), married Tatiana (Rodica Oanta), who has returned for vacation to her homeland in Transnistria Moldova with her husband. Their 10-year-old son had died in a traffic accident, and she cannot have any more children. As she
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12 YEARS A SLAVE IS A STARK REMINDER OF THE BRUTALITY OF SLAVERY Abolitionists gained momentum for their cause over the fate of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), as described in 12 Years a Slave, directed by London-born Steve McQueen. (The facts are based on the book of the same title by David Wilson,
CAMBODIANS STRUGGLE IN A RIVER CHANGES COURSE Although publicized as a documentary, A River Changes Course films actual rural Cambodians, who no longer can count on nature to make their lives secure. Directed by Kalyanee Mam, Cambodians explain their plight to the camera as they live and work. Where once there was plenty of fish,
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The Romeo & Juliet paradigm has been one-upped in Out in the Dark, directed by Michael Mayer. The film not only depicts a forbidden love affair between an Israel and a Palestinian but also between two gay men, whose sexual orientation is not accepted by either side in the political conflict. The Palestinian, Nimr Mashrawi
WADJDA DEPICTS THE LIFE OF A GIRL IN SAUDI ARABIA Every society has etiquet prohibitions of various sorts. But the life of a girl growing up in a strict Muslim country is particularly difficult, as portayed in Wadjda, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker. Ten-year-old Wadjda (played by Waad Mohammed) lives with
THE BUTLER CELEBRATES CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS Released during the week of the 50th year anniversary of the March on Washington, The Butler provides a feel-good historical summary of civil rights developments for nearly a century. The Butler (played by Forest Whitaker) is Cecil Gaines, who is born on a cotton plantation in Georgia in the
42 STANDS FOR FORTITUDE On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) took the field at Ebbets Field as the first African American major league baseball player. Brooklyn Dodger manager Branch Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) decided that the time had come to break the color line in sports for several reasons, as
A DARK TRUTH EXPOSES HOW EVEN RAINWATER IS DENIED TO RAINFOREST DENIZENS A Canadian company has purchased water rights from the government to an Ecuadorian rainforest, extracts all water for sale abroad, but a torrential rain overflows the sewage system, causing an outbreak of cholera. Rather than calling upon WHO to stop the epidemic, the
A ROYAL AFFAIR REVEALS HOW DENMARK BECAME A MODERN STATE When the film begins, a narrator speaks of her selection as the queen for King Christian VII (played by Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) of Denmark-Norway, but she is writing to tell the whole truth to unidentified persons. Princess Caroline Matilda (played by Alicia Vikander), age 15,