Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
MULBERRY CHILD REENACTS THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE What suffering occurred during the Cultural Revolution? Whereas the autobiographical Mulberry Child (2008) by Jian Ping describes the suffering of one family, the film Mulberry Child presents a docudrama of that experience while focusing on the interplay between Jian Ping (played by the author herself) […]
CRIMES AGAINST THE LAKOTA HAUNT WEST OF THUNDER When the film begins, credits inform filmviewers of the Wounded Knee massacre and the forcible resettlement of the Lakotas to Pine Ridge Reservation in 1890. It is 1899, and Simon Seed (played by Dan Davies) appears in the town just outside the reservation. As the film progresses,
FOR GREATER GLORY ENDS ABRUPTLY IN TRAGEDY The Catholic Church used the threat of excommunication to control civilian authorities for many centuries until the rise of militarism and secularism. From the mid-19th century, México had sought to establish a clear boundary between church and state, but in practice the appropriate formula was difficult for a
RED TAILS CELEBRATES THE TUSKEGEE PILOTS Titles at the beginning of Red Tails inform us that in 1925 a U.S. Army study concluded that Blacks were unfit for combat, but titles at the end remind us that the Tuskegee pilots in the 332nd fighter squadron during World War II received 96 Distinguished Service medals, and
As director and writer, Angelina Jolie presents the Bosnia War as a variation on the Romeo & Juliet story. Her In the Land of Blood and Honey focuses on bloodthirsty Serbs, who are determined to eradicate the Bosniacs (Muslim Bosnians) by killing as many men as possible and siring as many mixed-ethnic children by raping
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IN DARKNESS SHEDS LIGHT IN LWÓW’S SEWERS DURING WORLD WAR II For 14 months a group of Jews who had dug their way into the sewers of Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), hid from the Nazis until 1945, when Russian troops liberated the city, Simon Wiesenthal’s hometown. Leopold Socha (played by Robert Wieçkiewicz), whose job
KINYARWANDA IMPRESSIONISTICALLY RECREATES THE RWANDA GENOCIDE AND AFTERMATH Impressionistic painters place dots on a canvas, allowing viewers to organize what they see into a coherent picture. Although perhaps not deliberately, that is what Kinyarwanda does in trying to depict the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Scenes are organized with subtitles, flashbacks, flashforwards, and other scenes during
THE LADY DEPICTS FAMILY LIFE AMID the POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI Fortuitously timed for release while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Myanmar (Burma), The Lady is a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi (played by Michelle Yeow) from her return to Rangoon in 1988 to be alongside her dying, hospitalized
IS ELITE SQUAD 2 A PARADIGM FOR POLITICS EVERYWHERE BESIDES BRAZIL? News stories emerging from Brazil nowadays mention that the police are cleaning up the slums (favelas) in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games but are vague on details. Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora É Outro),
Placid Gang In-ho (played by Yoo Gong) reports for a position as art instructor at a school for the deaf in Gwangju Province, Korea, and soon discovers that the children are being sexually molested and viciously punished by an instructor and the twins running the school. After reporting what he sees to human rights activist