Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
SPACE INVADERS EVOKE SYMPATHY IN DISTRICT 9 A spacecraft hovers over Johannisberg. A million or so ugly extraterrestrial aliens, who speak a strange language, descend to earth. They are herded into the city’s District 9, where they build shanties and seek food from trashdumps for two decades, called “prawns” because their appearance and appetite resemble […]
The Russians reached Berlin first and remained for occasional raids to wipe out lingering Nazi resistance. Most of their idle time was spent eating, sleeping, and turning the city into a whorehouse. In A Woman in Berlin (Anonyma—Eine Frau in Berlin), directed by Max Fäberböck, the women of Berlin find protectors and try to turn
DOLPHIN BLOOD RUNS DEEP IN THE COVE Richard O’Barry made the adorable bottlenose dolphin a focus of worldwide awe in the television series Flipper (1964-1968). As he trained the five dolphins known as Flipper, he learned of their beauty, intelligence, and sensitivity, but not until after ten years, when one died by suicide in his
By far, the best of the lot is The Stoning of Soraya M., directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and based on an event in 1986. The venue is a small town in Iran, where Soraya (played by Mozhan Marnò) was stoned. When the film begins, a journalist’s car has broken down in that town. Freidoune Sahebjam
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AMERICAN VIOLET EXPOSES INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN TEXAS’ CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Based on a true story, American Violet first establishes the reputation of Dee Roberts (played by Nicole Biharie) as a well-qualified waitress in Melody, Texas, who is a fine mother of four. One day one of her daughters is in the parking lot of a
HUNGER CELEBRATES THE MARTYRDOM OF BOBBY SANDS Provisional Irish Republican Army leader Bobby Sands (played by Michael Fassbender) died in Maze Prison while on a 66-day hunger strike on May 5, 1981, at the age of 27. Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen (no relation to the actor), begins by setting the premise for that strike
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS SERVES AS AN UNLIKELY ROLE MODEL A nagging question about the Holocaust is whether, aside from mass Heil Hitler rallies, ordinary Germans supported Hitler and his Final Solution. Based on the novel by John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas contributes to the debate by portraying a fictional
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MILK IS A BIOPIC OF THE MAN WHO MOBILIZED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT The election of Harvey Milk as San Francisco Supervisor in 1977 was of the first openly gay American politician of stature. The film Milk begins with a montage of documentaries about police hostility to gays, including the famous Stonewall Riots of 1969.
CHANGELING EXPOSES HOW “FACTS” CAN BE FIT TO A POLICY TO SUIT A SECRET AGENDA During the Prohibition era the police were asked to enforce laws while lawbreakers made millions. Although The Untouchables (1987) focuses on heroic efforts of the federal government against Chicago mobsters, less attention was directed at corrupt police departments that wiped
BATTLE IN SEATTLE PROVIDESAN INSIDE LOOK AT A PEACEFUL PROTEST & BLOODTHIRSTY POLICE The opening session of the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle on November 29, 1999, was canceled because peaceful demonstrators blocked all the intersections leading to the meeting. The quasi-docudrama, written and directed by Stuart Townsend, carefully recounts the events of that