Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Read More »
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
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA EXPOSES THE RACISM OF THE “GREATEST GENERATION” Based on the novel by James McBride, Miracle at St. Anna will keep filmviewers in suspense to ascertain what exactly is the “miracle.” In 1983, when the film begins, Hector Negrón (played by Laz Alonso) is watching a World War II movie, The Longest
Miracle at St. Anna Read More »
WILEY COLLEGE DEBATES HARVARD IN THE GREAT DEBATERS In 1935, a debate team from Wiley College for the first time tangled with the top debate team in the United States, Harvard University. How could students from an obscure traditional Black college in Marshall, Texas, receive such an invitation? The Great Debaters, directed by Political Film
Political Film Review #298 Read More »
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR LINKS THE SOVIET DEFEAT TO 9/11 On April 6, 1980, Texas Congressman Charles Wilson (played by Tom Hanks), while nude in a Vegas hot tub and imbibing whiskey, watches a Dan Rather news story from Afghanistan in which an Afghan woman wonders why the Americans are not helping her people to defeat
Charlie Wilson’s War Read More »
HOLLY HOLDS UP IN TRAFFICKING For centuries, poor families have sold their children in certain parts of Asia to perform services for the rich. In recent years, an estimated million or so have been coerced, sold, or stolen into prostitution at young ages. One of the centers of child trafficking, Cambodia, is featured in Holly,