Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
PURSUIT OF FREEDOM DEMONSTRATES REFUGEE ANGST Based on a true story, Pursuit of Freedom begins in 2007, when life of a Ukrainian family near the Russian border is depicted as precarious (though most filming is in a town in Texas). Razmig (Mike Markoff), the father, is trying to support his wife, three children, and a […]
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DONBASS SHOWS LIFE IN EASTERN UKRAINE BEFORE 2022 Before the Russian offensive against Ukraine in 2022, a chuck of Eastern Ukraine had been seized by Russians in 2014 and governed as “New Russia.” Donbass, directed by Sergey Loznitsa, provides slices of life in that region in about 2015. Each of thirteen scenes is self-contained but
LINGUI, THE SACRED BOND SHOWS THE NEED TO RETAIN ROE V WADE As certain members of the Supreme Court consider how to justify reversing Roe v Wade, a film from Chad makes the case for Roe v Wade. Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Lingui, the Sacred Bond focuses on Maria (played by Rihane Khalil Alio), a
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THE VIRTUES AND REPRESSION OF FALUN GONG ARE REVEALED IN UNSILENCED In the 1990s, an organization known as Falun Gong was introduced in China by Li Hongzhi. Unsilenced, a film based on true events in 1999, though with mostly fictional persons, exposes a period of Chinese history that few around the world fully understand due
FLEE TRACES THE PERILS OF REFUGEE SEEKERS What is it like to be a refugee seeking a new life, coping with the need for self-preservation while confronting horrors along with way? Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee is a docudrama of the actul life of a fictionalized Amin Nawabi (voiced by Daniel Karimyar at ages
HIVE DEPICTS HOW WIVES OF MIAS CAN BEST SURVIVE Directed by Blerta Bashollim, Hive reminds filmviewers that during 1999 Serbian forces slaughtered about 100 Albanian residents of the town of Krusha in Kosovo. Their remains are a mystery, especially to wives who were therefore impoverished. Two decades have passed, and the women stand in front
THE LAST FOREST PREDICTS AN END TO THE AMAZON FOREST The point of The Last Forest (Ostatnia Puszcza) appears in titles at the end, which point out that gold prospecting and ore mining are driving the Indigenous population from ancestral lands in Brazil near the border with Venezuela. Although their land was protected by the
THE LAST DUEL IS A REMINDER OF THE MISOGYNY OF THE MIDDLE AGES Soon after the beginning of The Last Duel, directed by Ridley Scott, Jean de Carrouges (played by Matt Damon) has just achieved another victory at the Battle of Limoges (1370), where he saves the life of Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver). A
HELD FOR RANSOM IS LINKED TO GUANTÁNAMO As one grows up, a career is not always obvious. Daniel Rye (played by Esben Smed), growing up in a small town in Denmark, is unsure of himself but knows that he enjoys photography. One day he applies for a position as assistant to an established photographer, flies
WIFE OF A SPY EXPOSES A WAR CRIME In early 1940, importer/exporter Yusaku Fukuhara (played by Issey Takahashi) goes from Kobe to Manchuria with his nephew, Fumio Takeshita (Ryôta Bandô). Manchuria, then controlled by Japan, was a place where purchases could be made at lower prices than in rationed Japan—or so he