Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
DARK WATERS REVEALS HOW 99% OF THE WORLD HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY POISONED When heat under Teflon breaks the surface while cooking, small particles of Teflon enter the gastrointestinal system as a poison, a fact brought to light in Dark Waters, directed by Todd Haynes. That fact, however, was well known to DuPont, which manufactured the […]
THE REPORT EXPOSES HOW WASHINGTON WORKS WHEN TRUTH IS DANGEROUS The 2009 book George W. Bush, War Criminal? Identifies 269 war crimes, but the one that attracted the most attention was torture. Senator Dianne Feinstein (played by Annette Bening) was eager to expose the practice, which yielded nothing of value according to the CIA. The
HARRIET IS A BIOPIC ABOUT AMERICA’S JOAN OF ARC The U.S. $20 bill will feature a picture of Harriet Tubman, the famous conductor of the Underground Railroad. The film Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, does a service by providing many previously unknown aspects of her life from age 27 until her death at age 91.
BRIAN BANKS EXPOSES DISCRIMINATION AND REDEMPTION At the age of 16, Brian Banks (played by Aldis Hodge) is a star football athlete at Long Beach Polytechnic High, looking forward to a scholarship from USC. On campus one day, he encounters a girlfriend, Kennisha Rice (Xosha Roquemore), and the two decide to do some smooching, so
AT WAR ENCAPSULATES HOW GLOBALIZATION DESERTS LOYAL WORKERS Directed by Stéphane Brizé as if a documentary, At War (En guerre) begins when workers at a Perrin Industries factory in southwest France are informed that the car part plant will soon close, and 1,100 employees will be terminated. They soon learn that the reason for the
A FILM TITLE I DO NOT CARE IF WE GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS BARBARIANS ? That’s right. There is a film with such a title. In 1941, the same words were spoken during a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the government of Romania. The words were used to galvanize support for a
I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians Read More »
SKIN REVEALS A DANGEROUS SUBCULTURE THAT IS GROWING Some White Supremacists are skinheads with tattoos all over their body, even their heads. Directed by Israeli-born Guy Nattiv, Skin seeks to explain why White Nationalism thrives, what government and civil society have been doing to cope with America’s top source of domestic terrorism, and why some
A BOY GENIUS FISHES FOR HIS LIFE IN CAPERNAUM About 12 years old, Zain (played by Zain Al Rafeea) is a Syrian refugee living in Beirut, Lebanon, along with his refugee family. At the beginning of Capernaum (Capharnaüm), he is in court suing his parents because they gave birth to him. His mother Souad (Kawsar
SAINT JUDY IS VERY DOWN TO EARTH Appropriately released on the beginning of Women’s History Month, Saint Judy (played by Michelle Monaghan) is a biopic of a Los Angeles attorney who went to court and opened the door for Muslim women to apply for asylum in the United States. The film begins as she leaves
THE INVISIBLES BRINGS HIDDEN BERLIN JEWS OUT OF THE SHADOWS Hitler rounded up most of the Jews in Germany for evacuation to death camps. From 1943, when the Nazis declared Berlin free of all Jews, about 7,000 remained in Berlin, hiding out as best they could, whereas only 1,700 survived by the end of the war. The