Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
LBJ DEPICTS A CRUDE IF HUMBLE PRAGMATIST Directed by crass Bronx-born Rob Reiner, who exhibits considerable braggadocio on television, with personable Texas-born Woody Harrelson starring in the title role, the biopic LBJ portrays the latter as a clever, coarse-speaking politician who rose from a member of Congress elected in the 1936 landslide for Franklin Delano Roosevelt to became […]
THE DIVINE ORDER REVEALS HOW SWISS TREATED WOMEN BEFORE THEY COULD VOTE Although not intended as a companion of The Breadwinner, the film The Divine Order provides a comparison between how women are badly treated by the Taliban today and Switzerland before 1971. Once again, a distorted interpretation of religion is the basis for mistreatment. The Divine Order is situated in
TRAFFICKED DEPICTS ACTUAL CONDITIONS OF SEX SLAVES Among many films on human trafficking, the scariest by far is Trafficked, directed by Will Wallace. The film, which only claims to be inspired by true events, is based on the book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddharth Kara. The focus is on three young girls—Amba (played by
MARSHALL IS THE MOST ELOQUENT FILM OF THE YEAR From beginning to end, the dialog of Marshall is a filmviewer’s dream—a plot that might seem ordinary becomes poetry of the likes of Langston Hughes (briefly played by Jussie Smollett), a classmate of Thurgood Marshall. The protagonist is a young attorney named Thurgood Marshall (played by Chadwick Boseman), who narrates that
A KING WINS THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES Sporting events provide an arena for political conflict. Take the year 1973, for example, when male chauvinism was in full display in tennis. After President Richard Nixon telephones Billy Jean King (played by Emma Stone) to congratulate her for winning the Grand Slam of Tennis, she is offered
Battle of the Sexes Read More »
DETROIT REVEALS THE UNREPORTED RIOTERS—THE POLICE Fifteen major cities in the United States experienced riots during the “long hot summer” of 1967. In each case, the police provided the trigger, and the result was a national commission on the causes as well as numerous academic studies to explain who rioted and why. Detroit, directed by Kathryn Bigelow,
13 MINUTES SHOWS WHY HITLER COULD NOT FIND A CONSPIRACY Although the most famous plot to kill Hitler occurred in 1944, involving several military officials, less famous but celebrated in 13 Minutes was Johann Georg Elser (played by Christian Friedel). The film begins with the explosion of a bomb and Elser’s arrest on November 8, 1939. The bomb
ARMENIANS “EVACUATE” IN THE PROMISE The Armenian genocide has never been so vividly depicted as in The Promise, directed by Terry George, winner of a Political Film Society award for best film on human rights of 2004 for Hotel Rwanda. The film focuses on Mikael Boghosian (played by Oscar Isaac), son of a pharmacist in a small Armenian
THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE KEPT MORE THAN 4-LEGGED ANIMALS When the film begins, the Warsaw Zoo is reproduced as it was in early 1939 (though filming is in Prague), with Antonina Zabinski (played by Jessica Chastain) petting and showering love on many animals as she begins the morning and continues throughout the day and night. The zoo’s
The Zookeeper’s Wife Read More »
BRIMSTONE DEPICTS GOLDMINERS ALL FIRED UP Although the film was made in Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Spain, the only clues to where the plot is centered suggest the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855, which brought some men hungry for more than gold—extreme debasement of women. Brimstone, directed by Martin Koolhaven, is a fictional biopic of Liz (played