Films that demonstrate how governments or quasigovernmental groups have violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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 […]
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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
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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
BITTER HARVEST FINDS 7-10 MILLION DEAD The film Bitter Harvest provides an historical account of the Ukraine from 1917 to 1933. Known as the “breadbasket of Europe,” the Ukraine in January 1917 was a part of the Russian Kingdom. By October, Lenin had taken over Russia and soon began to integrate the Ukraine into a new economic order
IN DUBIOUS BATTLE BRINGS BACK STEINBECK John Steinbeck wrote many novels to expose the plight of workers in the United States. Now Director James Franco has provided a version of Steinbeck’s 1936 novel, never before on the screen, and he plays the role of Mac, an agitator who goes to the Bolton Orchard in California to
BOTSWANA STRUGGLES FOR INDEPENDENCE IN A UNITED KINGDOM Prince Seretse Khama (played by David Oyelowo), the heir to the kingdom of Bechuanaland, was only 4 years old when his father dies, so his uncle Charles (Arnold Oseng) not only serves as Regent but also rears him until he goes away to London for school, eventually enrolling
55 STEPS FEATURE THE ASCENT OF THE RIGHTS OF MENTAL PATIENTSPatients are now accustomed to signing their name multiple times before their blood is drawn or other medical procedures are undertaken. But up to 1985, mental patients were deemed incompetent, so decisions were made for them without consultation, as the opening scene vividly demonstrates. Diagnosed with