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THE WARRIOR QUEEN OF JHANSI IS ABOUT INDIA’S JOAN OF ARC The English East India Company (EEIC) began in 1600 to facilitate trade between the Indian subcontinent and Britain. But when the Mughal Empire (with a capital at Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal) fragmented from 1720, the company used the British army to […]

THE IRISHMAN TRIES TO EXPLAIN THE HOFFA MYSTERY AND MORE In 1975, Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters Union reportedly disappeared, leading to various conspiracy theories. The Irishman, directed by Martin Scorsese, provides one but spends more time as a biopic of his Teamsters successor, Frank Sheeran (played by Robert De Niro). Sheeran begins the film

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.

THE LAUNDROMAT EXPOSES CORRUPTION, DECEPTION, AND FRAUD With the writing skills of Jake Bernstein and Scott Z. Burns, director Steven Soderbergh decided to bring the Panama Papers to the screen in The Laundromat. Rather than a conventional story beginning with a problem, developing characters through various scenes, leading to a climax, the film illustrates various

OFFICIAL SECRETS CELEBRATES A BRITISH WHISTLEBLOWER Katherine Gun (played by Keira Knightley), employed at Government Communications Headquarters, watches Prime Minister Tony Blair make claims about Iraq on television in 2003 that have no factual basis. Blair is trying to build public support for the American push to go to war. The main claim is that

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

JIRGA RELITIGATES THE AFGHAN WAR Because the 9/11 attack was directed by Osama Bin Laden, whose Al Qaeda group was occupying a portion of Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress authorized regime change in Kabul and defeat of the ruling Taliban. But the UN Charter makes clear that any war conducted without Security Council authorization is a

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

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