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MEMBERS SELECT BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2004 Among the many films nominated for Political Film Society awards for 2004, the following were voted the best: Category                           Film Title                               Director DEMOCRACY                 Silver city                                 John Sayles EXPOSÉ                          Kinsey                                      Bill Condon HUMAN RIGHTS         Hotel Rwanda                       Terry George PEACE                           Tae Guk Gi *                        […]

FINAL BALLOTING CONTINUES FOR BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2004 Members of the Political Film Society are now voting for the best political films of 2004. Ballots, which appear on the website and in Political Film Review #219, are due by February 28 and can be snailmailed, emailed to the above address, or through the website.

FINAL BALLOTING FOR BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2004 Many films were pre-nominated for Political Film Society awards for 2004. Since Political Film Society rules require the number of nominated films to be reduced to no more than five in each category, members voted in January to narrow the choices. Accordingly, the final ballot appears below:

THE WOODSMAN SUGGESTS WHY EX-CONS ARE DOOMED TO RETURN TO PRISON When a prisoner is paroled after a twelve-year sentence for child molesting, how can he return to a normal life? That is the question asked in The Woodsman, directed by Nicole Kassell, based on the play by Steven Fechter. Walter (played by Kevin Bacon),

NOMINATIONS CLOSE FOR BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2004 December 31 was the last day to nominate films for Political Film Society awards for 2004. Political Film Society rules require the number of nominated films to be reduced to five in each category. Accordingly, there is a ballot below for two of the four categories for

THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON FINALLY CONFERS WARHOLIAN FAME ON SAMUEL BICKE What kind of person would formulate an intention to assassinate a president of the United States? The Assassination of Richard Nixon, directed by Niels Mueller, attempts to answer that question by reconstructing the personality of someone whose life ended on February 22, 1974,

The Sea Inside (Mar Adentro), directed by Alejandro Amenábar, is a plea for the right of a person to end one’s own life, with a subtext about the hypocrisy of Catholicism’s opposition to suicide yet support for the death penalty. The Spanish film, which also could be translated “Adrift,” is based on the true story

CONSEQUENCES OF WORLD INACTION EXPOSED IN HOTEL RWANDA In 1994, Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of 1,200 persons in his role as manager of Sabena Airline’s four-star Hotel Milles Collines in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George, tells that story. As the movie explains through the dialog of various actors,

A VERY LONG WAR INTERRUPTS A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançialles), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is based on the 1994 novel by Sébastien Japrisot. The movie begins on January 6, 1917, when five French soldiers who have been condemned to death for apparent acts of self-mutilation are sent

MOOLAADÉ CUTS THROUGH THE TABOO OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION Moolaadé, directed by Ousmane Sembène, is a truly remarkable film from Sénégal that focuses on the injustice of female genital circumcision (FGC). When the film begins, the annual FGC ritual is underway in a remote Burkina Faso village that has a beautiful mosque and a sculpture of