Films that demonstrate the folly of political violence as a means for resolving conflict and/or show the superiority of nonviolent political conflict resolution.
GOLDA TRIES TO REDEEM THE REPUTATION OF GOLDA MEIR Israel’s prime minister Golda Meir, sometimes known as the “Iron Lady,” has been blamed for unnecessary deaths in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, but when her conduct before, during, and after the war are examined in Golda, filmviewers may make a very different assessment. Directed […]
AURORA’S SUNRISE Graphically Explains the Armenian Genocide A biopic about Arshaluys Mardiganian, Aurora’s Sunrise is also a biopic and mini-critique of the previously forgotten film Auction of Souls (1919). The latter film is a story (though she was renamed Aurora to sell to an American audience), of a 14-year-old who is evicted from her home
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT PROVIDES A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE The 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front, has now been made a third time. The actual German title is Im Westen Nichts Neues, translated as “In the West Nothing New.” An anti-war
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DONBASS SHOWS LIFE IN EASTERN UKRAINE BEFORE 2022 Before the Russian offensive against Ukraine in 2022, a chuck of Eastern Ukraine had been seized by Russians in 2014 and governed as “New Russia.” Donbass, directed by Sergey Loznitsa, provides slices of life in that region in about 2015. Each of thirteen scenes is self-contained but
MARGRETE: QUEEN OF THE NORTH CELEBRATES HOW PEACE IS MADE Directed by Charlotte Sieling, Margrete: Queen of the North is a biopic of the one who brought peace to Scandinavia in the fifteenth century. As queen of Denmark, she married the king of Norway, but became regent of both countries when both kings died. She
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HIVE DEPICTS HOW WIVES OF MIAS CAN BEST SURVIVE Directed by Blerta Bashollim, Hive reminds filmviewers that during 1999 Serbian forces slaughtered about 100 Albanian residents of the town of Krusha in Kosovo. Their remains are a mystery, especially to wives who were therefore impoverished. Two decades have passed, and the women stand in front
GIFT OF FIRE REVEALS THE KYOTO PROJECT The recent film Adventures of a Mathematician provides a window into the life of one researcher on the Manhattan Project, which sought to develop an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany. He was obviously unaware that Japan was trying to do the same. Gift of Fire, directed by Hiroshi
THE COURIER IS NOT JUST ANOTHER SPY MOVIE Directed by Dominic Cooke, The Courier is the story of how the gravity of the Russian threat came to the attention of President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missiles Crisis of 1962. The basic facts are quite simple: In 1960, the Kremlin discovers that Major Pyotr
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 IS HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED On August 26, 1968, the Democratic Party was scheduled to begin its national convention at the Chicago Hilton and was expected to nominate as their presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey, who was expected to continue American involvement in Vietnam. Protesters from several different groups called
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A HIDDEN LIFE SHOWS THE EFFECTS OF NAZI CONTROL OF AUSTRIA The Austrian Alps are a cinematic paradise where farmers work hard but happily. The Anschluss changed the situation, as depicted in A Hidden Life, directed by Terrence Malick. At the center is Franz Jägerstätter (played by August Diehl) and his family in St. Radegund.