Films that demonstrate the folly of political violence as a means for resolving conflict and/or show the superiority of nonviolent political conflict resolution.
DIPLOMACY IS ABOUT THE ART THAT SAVED ART The order had been given by Hitler—destroy Paris. As allied forces approached in mid-1944, ailing General Dietrich von Choltitz (played by Niels Arestrup) was transferred to be the city’s occupying general who would carry out the order; disobeying the order would mean that his own children would be […]
GIOVANNI’S ISLAND PROVES THAT A FABLE CAN SERVE TO SUSTAIN HOPE An animated Japanese film, the historical setting of Giovanni’s Island (Jobanni no shima) is another occupation—Russia’s seizure of Shikotan, a Japanese northern island—which took place after the surrender on August 15, 1945, is announced by the emperor. Kanta and Junpei are been named respectively
THE RAILWAY MAN IS A BIOPIC OF SOMEONE WHO DERAILS HIMSELF With talk of “war crimes” from Rachel Maddow in anticipation of publication of the report on “enhanced interrogations,” there is talk that the phony torture scene in Zero Dark Thirty (2012) will be cut. But there will be no such call in The Railway
BIOPIC CESAR CHAVEZ TRIUMPHS THROUGH NONVIOLENCE When Cesar Chavez (played by Michael Peña) was 11, he was an exploited grape picker in Delano, California, but he left for Los Angeles to learn about community organizing. When he returned, he had a vision of how to liberate farm workers, as portrayed in Cesar Chavez, directed by
Zaytoun revolves around the fate of someone captured in the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The period portrayed, much earlier than Out in the Dark, is a decade after the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when Israel expelled so many Palestinians from the West Bank that the Palestine Liberation Organization reestablished a headquarters
WAR OF THE BUTTONS DENUDES THE FRIVOLITY OF VIOLENCE The aphorism “Boys will be boys” is used to justify misconduct, often when a leader imposes groupthink, goading his peers to misbehave. War of the Buttons (La guerre des boutons), directed by Yann Samuell, plays out that theme in wartime Vichy (1944), though the film is
War of the Buttons Read More »
CRIMES AGAINST THE LAKOTA HAUNT WEST OF THUNDER When the film begins, credits inform filmviewers of the Wounded Knee massacre and the forcible resettlement of the Lakotas to Pine Ridge Reservation in 1890. It is 1899, and Simon Seed (played by Dan Davies) appears in the town just outside the reservation. As the film progresses,
As director and writer, Angelina Jolie presents the Bosnia War as a variation on the Romeo & Juliet story. Her In the Land of Blood and Honey focuses on bloodthirsty Serbs, who are determined to eradicate the Bosniacs (Muslim Bosnians) by killing as many men as possible and siring as many mixed-ethnic children by raping
In the Land of Blood and Honey Read More »
KINYARWANDA IMPRESSIONISTICALLY RECREATES THE RWANDA GENOCIDE AND AFTERMATH Impressionistic painters place dots on a canvas, allowing viewers to organize what they see into a coherent picture. Although perhaps not deliberately, that is what Kinyarwanda does in trying to depict the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Scenes are organized with subtitles, flashbacks, flashforwards, and other scenes during
THE LADY DEPICTS FAMILY LIFE AMID the POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI Fortuitously timed for release while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Myanmar (Burma), The Lady is a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi (played by Michelle Yeow) from her return to Rangoon in 1988 to be alongside her dying, hospitalized