Films that demonstrate the folly of political violence as a means for resolving conflict and/or show the superiority of nonviolent political conflict resolution.
Before the Fall, directed by Dennis Gansel, is a German film entitled Napola, which translates “National Police Institutes of Learning,” with the subtitle Elite für den Führer. Titles at the end indicate that there were forty Napolas, where teenagers were trained to become SS officers. The movie focuses on the fate of Friedrich Weimer (played […]
IN MY COUNTRY DEPICTS APARTHEID OBSCENITIES BEFORE & AFTER MANDELA BECOMES PRESIDENT When an unjust regime falls, how can a new government provide justice? Whereas the French and Russian revolutions killed off the royal family, the film In My Country attempts to explain the South African approach–through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Directed by John
DOWNFALL EXPOSES THE LAST TEN DAYS OF HITLER’S SURREAL WORLD In Downfall (Der Untergang), director Oliver Hirschbiegel presents a vivid docudrama of the last ten days of the Third Reich, mostly inside Hitler’s Berlin bunker surrounded by the luminaries of the Nazi state. To achieve historical accuracy, the script relies on Joachim Fest’s Inside Hitler’s
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
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CARANDIRU EXPOSES A SENSELESS PRISON MASSACRE IN BRASIL On October 2, 1992, some 111 inmates of the House of Detention at Carandiru, São Paulo, were brutally gunned down by a riot squad called in to break up a fight between rival gangs. The film Carandiru, directed by Hector Babenco, recreates those events with voiceovers by
COLD MOUNTAIN SUBTLY EXPOSES THE INSANITY OF VIOLENCE At the center of Cold Mountain, directed by Anthony Minghella, is a love story that spans the years from 1861 to 1864, largely taking place in Cold Mountain, North Carolina, a community in the Appalachians (though none of the filming is actually in that state). The film
BEYOND BORDERS SHOWS THE UGLY SIDE OF REFUGEE RELIEF According to Sarah Jordan (played by Angelina Jolie) in Beyond Borders, there are some 50 million refugees in the world; the United Nations High Commission for Refugees handles half, and various nongovernmental organizations cope with what they can of the rest. Directed by Martin Campbell, the
INITIALLY BANNED IN INDIA, SANDSTORM REVEALS A FIGHT AGAINST ENTRENCHED CASTEISM & SEXISM Some years before the release of Sandstorm (Bawandar), Sanwari (played by Nandita Das) of the Untouchable caste works as an organizer for a feminist organization in India to make some extra money for her family. Shobha Devi (played by Deepti Naval) hired
COMIC BOOK ANALOGIES TEACH TOLERANCE IN X-2: X-MEN UNITED X2: X-Men United, directed by Bryan Singer, takes many of the famous comic book characters into the White House. One of the taglines is “First, they were fighting for acceptance. Now, they’re battling for survival.” A voiceover at the beginning reminds filmviewers that evolution has produced