ANOTHER HOLOCAUST HERO IN BAU: ARTIST AT WAR In 1943, Joseph Bau (played by Emile Hirsch), a cartoon artist, was living in Kraków, Poland, trapped in a ghetto, forging passport documents to free his colleagues and friends. Eventually, he and his family go to the Płaszów concentration camp under the command of Franz Gruen (Yan […]
Political Film Society #712 Read More »
HAMILTON PRAISES A “FOUNDING FATHER” A filmed presentation of the musical Hamilton in New York during 2020 is now available in cinemas across the United States, including a ten-minute intermission and preceded by several minutes of statements from members of the cast. As a biography of Alexander Hamilton, the musical story takes considerable “dramatic license,”
DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT SYMPATHIZES WITH COLONIAL SETTLERS In 1980 the voters of Rhodesia vote for independence, soon becoming Zimbabwe. The film Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight features a British family that has been occupying a farm in the African land, with African servants, but property that has to be
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CIVIL WAR IS MIXED UP Despite a lot of publicity for the film Civil War, the efforts of an Englishman to direct a film about a civil war in the United States is a spectacle but politically amounts to a flop. Despite the director’s denials, the film’s president is a substitute for Donald Trump, as
SWEETWATER REMINDS FILMVIEWERS OF THE EARLY DAYS OF CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS In 1990, a man by the name of Nathaniel Clifton (played at age 78 by Everett Osborne) is driving a Chicago taxi. After his rider asks to increase the volume of an ongoing basketball game, a discussion begins, and the driver reveals that he
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SWEETWATER REMINDS FILMVIEWERS OF THE EARLY DAYS OF CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS In 1990, a man by the name of Nathaniel Clifton (played at age 78 by Everett Osborne) is driving a Chicago taxi. After his rider asks to increase the volume of an ongoing basketball game, a discussion begins, and the driver reveals that he
BEST FILMS FOR 2023 There were thirteen nominated films in 2023. Political Film Society rules, based as they are on the Academy Award rules, require a maximum of five films in each category. To narrow the lists, members are entitled to vote for up to five films in each of two categories, with a deadline
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In 1823, slavery still existed in Africa. Europeans were recruiting from the Oyo Empire, which in turn was trying to conquer the Dahomey Kingdom using firearms traded for slaves. The focus in the film is on the Agojie warriors, an army of female soldiers that consistently prevail in combat but oppose slavery despite Dahomey’s participation
PURSUIT OF FREEDOM DEMONSTRATES REFUGEE ANGST Based on a true story, Pursuit of Freedom begins in 2007, when life of a Ukrainian family near the Russian border is depicted as precarious (though most filming is in a town in Texas). Razmig (Mike Markoff), the father, is trying to support his wife, three children, and a
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NO NO GIRL DEALS WITH THE AFTERMATH OF JAPANESE INTERNMENT In 1942, some 120,000 million Japanese, whether born in Japan or the United States, were told to leave their homes for internment camps until the war with Japan ended. They abandoned jobs, homes, and the property inside homes. One such family lived in Tustin, Orange