Half the eligible voters in the United States do not vote. Swing Vote tries to explain why by focusing on Bud Johnson (played by Kevin Costner), whose lone vote is supposed to decide the outcome of a presidential election. The improbable premise is that his precocious, idealist school-age daughter Molly (played by Madeline Carroll) secretly cast a […]

Uncivil Liberties, directed and written by Tom Mercer, is an independent film with very limited release thus. The movie seeks to establish the premise that the Patriot Act of 2001 has resulted both in totalitarian surveillance and guerrilla resistance. Cynthia Porter (played by Penny Perkins) receives the most attention as the developer of an electronic

After a payoff to an American border agent, a truckload of illegals enter New York, including Pedro (played by Jorge Adrián Espindola) and Juan (played by Armando Hernandez), who are attractive seventeen-year-olds. During the trip, Pedro falls asleep, Juan steals his knapsack, and in Brooklyn assumes his identity as the long-lost son of Diego (played

Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington, directed by Jonathan Neil Schneider, focuses on the role of money in American politics. In the style of a documentarian who injects himself into the role of a reporter seeking answers, he interviews past and present members of Congress as well as lobbyists on and off K Street in Washington.

Henry Moores (played by Linus Roache) runs a tea plantation in rural, upcountry Kerala. When the film begins, he is about to sign a loan for the funds to build a road so that he can make millions by supplying the fragile crops of cardamom and other spices to the world market. To obtain the

The film B.OH.I.CA., directed by D.J. Paul, may be viewed as a low budget version of the theme in Platoon (1987) articulated to the experience of a unit of reservists in Afghanistan (though actual filming is at Agua Dulce, not far from Palmdale, CA). The title is the acronym for Bend Over, Here It Comes Again. (In other

BODY OF LIES IS DEAD ON ARRIVAL The point of Body of Lies, directed by Ridley Scott and based on a novel by David Ignatius, is that the CIA is ineffective in the Middle East primarily because of distrust. One source of distrust is between those in the field, personified by Roger Ferris (played by

WAR DANCE IS A DRAMATIC DOCUMENTARY SET IN UGANDA Currently, the Lord’s Resistance Army of Northern Uganda commands such strength that government forces follow a containment policy, although a map would have been a very helpful feature. One of the protected areas is the War Zone Displacement Camp for thousands of members of the Acholi

FROZEN RIVER DEPICTS ILLEGAL ALIENS ENTERING FROM CANADA VIA MOHAWK COUNTRY The independent film Frozen River, directed by Courtney Hunt, is a well-edited drama that moves quickly from one situation to another with profound implications regarding how illegals enter the United States. The principal focus is on Ray Eddy (played by Melissa Leo), mother of

TRAITOR PRESENTS A SUSPENSEFUL COUNTERTERRORISM SCENARIO The first part of Traitor, directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, sets up the premise that Samir Horn (played by Don Cheadle) is a Muslim terrorist who was born in Sudan, watched his father killed by a car bomb when he was young, became a naturalized American citizen, and as an