OPERATION FINALE PUTS EICHMANN UNDER PRESSURE The film Operation Finale, directed by Chris Weitz, begins with titles indicating that 6 of the 10 million killed by Nazi Germany were Jews. Brief flashbacks to the Holocaust appear throughout the film. When the film begins, police in occupied Austria knock on the door of someone they believe is Adolf […]
THE BIOPICTHE CATCHER WAS A SPY IS FULL OF PUZZLES After graduating in philology from Princeton, learning at least a dozen languages, Morris “Moe” Berg (played by Paul Rudd) decides to make a career as a catcher for major league baseball. That is the first puzzle, since he has the intelligence to make a career in
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MARY SHELLEY FINDS WHY LOVE IS COMPLICATED Mary Shelley (played by Elle Fanning) wrote Frankenstein based on her experiences in the tiny free love community of Britain in the 1810s. She was the daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died a few days after Mary was born. Her father was the philosopher William Godwin (Stephen Dillane), who ran
BEIRUT EXPOSES NEGOTIATION PERFIDY In 1972, U.S. diplomat Mason Skiles (played Tom Hamm) hosts a lavish party at an estate overlooking Beirut (though filming is in Tangier, Morocco). Suddenly a CIA agent demands to collect his 13-year-old adopted son Karim (Yoau Saian Rosenberg) for questioning in regard to the role of his big brother, Abu Rajal
BYE BYE GERMANY EXPLAINS WHY 4,000 JEWISH REFUGEES STAYED IN GERMANY After World War II, some 7 million displaced persons were placed in 800 resettlement camps operated by the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. Due to bombing, dislocation, political chaos, and starvation, many had no home to return to. Within the American occupation zone, as featured
THE DEATH OF STALIN IS SERIOUS . . . BUT LAUGHABLE? Leave it to an Italian director, Armando Iannucci, to make fun of one of the landmark events of the twentieth century—the death of Josef Stalin (played by Adrian McLoughlin). Although The Death of Stalin subtitles all members of Stalin’s cabinet (Politburo) as they make their appearance, the
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THE DEATH OF STALIN IS SERIOUS . . . BUT LAUGHABLE? Leave it to an Italian director, Armando Iannucci, to make fun of one of the landmark events of the twentieth century—the death of Josef Stalin (played by Adrian McLoughlin). Although The Death of Stalin subtitles all members of Stalin’s cabinet (Politburo) as they make their appearance, the
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ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. IS ANOTHER NOIR FILM Holidays are the time for inspirational films with positive themes, but fictional Roman J. Israel, Esq. is not one of them. Directed by Dan Gilroy, the title role is for a humble African American lawyer (played by Denzel Washington). He prepares cases for an extremely prominent civil rights lawyer to
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SUBURBICON IS GEORGE CLOONEY’S NOIR FILM Depicting the era when Donald Trump believes that “America was great,” director George Clooney goes too far in demonstrating that the 1950s were a time of trouble in the suburbs. Although the first Levittown, which started sales in 1947, offered quickly built homes with modern conveniences and white picket fences
THE BREADWINNER EXPOSES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNDER THE TALIBAN The United States has been at war with the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2001. Some want American troops to pull out right away, leaving the country to its fate. The Breadwinner, directed by Nora Twomey, gives a picture of what that would mean for the Afghan people, particularly