POLLS REMAIN OPEN FOR POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY AWARDS FOR 2006
Select the best from the categoryEXPOSÉ, fact-based films that raise political consciousness:
| FILM TITLE | YES | NO | UNDECIDED | CONTENT (see full review on website) |
| Cautiva | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Adoptions of children of Argentine “disappeared” |
| Fast Food Nation | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | How illegal aliens work at a slaughterhouse |
| Kekexili | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Chinese volunteer to stop antelope poachers |
| The Queen | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Tony Blair saves the monarchy re Lady Di |
| The Road to Guantánamo | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | How innocent men end up as American prisoners |
| Sophie Scholl | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Germans reveal Hitler’s lies in 1943 |
Vote for the top film that raises consciousness of the need for improvements inHUMAN RIGHTS:
| FILM TITLE | YES | NO | UNDECIDED | CONTENT (see full review on website) |
| Babel | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Mistreatment of “illegal aliens” |
| Blood Diamond | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Rebels chop off hands to enforce slavery |
| Cautiva | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Court restoration of a child to rightful family |
| The Last King of Scotland | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Idi Amin’s barbaric rule |
| Sophie Scholl | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Denial of a free press & a show trial |
Vote for the top film that raises consciousness of the need for greater DEMOCRACY:
| FILM TITLE | YES | NO | UNDECIDED | CONTENT (see full review on website) |
| Cautiva | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Children awarded to families of coup leaders |
| The Listening | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Unchecked NSA surveillance = tyranny |
| Man of the Year | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Voting machines can produce phony results |
| The Queen | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Public demands Queen Elizabeth to honor Lady Di |
| Sophie Scholl | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | College students subvert Nazi Germany |
Vote for the top film that promotes nonviolence and peace:
| FILM TITLE | YES | NO | UNDECIDED | CONTENT (see full review on website) |
| End of the Spear | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Senselessness & guilt over killing strangers |
| Joyeux Noël | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | The 1914 Christmas truce in World War I |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | ( ) | ( ) | ( ) | Focuses on the futility of suicidal war |
BLACK FRIDAY RECOUNTS THE EVENTS OF INDIA’S WORST TERRORISM
Beginning and ending with a quote from Gandhi that the world will become blind following the “eye for an eye” maxim, Black Friday focuses on the terrorist bombing of landmark buildings in Bombay on March 12, 1993, in which some 300 died and about 2,000 were injured. Proceeding as a docudrama, the explosions on that date were in retaliation for communal violence in Bombay against Muslims during December 1992 and January 1993 that killed approximately 1,500 persons. Featured are some of the 129 plotters, who were financed by sources in Dubai and trained in the mountains of Pakistan, and the Indian police that have convicted 100 Indian Muslims. Outrage over the anti-Muslim violence, which Indian police did almost nothing to stop, fueled a desire of those who lost their businesses and jobs in the violence to retaliate so that Hindi nationalist extremists would henceforward think twice before goading Hindus into more communal violence. Careful police work by Inspector Rakesh Maria (played by Kay Kay Menon) of the Indian government receives praise during the film. The chief villain, Tiger Memon (played by Pavan Malhotra), appears much less on camera. In one important dialog, the police inspector eloquently condemns using religion to support violence, both Hindi and Muslim. At the same time, the authorities use torture to extract confessions without the slightest sign of squeamishness. Based on the 2002 book by S. Hussain Zaidi and directed by Anurag Kashyap, the Political Film Society has nominated Black Friday as best film exposé of 2007 and best film raising consciousness of the need to resolve conflicts peacefully. MH