“There are no old movies – just good movies you haven’t seen yet.” – Peter Bogdanovich
Themes that “restore the sense that life holds things worth reaching for, not the sense of having studied some aspect of a sewer there had been no reason to see.” – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, p. 719
Sheryl Sandburgh’s YouTube video “Screams Before Silence” stands as an irrefutable testament to those massacred on that day – October 7th 2023. SandburgLeanIn.org:
The Silent Scream, 1984; Jack Dabner director, narrated by Bernard Nathanson, a former abortion “provider” who had become an anti-abortion activist. Produced by Crusade for Life, Inc., the film depicts an on-going abortion via ultrasound. During the abortion, the fetus is shown making outcries of pain and discomfort. 28 minutes of baby murdering should be shown in every high school much like movies depicting fatal traffic accidents in the 70s (“Signal 30″ and “Death on the Highway”).
East Coast Sushi (2014) Netflix; An immigrant single mother disenfranchised by her regular life decides to take a chance at a Japanese restaurant and become a sushi chef to provide a better future for her son. Good family movie.
Monsoon Wedding 2001, directed by Mira Nair (India). Multiple significantly social subplots and how the culture affects their resolution.
The Good Earth, 1937. Academy awards for Best Actress and Best Cinematography. A historical fiction novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 that dramatizes family life in a 20th century Chines village named Anhwei. It is the first book in her House of Earth trilogy, continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). The plot focuses on Wang Lung and his family’s suffering as he works hard, endures famine and poverty, and eventually finds wealth (in a most precarious way thanks to his wife!). It explores traditional values and how the next generation does not always feel the same way as the generation that came before it.
The Yearling with Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman; 1946. The only surviving child of a poor family farming in Florida longs for companionship and finds it unexpectedly in the form of an orphaned fawn.
The Burial with Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones, 2023; True story of Willie E. Gary, an unconventional, black lawyer helping a white funeral home owner with financial troubles save his family business from a predatory corporate behemoth.
Powder with Sean Patrick Flanery, Jeff Goldblum and Mary Steenburgen; 1995. In my quest to read Adler’s Five-Foot Bookshelf
Something’s Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson
A Hero (Persian) 2021 Iranian-French drama about a man imprisoned for an unpaid debt. This movie is interesting to a Westerner for its’ portrayal of how Muslim culture reflects in their legal process. Story of a good man caught up in a difficult situation trying to do the right thing and just about everything he does goes wrong. Movies from the rest of the world continue to impress for their variety of issues, cultural dynamics and variety of plots – Hollywood (in general) is boring and unimaginative in comparison.
Fire, Earth, Water – The Elements Trilogy by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta. Each of the three deals with controversial social issues on the Indian subcontinent. The music is beautiful.
Primo: I’m breaking precedent recommending a TV program but this show deserves mention on this august site because it is a delightful exception to the normal garbage on streaming TV. This show portrays a strong, single, Hispanic woman who has taken care of her five brothers most of their lives and her teenage son.
I went through three successive shows and was thoroughly entertained in each one of them. The hilarious one-liners hit you like a belt-fed, 7.62 mini-gun on full auto. Kudos to the writers for making each character full with his own unique personality and each chock full of witticisms – clean humor! Every one! This show gave me the “Wow!” factor in its healthy, clean portrayal of a Latino family in Texas. It’s refreshingly different than previous Latino comedies. It’s uniqueness lies in its ingenious plot. Reality plus humor without morbid drama or social perversion!
I’ve recently watched a few comedians on streaming TV and found even the most popular not that funny. Satire is rarely funny to me – especially if it mocks old people, fat people, or anyone’s ideosyncracies. It’s really thinly disguised sarcasm. It’s more interesting to watch the audience’s psychological propensity to laugh because they’re part of a crowd and predisposed to laugh due to advertising.
Primo doesn’t depend on mass psychology or any of the other cheap tricks to make people laugh. Primo is actually funny because the writers captured the essence of each character and were able to articulate it with hilarious ingenuity. The actors were perfectly chosen for their parts and play them to the hilt of hilarity. Good, solid family entertainment.
Ta‘r: starring Cate Blanchett, 2022. I avoided watching this movie for quite a while because I had heard it contained a lesbian relationship. I thought “Hollywood keeps shoving alternate lifestyles down our throats.” I recently decided: 1. I had run out of the relatively few worthwhile streaming movies / TV series and the new seasons of those haven’t appeared yet; [Apparently HBO is cancelling those that are “so middle America.” Well, here’s a Bud Lite curse on you HBO] and 2. I absolutely love classical music and had a front row center seat to the Tucson Symphony for several successive years until their good conductor moved to Vienna.* I’m going to venture further into the more open-minded world and watch Tar. SO glad I did!
The title was enigmatic to me for so long. Until one night the epiphany occurred so clearly. It’s a double entendre: Tar – the black stuff applied to our streets (and sometimes mixed with feathers to be applied to well-deserving miscreants like politicians) is very sticky. Apparently so are the social dynamics within orchestras! Adding the accent to the mundane substance tar gave it the aura of exoticism required for a world famous maestro (a). How ingenious! I don’t know how many remember the scene in the Disney movie Uncle Remus in which Bre’r Rabbit punches the Tar baby. Lydia Ta’r was the tar baby of the orchestra.
I was stunned from several epiphanies I had while watching Ta’r. I was emotionally touched by the brief episodes of music the orchestra played. The first time the orchestra played was quite dramatic. I loved it! I blurted out “Wow!” to myself. In that initial powerful burst of symphonic sensation I realized how emotionally attached I was to classical music. I appreciated even deeper than before how dedicated and motivated -and, yes, in love, the performers are to it. And finally, how manifestly magic it is that the whole process from composers’ genius, to each musician becoming so proficient in transforming written notes into sound, and then coalescing into a literal concert of beauty. I always sit on the front row when attending the symphony because I want to be close to the performers. I like attaching personalities to the skills. I sit in wonder at the sounds they can make from their instruments and how the conductor makes it all blend in and emote so effectively.
Of all the decades I have loved classical music I have never been aware of the social dynamics occurring within the orchestra – and that’s the real story of the movie. The acting was so sublime particularly as the musicians expressed their opinions without dialogue when a decision by the conductor was so unpopular. The director deserves kudos just for those scenes alone but also for maintaining the class and dignity of the concert community. The only thing I can compare the emotional impact this movie had on me is the evening I bought a violin, tuned it and drew the bow across it for the first time. That sound! I was in love! I loved Tar just like that.
If anyone chooses to not watch Tar because of the conductor’s sexual preference they shouldn’t listen to Pavarotti or Domingo. That would be hypocritical. Tar is the female version of the male classical performers peccadillos – but so much better portrayed. And for the caveats of “nudity, sexual conduct, etc.” where? Ta’r was produced the same way good classical movies were done back in the day when sexuality was indicated by innuendo rather than by blatant in-your-face conduct. More Hollywood productions should follow suit.
“The meaning of music is how it makes you feel. Sometimes those feelings are so special and so deep they can’t even begin to be described in words. That’s where music is so marvelous. It expresses how we feel.” – Leonard Bernstein, Young People’s Concert, 18 January 1958.
* The last performance I attended at the Tucson Symphony I completed a questionnaire asking what “Rock” music I thought the TSO should play. I suggested Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues. They picked it! Tragically, I missed the performance.
14 Peaks True documentary of a Nepalese Sherpa who becomes not only one of the world-famous Ghurkas but is the first non-white to be selected into the British Army’s Special Boat Service (SBS). If that doesn’t convince you he is hard as woodpecker lips, he resolves to climb the world’s 14 highest mountains in seven months. The only other person to climb all 14 peaks was a German who took 16 years. If you love stories of human endeavor against seemingly insurmountable odds, this movie will have you glued to the screen.
Good Night Oppy:
- In a world of constant discord, a team of idealistic scientists attain the zenith of scientific endeavor – far exceeding even their own expectations. This documentary draws viewers’ panoply of pathos from empathetic joy, awe, tears of sadness, and reverence for their work.
- Other than seeing a newborn child take its first breath, there are so few really pure things occurring in Life these days that bring us unadulterated joy. This documentary is one of them. The comparison to childbirth is unavoidable and understandable as you witness the “birth” of Spirit and Opportunity.
- It is a story of how “average” Americans from small town USA can grow up to fulfill their most fantastic dreams.
- This documentary provides an explanation of why America is still the greatest nation in the world; why the United States leads the world in Nobel Prizes (400 to second place United Kingdom’s 137), and why the U.S. is the only country in the world to place a man on the moon and bring him safely back.
The Warning: Brooksley Born’s Battle with Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Larry Summers. A PBS Frontline documentary aired October 20, 2009; producer Michael Kirk unearths the hidden history of the nation’s worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. Details Born’s failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008. What the documentary doesn’t report is that two years after Congress’ Financial Crisis Inquiry, Congress deleted, repealed or overturned every law passed to deal with another financial collapse. So, remember Brooksley Born’s prophecy: “It’ll happen again and again – and become worse and worse – if we don’t do something now to prevent it.” [David Stockman says the same thing in his book The Great Deformation.] Nothing has been done. Just like the recommendations from the 9/11 Commission Report have been ignored or unfunded repeatedly. With the Obama-Biden Administration in control, the next financial collapse will be thermonuclear compared to 2008 – synergized by the next terrorist attack facilitated by the Obama-Biden open border policy. What more can they do to sabotage America?
The King’s Speech, 2010; True story of England’s Prince Albert ascending the throne as King George VI with a speech impediment. Very poignant.
Seabiscuit – based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the U.S. during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit received seven nominations, including Best Picture.
The Hero starring Sam Elliott. What a treasure! If you like Sam Elliott (and who doesn’t?) – or even if you just like a good human interest story – this is a gem. I strongly suspect this is Sam Elliott’s autobiography. There is a stunning soliloquy orated by Elliott in the movie that is quite likely the best acting I have ever seen him do – and that’s saying a lot. I also admire the fact he and his wife have stayed married for so long – and wish them many more.
The Mountain Minor: This is a multiple, award-winning docu-drama about three generations of a fiddle playing, Kentucky farming, singing family. The best film of Americana. If you don’t like down home country singing, fiddle / banjo playing, foot stomping music don’t watch this. This movie reminded me (right down to the barefoot kids) of going to visit Great-Aunt Byna and Great- Uncle Bill on their farm up in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas in the late ’50s. I was a boy from Oklahoma then. I felt my roots there. I still do. Remembering life then, when we drank out of garden hoses or from the “crik”, hunting crawdads, bringing the cows back to the barn for milking, bathing at the well pump, shucking corn and peas, hand cranking home-made ice cream, sleeping in a feather bed with the hound dog and the window open, hearing the rooster crow, the chickens clucking, riding horses bareback with dirty bare feet around the pasture, stepping into warm cow paddies, dirt clod battles with the boy cousins, collecting eggs, getting “accidently” locked in the outhouse by the girl cousins, walking down a dirt road to the ho-down and dancing to the fiddle and banjo. The mountain air was clean, the valley was green. There were 153 million fewer people living in America then. It was before the Interstate highways crossed the nation and traveling folks would picnic alongside the two-lane state highways in the shade of huge, paper- shell pecan trees. Kids could gather up the fallen pecans and crack two nuts together in one hand (well, the boys could) and eat the pecans right there. Listening to Hank Williams on the car AM radio. It was back when Republicans and Democrats were Americans – and so was every American.
Fisherman’s Friends: British film. True story of ten, sea shanty-singing Cornish fishermen who resisted fame so their lifestyle wouldn’t be changed. Unique, light-hearted, poignant, hilarious, witty, and musically enchanting. If you liked Doc Martin, you’ll like this as well. The men are actually from the same place Doc Martin was filmed. Makes even a curmudgeon like me smile.
Cherkess: True story of The “Capulets and Montagues” in this plot are Circassians and Bedouina – both Muslims but different Muslims. The two are mandated by the Ottoman government to be neighbors when a group of Circassians emigrate from Istanbul to what is now Jordan in 1900 and have to share the only water source. This Islamic Romeo and Juliet story has a fantastic ending well worth watching in English subtitles.
The Lunch Box directed by Ritesh Batra: movies from India continue to impress and fascinate with their unusual yet enrapturing plots. See also: I Am Khan;
Machine Gun Preacher; True Story of Sam Childers a former Outlaw biker, goes to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war – and ends up building and running an orphanage. Great story. Great book. Great charity to support.
Wish Man. True Story. I bet you can’t guess who this movie ends up being about. What a great story.
The School of Life (French with English subtitles). The School of Life is a very heartwarming story of an orphan boy being loaned out to a maid working at a rich landowner’s mansion. The landowner has extensive land including an enchanting forest full of animals, gypsies and grandfatherly “poachers”. It is excellently filmed, touchingly written and humanly acted. I rate it up there at the top with Captain Abu Raed.
Escape from Firebase Kate True story of a Special Forces First Lieutenant’s first assignment that turned into a siege of an artillery fire base. This beats The Green Berets by miles.
Never Look Away (German w English subtitles). If you like art and music and how it existed under Stalin you will find this movie interesting. It’s quite a different plot. The music is haunting and literally compels you to continue watching.
Song of Names A Hungarian Jewish boy is left with a family in London by his father who returns to Hungary just prior to WW II. The boy is a violin prodigy. His disappearance just before his first world concert causes his adoptive brother to spend the next 35 years looking for him – to find out why. The title has an interesting origin and the violin music is sad but beautiful.
The Pieces You Lose (Canada) If you’ve ever been bullied and/or have a disability – or empathize with those who have/do, you will like this movie.
Words and Pictures with Clive Owen and Jacqueline Binoche (NetFlix). For someone who loves to read and write and loves art this is the best movie ever! I don’t care what Rotten Tomatoes says and it proves Roger Ebert has his head up his substantial butt – this was an outstanding movie. Makes you wish public education had this quality of teachers!
Lincoln: by Steven Spielberg. What a powerful movie. I was taught Abraham Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents as a boy in the 1950s. I’ve admired him as such all my life. But it wasn’t until watching this for the second time in the solitude of a darkened and empty home, retired from two careers of seemingly endless persecution for religious conviction and doing the right thing did I come to love the man – for his strength to stand alone against great odds and “do the right thing.” When he slams his hand on the table and simply but eloquently rebukes his recalcitrant cabinet members I KNEW Abraham Lincoln. I was him and he was me. That is why he is great in the eyes of his fellow man.
Sweet Bean, Netflix DVD, Japanese with English subtitles; I once asked a class of enlisted “military intelligence” (35F) students if they thought people in Africa or other Third World countries had the same basic needs and desires (Maslow’s Hierarchy) as we Americans do. Almost all of them said no. This deeply heartwarming movie proves them wrong (if it needed proof). I’m constantly amazed at how many good foreign films there are that are never seen by a myopic, ethnocentric American public. This is an award winner.
After the Storm, NefFlix DVD, Japanese with English subtitles; Another heartwarming story.
The Bookshop Based on the novel of the same name by Penelope Fitzgerald: “No one ever feels alone in a book shop.” Florence Green, a free spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop – the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of (appropriately) Hardborough, England. But this mini-social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies…. . I’ve often thought of opening a book store that would include (unlike our local public library) a collection of classical Western Civilization authors (the “five-foot book shelf”), conservative authors and elementary readers I read in school as a child that apparently are banned from public education (The “You Are There At: The Battle of the Alamo, The Battle of the Bulge, With Lewis & Clark, Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, etc.”) but I figured the same thing would happen to a bookstore like that as happened to the bookshop in the movie – or most would ignore it as most Americans don’t read non-fiction anymore.
Puzzle: A bored housewife dares to break out of her mundane existence and pursue her gift of solving puzzles. It helped me understand a woman’s view of domesticity.
Iconic Political Movies:
- Meet John Doe
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Wag the Dog
- Official Secrets
- Shock and Awe
- Without Malice
The Best of Enemies (NetFlix) True story of the rivalry between black activist Ann Atwater and Ku Klux Klan Leader C.P. Ellis. It was a box office failure. I almost didn’t watch it but I’m very glad I did. The fact that this can actually happen gives one hope for the future of America – if it happened more often and the race baiters weren’t so effective in manipulating the emotions of the masses and profiting so well from it.
Maiden (NetFlix) In 1989 Tracy Edwards led the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race, a grueling yachting competition that covers 33,000 miles and lasts nine months. “The ocean is always trying to kill you. It doesn’t take a break and it doesn’t take prisoners.” I LOVED this movie. One could liken it to the female version of First Man (ironically). If you cheer the underdog. If you want to see what pressure Christopher Columbus was probably under to prove the world was not flat watch this movie. I actually wept after their second leg of the voyage through the “Sea of Certain Death”-if you are at all competitive you might too- and it got even better after that! “The harder it became the more I wanted to win”.
Dark Horse (NetFlix) A true story of an economically-depressed English town whose citizens decided to break the “class” ceiling and form a horse racing syndicate.
The Eagle Hunters (NetFlix) True story of a young Mongolian girl who breaks the gender taboo of becoming an eagle hunter.
Framed: A Story of Art and Love (PBS) This is a good, wholesome family story especially if you like art (and music – The Red Violin). The water pipes in the National Gallery in London start leaking endangering the world’s largest collection of fine art. The senior curator decides to move it all to where they were safeguarded in WW II – a cave in the Welsh mountains above a quaint village. It’s a poignant and humorous movie well worth watching.
Capernaum. Beirut – A Lebanese drama about Zain El Haji, a 12- year old living in the slums of Beirut. Beirut- After running away from negligent and corrupting parents, committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail, a hardened, streetwise 12-year-old sues his parents in protest of the life they gave him. Capernaum is the name of the fishing village but also means “disorderly accumulation of objects”. Heartbreaking how this boy has to be a man so young. Told in flashback format he sues his parents for giving him birth in such a hopeless society. Every American should watch this and thank God they live in America. Pay attention to his environment as he deals with issues no one should have to endure at that – or any – age.
Captain Abu Raed (Netflix) Jordanian: Arabic with English subtitles. One of my top ten favorite movies – and high on that list. An airport janitor finds an airline captain’s hat in the trash and wears it home. This movie is just one of many examples why Americans should quit paying for commercials and garbage programming and watch foreign films.
The Promise (NetFlix) Turkish with English subtitles; The true story of the Turkish genocide of one and a half million Armenians
The Winslow Boy (NetFlix) black & white; This is an excellent movie based on an award winning play. A young boy is accused of cheating at a British military school and is expelled. It threatens to destroy his father’s career as he stands behind his son and sues the British Navy! I absolutely love this movie. The writing is so enjoyable – including the last lines between the barrister and the daughter! I laughed out loud!
The Glass Menagerie NefFlix; Based on a Tennessee Williams play. It is Kathrine Hepburn’s dramatic debut. Most young people avoid plays (and musicals). That’s an educational and cultural tragedy in itself. I hope they would make this an exception. This movie feels like the family version of The Miracle Worker with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. Hepburn’s role as the overbearing but loving matriarch is so well done it is almost unbearable to watch her for any length of time. You want to shout “Shut up! Bitch!” – but that is why she is such a great actress. The role of the other actors were just as excellently acted. It is such a poignant play it can make you weep -with joy and sorrow. Such a roller coaster of emotions drawn from the viewer by such good acting.
Come and See! NetFlix; (Russian with English subtitles) black & white; This movie portrays the very real atrocities committed by the Germans as they invaded Russia in WW II. It is seen through the eyes of an innocent Russian boy (about 8 or 9 years old). His acting is extraordinary as the horrors he witnesses changes him from an innocent, carefree child to a traumatized youth too old way before his time.
The Teacher (Czech) NetFlix; This movie is about how communism runs the education system in Czechoslavakia. If you want to know how it so closely resembles our American educational system read Standing Up to Goliath by Rebecca Fredericks.
Apocalypse Stalin American Heroes Channel
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (NetFlix) Russian with Engrish subtitles. I can’t watch this without crying – for several reasons. 1. It always touches me deeply when I see people risking their lives -and dying- fighting to be free. 2. It saddens me to see people who have actually lived under “Socialism” (Communism) sacrificing everything for a concept called freedom when Useful Idiots in America who have lived their whole lives enjoying those same freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States at no cost whatever to them – but at the highest cost by their ancestors -denigrate the document, the nation, the flag and those who died to secure those freedoms. I was young when the Hungarians revolted against Russian Communism in the ’50s. I lived through the Cuban missile crisis practicing taking shelter in case of nuclear attack. I witnessed the communist-backed insurrection of the ’60s “anti-Vietnam” radicals.
My solution to ANTIFA and everyone else supporting eradication of the electoral college, open borders, Clower-Piven, and Socialism in America? THEY are the ones who should be Post-Birth Aborted – and by the same methods as pre-birth abortions. Harvest their body parts!
Tharlo: (Netflix) Mongolian with Engrish subtitles. black and white. A simple but age-old story of love between a Mongolian shepherd and a city girl. The Mongolian version of Sampson and Delilah.
Shock and Awe (Netflix) This is a docudrama about Bush “The Yale Cheerleader’s” creating a false narrative linking the 9/11 terrorist attacks to Saddam Hussein to justify invading Iraq. Knight-Ridder news agency was the ONLY main stream media source to investigate this and try to get the word out. No one listened. Everything they reported (or tried to report) turned out to be true including predicting the subsequent post invasion civil war. It’s the height of hypocrisy for the the GOP and rabid conservatives to demand an investigation of Hillary Clinton for Benghazi (and a dozen other things) when Bush, Jr. and Dick Cheney lied about Iraq that killed thousands. Bush, Jr. should occupy a prison cell right next to Bill and Hillary.
Paradise Russian / German with English subtitles. A powerful story of the greatest kind of love overcoming the greatest horror in human history. I bet you can’t guess the ending! Well worth watching to the end.
The Fencer Russian with English subtitles. Ranks up there with Captain Abu Raed. True story of life in the midst of Stalin’s oppression. Should be watched by those who think Socialism is a great lifestyle. Watch the video commentaries at the end of the movie – very compelling.
The Insult (Lebanese) A minor incident between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee turns the country upside down
House of Sand Netflix. (Brazilian in Portuguese with English subtitles). Story of a mother and daughter who followed the husband to one of the most desolate areas on earth and were stranded there for decades after he died unexpectedly. Excellent acting in dual roles.
In Syria the Arabic version of The Diary of Anne Frank (if you know what that is). A Lebanese family’s isolation in their apartment during the Lebanese civil war.
“Wonder” with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. A beautiful, beautiful story. It should be shown in every school of America.
La Bella Vida (It’s a Beautiful Life) watch the Italian version with English subtitles.
The Stoning of Soraya M. True story portraying both the brutality and hypocrisy of Muslim men.
I’ll Be Seeing You this is a classic, black and white movie of the ’40s with a beautiful story and Ginger Rogers.
A Man Named Pearl true documentary of an uneducated South Carolina black man with a genius for topiary.
St. Patrick’s Battalion (Netflix) true story of Irish immigrants recruited fresh off the boat to fight in the war with Mexico – for 40 acres and a mule. The religious persecution of them as Catholics by Protestant NCOs and officers, their defection into Santa Anna’s army.
The Tall ‘T’ (Netflix) with Randolph Scott. Probably the most perfectly written and realistic Western movie.
Denial (Netflix) true story of 1990 British trial requiring historian Deborah Lipstadt to prove the Holocaust actually occurred
Ardor (Netflix) dramatization of actual land grabbing in Argentinean jungle.
“Northern Line Limit” documents the true story of a South Korean Patrol boat crew who was fired on by North Korea during the 2002 World Cup soccer games in Seoul.
“The Square” – Documents Egyptians demonstrating for democracy. One of the things most interesting was the alliance between Christians and (many) Muslims against the dictators …and the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Independence (aka The Orange Revolution)” Fascinating documentary on the Ukrainian people’s demand for democracy against a convicted felon president seeking to return Ukraine under Soviet control. I kept asking myself one question: What took them so long to threaten armed resistance? This is why America needed (and still needs) the 2nd Amendment!
“Inequality For All” narrated by Robert Reisch (Netflix). I started watching this with a significant amount of skepticism due to Reisch’s liberal democratic leanings, his pro-union stance, his Berkeley professorship, and as a Clinton Secretary of Labor. But he makes his point on income inequality in the United States. I finished watching this actually admiring the guy. Not only does he prove his premise statistically beyond a doubt (it jives with David Stockman’s – a Reagan budget officer- The Corruption of Capitalism) but his childhood and mine (thus the “crusader” complex) being bullied are similar. His end of semester speech to his class was inspiring. He cares about the middle class. I realized not all Democrats are radical, leftist liberals. They may be portrayed that way by Wall Street speculators who are cannibalizing the middle class and the politicians whose pockets they’ve lined with campaign funds, but they may actually be centrists – which should be the goal for all of us in a republic.
“Where Do We Go Now?” NetFlix
“Maiden Voyage” Netflix
“In the Name of My Daughter” NetFlix
“This Is What Winning Looks Like” (google Vice website). This was recommended to me by a Marine who has two tours in Afghanistan ……and is very close to my heart. He said “This documentary ‘nails’ it.” Last year I wrote a blog on this site titled: “Stop this PRETEND War Now!. This documentary of the “war” in Afghanistan should be seen by every American -especially those who have lost buddies, friends and loved ones. This documentary very clearly puts the lie to Bush and Obama’s “victory” and “finishing the mission”. I rage when I think my sons and those of thousands of other American parents are sent to such a FUCKED UP country to risk their lives and sometimes die. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: No muslim, no arab, no raghead is worth one drop of blood of one of our service members. ………heads of the State department, DHS, Justice Department and IRS? Hell yes!
“Obsessions” history of radical Islam. This was one of the first before the rest of America woke up to the threat. Don’t let the fact it’s produced by the Jewish Council dissuade you from watching it. It’s the truth.
The Third Jihad: “Osama“. (NOT about Osama bin Ladin). It is a movie about a 12 year old Afghan girl who poses as a boy in order to be able to attend school and gain an education. This should be watched by every American female – especially members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) who seem to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the incredibly barbaric treatment of Muslim women by Muslim men.
Timbuktu. Portrayal of how radical Islam takes over villages in north Africa.
Bliss. (Turkish) Life for an Islamic woman caught between archaic and misogynistic male muslim beliefs and modern Turkish society.
Enough! (Algerian) During the Algerian Civil War of the 1990s surgeon Amel journeys into the war-torn countryside to find her missing journalist husband who may have been kidnapped due to his controversial articles. Neighbor Khadidja, a former revolutionary fighter joins her. The two strong-willed women have to put aside their differences to survive.
Belgique Libre! (Belgian) True story of the WW I underground Belgian newspaper who, banned by the Germans, never missed publishing an issue…..at the cost of 22 editors being shot by the Germans. Great ending and a testament to the value of a truly free press.
’71 (Irish) British soldier who got lost in the wrong part of Dublin during “The Troubles.”
The Last Hangman. (British) True story of Britain’s last hangman. Morbidly fascinating. Something we should reinstitute in America.
Armadillo (Danish) Danish soldiers experience in Afghanistan.
Libertador (The Liberator) (Peru) Story of Simon Bolivar liberating South America from colonial Spanish rule.
For My Father (Israel) A Palestinian youth is strapped into an explosive vest and sent into Tel Aviv to be a martyr – but the fuse malfunctions and he reconsiders. Meets a beautiful girl while still strapped in awaiting for repairs. Interesting ending.
The Unknown Soldier: “What Did You Do During the War, Daddy?” (German) The truth about the average German soldier during WW II.
Mugabe and the White African: Have you ever watched a movie that made such an impression on you that you sit for twenty or thirty minutes thinking about it? This was the case as I finished watching the award-winning Netflix movie “Mugabe and the White African.” It takes “an unprecedented look inside the politically fractured African nation of Zimbabwe under dictator Robert Mugabe. This documentary follows Michael Campbell, one of the country’s few remaining white farmers, as he bravely battles to protect his land from government seizure.” I watched in astonishment as every word has also been spoken by an American citizen, Barack Obama, or Eric Holder. Simply substitute Obama for Mugabe, class warfare for land redistribution, middle class for farmers and this documentary shows what Obama, Eric Holder and the other Socialists in our government have in mind for America. Watch the movie (including the end notes) to see if justice prevails.
“Lawrence of Arabia” A classic portrayal of how one person can make a difference in war – or used to. That kind of initiative and leadership is punished today by the chain of command.
“The Battle of Algiers” -was made just a few years after the actual FLN insurgency occurred in Algeria. Black and white in French with Engrish subtitles but historically accurate.
“The Green Berets” I heard that John Wayne paid out of his own pocket to produce this movie since none of the communist bastard hollywood producers would back it in the ’60s (’70s?). John Wayne was a closet philanthropist who never turned down an opportunity to appear in fundraisers for a good cause. He may have been an actor but what he symbolized……they don’t make in America (much) anymore……my sons and their comrades excepted of course.
“Ghandi” A LOT of what Martin Luther King wrote and spoke of he borrowed from Ghandi. Ghandi was a true peaceful revolutionary. Ben Kingley’s acting was outstanding. But if you’re in the mood read MLK’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” and “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speeches. Pretty inspiring.
“The Hunt for Pablo” This is how we should kill all the MFing cartel leaders in the world.
A Guerrilla War Diary “The Motorcycle Diaries” (read the info on the back. There’s a recent version -maybe by the same title or by the title “Che'”. I don’t recommend reading (or funding) the more recent bullshit propaganda, bio on Che’ produced by a radical group as a fundraiser for Socialists and Anarchistic, anti-American scrotum maggots.)
“Day of the Falcon” Fiction: A movie about Arabs by Arabs. Good action and love story set in early 20th century Arabia as oil was discovered in their sacred land.
“9 Company” Fiction: Follows the recruitment, training and deployment of young, Russian men who are sent to Afghanistan. Any combat veteran of any country would identify with them.
“Father of a Soldier” (Djariskatsis Mama) 1965 NR 82 minutes Russian with Engrish subtitles. The ravages of war go under the microscope in this moving film, directed by Rezo Chkheidze and first released in the 1965, about Giorgi Makharashvili (Sergo Zaqariadze), a peasant who travels to see his injured son at a hospital. When he gets there, he discovers that his son, a soldier, has been treated and sent back to the front. Giorgi decides to follow him there and witnesses the battle against fascism.
Leviathon – Russian film depicting the corruption of the political system in the “NEW RUSSIA.
“The Ascent” (Voskhozhdeniye) 1977 NR 111 minutes. Acclaimed Soviet film director Larisa Shepitko offers the rigorous and surprisingly spiritual story of two Russian World War II partisans isolated from their comrades deep in the woods, trying desperately to avoid capture by Nazi forces. The tense drama also explores the landscape of the human soul and its capacity for loyalty and betrayal, themes masterfully culminated in the film’s final scenes. Boris Plotnikov and Vladimir Gostyukhin star.
“Doc Martin” TV Series. Hilarious and poignant.
“M.I. 5” BBC TV Series.
“Come and See!” A Russian movie reenacting actual Nazi atrocities during WW II. Outstanding acting by the child main character. Black and White. Russian with Engrish subtitles. *
**** “The Reader” 2008 R 125 minutes. In this haunting drama, middle-aged lawyer Michael Berg reflects on the brief but formative sexual relationship he had as a teen with an older woman in 1950s Germany — and his feelings years later upon learning she was on trial for Nazi war crimes. DESPITE THE (NON-EXPLICIT) SEXUAL REFERENCE, THIS MOVIE IS VERY POWERFUL AND VERY EMOTIONAL. It should have been advertised as a most dramatic situation of choosing between two rights.
“This Is England” 2006 NR 100 minutes. After his father is killed fighting in the Falklands War, a 12-year-old boy named Shaun falls in with a gang of young skinheads. Still angry and in pain, Shaun becomes susceptible to carrying out the group’s hateful agenda
“City of Life and Death” (Nanjing! Nanjing!) 2009 R 135 minutes. Director Chuan Lu pulls off a rare feat by providing a clear-eyed drama about an event in Chinese-Japanese history — the 1937 Rape of Nanking following that city’s capture by Japan — that still casts a shadow over relations between the countries. Shot in black and white, the film chronicles the six-week period through the eyes of multiple characters — including a Japanese soldier, a refugee camp supervisor, a resistance fighter and others.
“Back to 1942” This is a true reenactment of the population of Henan Province, China who became refugees at the invasion of the Japanese, ignored then rejected by the various levels of Chinese government resulting in over 3 million of them starving to death.
“Tae Guk Gi” Korean produced about two brothers who get caught up in the Korean War. The Koreans have “got it” when it comes to reproducing war scenes – to the level of Tom Hanks “Saving Private Ryan”.
“My Way” – Korean. If you don’t get tired of realistic war movies from the Korean perspective this is a good one. One poor Korean kid and a Japanes kid ,son of a military occupying Japanese officer, vie for track records pre-WWII. When war breaks out they both end up fighting in the Japanese then the German Army -ending at D-Day. *****
“Bella” 2006 PG-13 90 minutes. THE BEST FILM ABOUT THE SUBJECT I’VE SEEN. It’s a beautiful movie! Two lost souls — Nina (Tammy Blanchard), a pregnant, unmarried waitress, and Jose (Eduardo Verástegui), an introspective cook with a tragic past — find solace in each other as their lives become unpredictably linked throughout the course of one incredible day. First-time director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde also co-wrote the screenplay for this inspirational story about love, hope and forgiveness.
***** “The Color of Paradise” 2000 PG 90 minutes. Awash in the sights and sounds of an Iranian summer, this moving family drama stars Mohsen Ramezani as Mohammed, an 8-year-old blind boy whose poor widower father (Hossein Mahjoub) nearly abandons him at a school for blind children. Welcomed home by his grandmother and sisters, the bright boy is eager to immerse himself in the world of the seeing — but his father fears Mohammed may hinder his attempts to remarry into a prosperous family. ***
“Katyn” (Post Mortem: Opowiesc Katynska) 2007 NR 117 minutes. Polish director Andrzej Wajda helms this Oscar-nominated drama based on the 1940 massacre of some 20,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia at the hands of Soviet troops, along with the stories of the wives and children who survived them. How did they carry on in the face of such horror, especially when responsibility was publicly denied by the perpetrators? Joachim Paul Assböck, Andrzej Chyra and Stanislawa Celinska star.
***** “My Name is Khan(Khan)” 2010 PG-13 161 minutes. Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man with Asperger syndrome, lives happily with his wife, Mandira, in San Francisco until a tragedy drives her away after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now he’s on a quest to recapture the heart of the woman he loves. When the movie ended I so very much hoped it was based on a true story. It wasn’t.
***** “Idiocracy” (3001)2006 R 87 minutes. SOMETIMES TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION. Two average Americans — an Army private and a prostitute — are sent to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they’re the smartest people around. This is hard to watch because it is SO TRUE. Thank you progressives in the National Teacher’s Union and the NEU.
“Himalaya(Himalaya – L’enfance d’un Chef)” 1999 NR 109 minutes. As the denizens of a Tibetan village prepare for their arduous annual trek to exchange salt for grain, the community’s allegiances are split between the aging chieftain Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) and rebellious young Karma (Gurgon Kyap). Tinle tries to maintain his clout and preserve obedience to ancient customs when Karma challenges the old man’s power. Director Eric Valli’s mesmerizing tale received an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film
“Zero Dark Thirty” I was pleasantly surprised that this movie so accurately portrayed the struggles of a female CIA agent in getting her supervisory bureacrats off their asses to support her in tracking -and finding- Osama bin Laden. What was glossed over during the CIA’s presentation to the President’s “vetting team” was the efforts by Obama’s Chief of Staff Valerie Jarrett to put road blocks in the way of the CIA and Special Operations Command that delayed killing him for seven months. Just as well, it would have detracted from the female analyst and all those who participated efforts’. This movie depicted the real mission of intelligence: TARGETING and the synthesis required between intel and operations. I’ve been in rooms where commanders -like the CIA station chief- DEMANDED sufficient intel to produce targets on the ground for operators to take out. I’ve also been in a conference room of staff for 35F intel analysts in which two “educated” admin pukes had the balls to tell me “Targeting isn’t the end all to be all”! That summarizes why army M.I. is as defunct as the Department of Homeland Security.
Generation War I prefer to watch movies in their original languages with English subtitles. This is a true story of five German friends’ experiences during WW II. The battle scenes are well done. It’s an interesting weave of their differences experiences based on their attitudes at the beginning versus the end of the war – with more than a little irony.
