This documentary is all over the place.
It is in part a history of modern Afghanistan and also a film about independent journalists – some of whom were killed – trying to report on the situation on the ground.
Afghanistan is called “The Graveyard of Empires” for good reason: Every …
The conflict between Russia and the territory of Chechnya is the backdrop for this film.
In it two Russian soldiers are taken away to a Chechen village after their group is ambushed. The reason they are captured is so that a villager can use them as a trade for …
There have been many movies made about Margaret Thatcher in recent years. Now that she has passed, here is a review of three of them.
We start with “The Iron Lady” (2011), which stars Meryl Streep. Streep does a fantastic job of playing the former prime minister of the U.K. …
What could be worse than living in a North Korean labor camp? Apparently, not much.
This documentary centers mainly on Shin Dong-Huyk, an inmate who escaped Camp 14 and who now lives in South Korea.
The tale he tells is horrific: beatings, torture, hard labor and near starvation are all …
Now that one of Latin America’s most controversial figures has died, it is interesting to look back at his actions, actions that will reverberate in the western hemisphere for some time to come.
This is a short piece (about 52 minutes) that is clearly a love letter from the maker, Cinema …
“The mountain that eats men.”
That is what Cerro Rico (“rich mountain”) is called.
The mountain in Potosi, Bolivia has yielded a tremendous amount of silver since the Spanish empire began mining it hundreds of years ago.
This documentary follows the daily life of 14 year-old Basilio Vargas, who works long shifts in …
Since Rafael Correa was elected president of Ecuador in 2006, the country has become a study in new socialism.
It is new because it combines the social aspect of socialism while also relying on market forces.
Ecuador, like many developing countries, has suffered from the ill effects of “dependencia,” a system that …
This film is riveting.
It is a fictional look at the hunt for and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden, the man who is believed to have masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Jessica Chastain rightfully won the best actress in a drama at the Golden Globes. …
It’s the economy, stupid.
That mantra from Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential race pretty much sums up the core issue when it comes to immigration from Mexico to the United States.
Many Mexicans abandon the countryside in their native country to seek a better life in the United States. The main reason: they …
While the subject matter is fascinating, this film falls short in at least a couple of ways.
First, the music doesn’t seem to sync up with the action, being loud and dramatic during quiet scenes and being almost silent during the high drama that takes place.
It also presupposes that the viewer …
Could Nazi Germany happen again? Could an autocracy take hold in a democratic country?
These are the questions posed by a teacher in modern Germany, a teacher who is forced to teach about autocracy to high school students for one week. When he asks those questions, many of his students say they believe …
This film is not only powerful but also excellent in every way.
It centers on a Muslim woman, Ajla, and a Serb soldier, Danijel, during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s.
Ethnic tensions, long suppressed by Tito, come to a head as Yugoslavia disintegrates.
The brutal ethnic cleansing of Muslims by Serbs …
Who won the war in Nicaragua?
Apparently, no one.
Pictures from a Revolution examines photographer Susan Meiselas’s journey to find the people she photographed in Nicaragua during the 1970s and 1980s.
She uses the photos to reach out to people, many of whom are blunt about their shattered hopes. Both supporters of the …
This documentary is excellent.
It documents the after effects of war on three young women who were abducted as children and forced to serve in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
That rebel Ugandan force, led by Joseph Kony, is notorious for kidnapping and forcing those captured to fight. For more than 20 years his …
Four Americans traveled to 14 countries to find out what ordinary people think of the United States.
The responses were predictable: most professed admiration for Americans but vehemently disliked the United States government.
There were few surprises in this documentary, which was filmed in “pre-Obama” time.
The more touching scenes involve an Afghan woman …
