“Sure, ‘The Hurt Locker’ was a compelling profile of a horrible, though heroic, job — dismantling bombs. And more generally, fighting wars is a horrible, thankless occupation pushed on our young men and women. But anything deeper on war and peace, Hollywood fails to provide. Yes, the adrenaline rush and …
Fellow blogger Joel Davis tackles the question head on in his blog U.S. Role in the World: “For our focus on the U.S. role, I think the real question is, did the director intend to depict Americans? Having seen the film, I’d say the answer to that question is yes.”
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A U.S. Army sergeant is suing the makers of the Oscar-nominated film “The Hurt Locker.” He says he felt betrayed because they stole his story. Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver, 38, claims in court documents the film makers turned an account of his frightening duties defusing bombs in …
This movie is all about desperation.
It focuses on a family eking out an existence in post World War II Berlin.
The main character, Edmund, is 13 years old and does what he can to help the family get by.
It appears the film was shot entirely on location in rubble-strewn Berlin where …
The Three Gorges Dam, the largest public works project in human history, is located on China’s Yangtze River.
This enormous endeavor has displaced more than 1.3 million people, swallowed about 1,500 municipalities, and has created a reservoir more than 373 miles long.
The project is seen as an important future source of …
This film is intense.
It follows three members of the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad in Baghdad in 2004.
When Staff Sergeant William James (played by Jeremy Renner) takes over the unit, he freaks out his fellow squad members by having an apparent total disregard for safety and protocol.
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“Iranian filmmakers- despite heavy restrictions – have over the years provided an intriguing and provocative look at Iran’s dynamic social, religious, and political culture.”
That from fellow FPA blogger Sahar Zubairy who takes a look at two new films that define the new Iranian cinema.
“Kick in Iran” is a documentary about …
Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy.
It has the world’s highest HIV infection rate and its citizens have a life expectancy of 31 years.
King Mswati III, who was installed in 1986, appears to be out of touch with his people who live lives of devastating poverty.
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This …
The children depicted in this movie are remarkable.
They are internally displaced refugees in northern Uganda who have made their way to a national music festival in Kampala.
As directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine follow the students of the Patongo Primary School, they spend time letting the audience get to …
This movie will make the viewer grateful for even the worst pair of shoes.
This Iranian film is a drama set in a poor neighborhood. Ali (Amir Farrokh Hashemian) and his sister Zhara (Bahare Seddiqi) concoct a scheme whereby she will wear a pair of sneakers in the morning and give …
Because Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi uses non-actor children in this movie, the viewer is given a sense of watching a documentary.
The film takes place in Iraqi Kurdistan near the border with Turkey. It is set right before the American invasion in 2003.
One of the main characters is called Satellite because …
Of the seven new films reviewed in this space in the past year, the best by far is “Sin Nombre”.
It is a harrowing tale of desperation and consequences.
The movie follows the lives of a Honduran woman named Sayra who rides on top of trains hoping to reach Texas …
This film is solid.
Not amazing, not incredible, but solid.
It is about newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela and his relationship with the country’s rugby team captain.
Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) understands that post-apartheid South Africa needs to rally – black and white – behind a common cause. And that …
At first glance, this is a classic science fiction film.
However, it is much more.
“District 9” is a study in xenophobia and intolerance.
Stranded on Earth, aliens are confined to a ghetto in modern South Africa. The suspicion of and hostility toward the aliens is reminiscent of the attitudes held by many …
Danny Schechter does his best to dissect the mainstream media’s treatment of the approach to war with Iraq in 2003.
By poring over hundreds of broadcasts, it is Schechter’s conclusion that the mainstream media merely regurgitates what the government feeds them.
However, that is not the case worldwide.
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