Many college students who have been raped on campus face retaliation and harassment as they fight for justice. In The Hunting Ground, the students (mostly female but some male) give a painful, absorbing account of not only their sexual assault but also the systemic indifference of the college administrations to whom the victims seek...
The White Ribbon [Das Weisse Band]
[Guest reviewer Barbara Artson, author of the novel Odessa, Odessa ]
Director Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (2009) opens in total darkness. We see nothing but hear only the elderly voice of a narrator:
“I don’t know if the story that I want to tell you is entirely true. Some of it I only know by...
“For Sama”—A Letter to My Daughter
For Sama is the most searing documentary about war that I have ever seen. Nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best International Film, For Sama presents some of the most unflinching war coverage and remarkable and courageous footage. A love letter to her infant daughter Sama, born in Aleppo, For Sama is a Syrian mother’s...
“Clemency”–No Mercy or Absolution
What’s the psychological and moral cost to a
society that administers the death penalty? That’s the question raised in Clemency, the winner of the Sundance drama award last year.
So much more than a “death-row drama” ,
Clemency shifts the lens to the
impact of bureaucratized
human cruelty: a...
The Report—An Exposé for Us All
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT)—is the focus of The Report, a provocative Amazon political thriller. A Senate staff researcher, Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is assigned by Sen. Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening) to investigate detainees held by the CIA in “black sites”. A shameful chapter of American history unfolds , where torture...
Happy New Year 2020: The Year of the [Metal] Rat
Happy Chinese New Year 2020!
The Buddha taught rats first, among the animals in the Buddhist pantheon, and rats rank first on the Chinese zodiac. Though people who follow Western animal symbolism do not consider the rat either adorable or auspicious, nevertheless the characteristics of the rat are considered spirited, witty, alert,...
