By Sean Patrick Murphy This excellent and moving documentary reveals the plight of Zimbabwean white farmers under the rule of President Robert Mugabe. It centers on 75 year-old Michael Campbell, who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1974. He is the victim of invasions of his property, intimidation, and brutal violence for not agreeing to leave […]
Why Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires is made crystal clear in this short documentary. Journalist Paul Johnson made this film last year by traveling to Kandahar, one of Afghanistan’s deadliest regions that breeds young Taliban converts. He shows the aftermath of roadside bombs in part by turning the camera on civilians. The lack […]
Journey to the rooftop of the world and be bored out of your skull. This documentary is about as interesting as watching paint dry but feels like it takes even longer. It should be a fascinating look into an ancient culture virtually untouched by the modern world. Instead it tortures the viewer with scenes like […]
As many as 76 percent of all black boys in Baltimore fail to finish high school. That prompted a school in Kenya to accept a group of these at-risk boys, all around 12 years old, and teach them not only academics but also how to respect themselves and others. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/C2ol5SHchLo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] […]
“To get rich is glorious.” That phrase, uttered by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, seems to fly in the face of conventional communist philosophy. So, too, does the democratic election of a third grade class monitor in Wuhan. This documentary shows how three children vie for votes in a cutthroat election. While novices to […]
The story of how Bolivian President Evo Morales came to power is an intriguing one. Director Alejandro Landes follows Morales during the campaign that brought Morales to power in 2006, showing the candidate as a charming, ideologically fervent man. Morales is the leader of the party Movement for Socialism, the acronym in Spanish being MAS, […]
“Too many cameras and not enough food, this is what we’ve seen.” That line from the Police song “Driven to Tears” sums it up nicely. This film is about photojournalist James Nachtwey and his work in the world’s hotspots from Nicaragua in the 1980s to Rwanda and Kosovo in the 1990s to South Africa, Ramallah, […]
This documentary tackles an issue most dare not consider: what if nuclear material got into the hands of terrorists? Writer and director Ben Goddard does an excellent job of mixing new interviews with archive clips of everyone from John F. Kennedy to John McCain. Their common message? Eliminate nuclear weapons. The film revolves around the […]
This film deserves the Oscar it received for best foreign language film. It is the story of a young Jewish family that flees Nazi Germany in the late 1930s to Kenya. Walter Redlich, who had been a lawyer in Germany, is left to manage a farm in a deserted region. His wife, Jettel, and daughter, […]
The making of this film is more interesting than the film itself. The makers solicited many non actors to star in this movie about the realities facing the people of Ajami, a neighborhood in Jaffa which is home to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. The film is very much like a documentary in part because of […]
They live in the margins of society, the children of prostitutes in Calcutta, India. They are given time and space to discuss their lives with New York-based photographer Zana Briski. Briski, who co-directed the film with Ross Kauffman, started a photography class with several of these children. She gave them cameras and let them choose […]
As of the filming of this special, as many as 40 million Chinese males were expected to be unable to find mates when they reach marrying age. That is one of the results of China’s so-called one baby rule. With one out of every five people on earth living in China, the government has instituted […]
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