#17

More rad movies available on DVD - part one

by Dr. John Ruhland

The movies on this list are well suited to watching as a group to stimulate political discussions. You can find them at independent video stores. Many are also available at public libraries.

*highly recommended ** must see

*100 KILOS. R. Seville, 2001. The true story of marketing of cocaine in African American neighborhoods by the CIA to fund illegal actions.

A CIVIL ACTION. 1998. Solvents from a W.R.Grace plant in Mass. leaked into the water and caused clusters of leukemia.

*AIR AMERICA. Roger Spottiswoode, 1990. A humorous look at the mechanism of US covert actions.

ALEXANDER NEVSKY. Eisenstein, 1938. 13th century Russian army repelling Germans, parallels situation in '38.

ALL THE KING'S MEN. Robert Rossen, 1949. Evolution of a dictator; an indictment of fascism, similar to Nation Aflame.

**AMERICA AND THE HOLOCAUST: DECEIT AND INDIFFERENCE. 1994. From the PBS series, The American Experience. US immigration policy caused many Jews to die. Gives insight into the motivation behind the very chilling and recently mandated fingerprinting of people of Middle-Eastern heritage.

*AMERICAN HISTORY X. Tony Kaye, 2000. Racist skinhead outgrows his hatred, but finds his little brother following in his footsteps.

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. Paul Bogart. Arthur Miller's play. A doctor threatens the status quo by revealing that the mineral springs which bring in tourists are polluted.

*ARSENAL. Alexander Dovzhenko, 1928. Shows the spirit of the failed Ukrainian Revolution from the perspective of the workers of a munitions arsenal.

*THE ATOMIC BOMB MOVIE; TRINITY AND BEYOND. Peter Kuran 1995. After watching this it becomes clear why the rate of cancer in the US is now 50 percent.

THE ATOMIC CAFE. Rafferty & Loader, 1982. Documentary of US government films during the atomic age.

**THE BAD SLEEP WELL. (Japanese) Akira Kurosawa, 1960. Officials of a large corporation cover up a corruption scandal.

*THE AWFUL TRUTH. Michael Moore, 2000. Scathingly funny tv series with a social conscience. Came after Moore's TV NATION show.

BALLAD OF A SOLDIER. Grigori Chukhrai, 1960. Recounts events from the life of a soldier, including falling in love.

BANDIT QUEEN. Shekhar Kapur.

**BARRY LYNDON. Stanley Kubrick, 1975. Award-winning film about financially poor young Irishman whose ambition is to be a nobleman.

*THE BICYCLE THIEF. 1949 Vittorio De Sica, 1949. Man finds job requiring bicycle, and through the story we see difficulty of life for working class.

*BLACK JESUS. Valerio Zurlini, 1971. Gives insight into the assassination of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.

*BOB ROBERTS. Tim Robbins, 1992. Excellent story of typical "contemporary" Republicrat candidate, except this one is a folk-singer with catchy lyrics.

*BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. 1989. Patriotic American enlists in the Marines, and has a dramatic transformation.

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Michael Moore, 2002.

*BRASSED OFF. Mark Herman, 1997. Closures and layoffs at British coal mines under Thatcher (building nuclear plants, instead).

*BRAZIL. ("Comedy") Terry Gilliam, 1985. Terrorism and the new capitalist world order? Great special effects.

BREAD AND ROSES. Ken Loach.

**BULWORTH. Warren Beatty 1998 A former radical turned liberal politician becomes re-radicalized when he falls for a progressive hit-woman.

*CAPTAIN CONAN. (CAPITAINE CONAN) Bertrand Tavernier. WWI soldiers adapting to war and then peace after the war is over.

*THE CHARCOAL PEOPLE. Nigel Noble, 2001. Documentary of desperately impoverished Brazilian workers who take jobs making charcoal out of the trees of the Amazon Rainforest.

*CITIZEN KANE. Orson Welles, 1941.

*COME AND SEE. Elem Klimov, 1985. Adolescent boy living in 1943 German-occupied Byelorussia.

*CROSS OF IRON. Sam Peckinpah, 1977. Powerful war film set in WWII portraying the universal truth of the different agendas of enlisted men as compared with commissioned officers.

**CUBAN STORY. Victor Pahlen, 1959. Documentary of the Cuban Revolution, narrated by Errol Flynn.

** CUP FINAL. Eran Riklis, 1992. Israeli soccer fan misses World Cup because he is part of Israel's invasion force in Lebanon in the 1982 war. He is captured by a PLO leader who shares his love for the Italian team.

*DEFENSE OF THE REALM. David Drury, 1985. Story of attempted cover-up by Britain's secret police, the MI-5, of a near nuclear disaster.

**THE END OF ST. PETERSBURG. V I Pudovkin, 1927. Documents the Russian Revolution.

FIDEL. David Attwood, 2000. A superficial yet interesting overview of the Cuban Revolution.

**FORBIDDEN GAMES. Rene Clement, 1952. Depicts the relationship developed by two children during WWII.

*FRANCES. Graeme Clifford, 1982. Jessica Lange shines in this crushing true story of the beautiful young Seattle-born actress Frances Farmer, treated as insane for her commitment to her ideals.

GIANTS AND TOYS. Yasuzo Masumura, 1958. Spoof of cutthroat Capitalist corporate competition.