Social Justice in Movies, Part Two
This is part two of my wide ranging list of films that examine social issues and challenge the viewer.
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- DirectorMiguel AlbaladejoStarsJosé Luis García-PérezDavid CastilloEmpar FerrerPedro, a gay man with an active social life and many friends, takes in his nephew Bernardo for a couple weeks. When the arrangement becomes permanent , Pedro turns to his friends for guidance as he and Bernardo forge a household together.A light yet touching look at attitudes towards homosexuality and parenthood, and the prejudices surrounding the issue.
- DirectorAchero MañasStarsJuan José BallestaPablo GalánAlberto JiménezAlfredo is a kid who begins in a new new school where he makes a friend, Pablo. Alfredo realizes that Pablo is a victim of home abuse by his father, and decides to involve his own family in order to help his friend.The themes of this film are family, Love and fear, brotherhood, and violence towards children by parents. The performances of the two central boys, and the cast around them ring absolutely true to my understanding of what happens in the situation 'El Bola' finds himself in, and I predict that both young actors will go far. Many will ask why the mother didn't intervene, and will say that no mother in real life would stand by; sadly this film is true to life. The mother would have been ground down for years, to the point of being impotent to do anything. For the first half, this film has a nihilistic feel of futility to it. It is heart-breaking, but also life-affirming.
- DirectorTomasz WiszniewskiStarsBob HoskinsSergiusz ZymelkaKrzysztof MajchrzakSharkey, part of the sinister world of child trade, picks up Vlado, an orphan of war, dreaming of freedom and a better life. They embark upon a strange and enlightening journey through war torn Bosnia. As they struggle to get out of the country and fight to stay alive, they find a special love and compassion from which emerges their ultimate moral and spiritual redemption.This is a movie about the other aspects of war, and would not look out of place alongside of 'Soldier Blue' 'Welcome Home' or the TV series 'Anzacs'. Sharky (Bob Hoskins) poses as a Unicef worker in war-torn Bosnia, as a cover for his illegal activities. He convinces Vlado (Sergiusz Zymelka), a nine- year old bosnian orphan that he is there to take him to a better life abroad. This is a powerful story about the forgotten victims of war, and about the need to care.
- DirectorJamshed UsmonovStarsUktamoi MiyasarovaMaruf PulodzodaKova TilavpurSet in the Tadjik village of Asht, this film draws on the Muslim notion that we are born with an angel on each shoulder, and that the angel on the right records the good that we do throughout our lives, and the angel on the left the bad. A man who has served ten years in a Moscow prison is summoned home upon release, to help settle the affairs of his dying mother, but it is soon borne into him that he must settle his own outstanding affairs with the villagers. The nine year old son he never knew about is entrusted by the dying mother with the family heirloom jewellery, tasked with only passing it on to his father if he becomes a good man.Djamshed Usmonov's allegorical fable about love and redemption has the feel of an intimate documentary, but with the strong narrative continuity typical of modern british films such as Winterbottom's 'Everyday [DVD]'. It draws much inspiration from simple Islamic concepts of morality in life, and as the lead character, Hamro, develops human warmth, so the backdrop palate of the film takes on warmer hues. The film is shot in the director's home village, and is well acted by a non-professional cast made up Usmonov's relatives (including his parents and brother). They are worryingly believable in character. Great viewing for anyone who likes intelligent stories about family and personal responsibility.
People who like this type of story might enjoy Brecha, I Live With Me Dad (Video Tape/PAL) 1985, and Country Remedy [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]. - DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoYusuke SekiguchiKayoko KishimotoA young, naive boy sets out alone on the road to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way.A touching japanese homage to 'The Wizard of Oz' (in the words of Director Takeshi Kitano), this is a comedic, and sometimes disturbing tale of growing up and growing down. Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) is an immature, selfish, sullen man who takes and rarely gives. Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) is a young boy of maybe nine or ten, who has been left to live with his grandmother, and has to take things like an adult. When Masao decides to go visit his mother, his Grandmother's neighbour volunteers her boyfriend Kikujiro as escort. This is the tale of their journey, both spiritual and physical. Step out of your comfort zone and enjoy the ride! Joyous!
- DirectorGérard Poitou-WeberStarsMichel AumontAndré WilmsClémentine AmourouxIn the 19th century, children - particularly the children of the poor - were considered to be an exploitable resource of docile and cheap labor. Anyone who had the effrontery to steal so much as a portion of a loaf of bread for any reason would (at the very least) go to prison, regardless of their age. However, people of conscience were beginning to protest against this situation. The story takes place in a prison for children where conditions are particularly harsh. The warden is a thick-headed martinet who demands complete compliance with the rules, or the children will be brutally dealt with. The assistant warden is a more modern man, and is appalled by the whole institution, but seeks to begin by reforming it. To that end, he has invited a journalist to come and see the conditions that prevail there, in the hopes that she will rouse public opinion against at least this one form of injustice.This is a generally well acted piece about the difficult subject of the treatment of orphaned and homeless children in early industrial revolution era France. Although the events depicted are bleak and depressing, this film is in many ways lighter in tone than similar Dickensian pieces. Robinson Stevenin is a discovery in this film, and his character will charm you.
- DirectorPaul FeigStarsBen TibberJim CaviezelJoan PlowrightA twelve-year-old boy escapes from a Bulgarian Communist concentration camp and sets out on a journey to reach Denmark.After the second world war, many nations interned people who harboured political philosophies that were contrary to that of the nation's government. This is the story of a boy separated from his parents, who has grown up in one such internment camp in Bulgaria, who is helped by a benevolent guard, who has told him he must escape and take a package to Denmark.
- DirectorDave SchultzStarsBranden NadonJoe Norman ShawMatthew Currie HolmesA drug dealer finds an unlikely traveling companion in a runaway kid trying to dodge social services.The teenaged son of a drug addict runs from the authorities after finding his mother dead from an overdose. He becomes entangled with a stranger who he bullies for a lift across half of Canada. During their trip we see both their backstories, and see what they need to heal.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanHugh JackmanShea AdamsIn 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.A great, sweeping epic that also tells intimate stories, and looks at the social rigidities and prejudices of immediately Pre-WW11 Darwin.
- DirectorSusanna StyronStarsMartin SheenJohn Franklin SawyerScott TerraIn 1935, ninety-nine-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie, and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law.An examination of prejudices in depression era America. White versus white prejudice comes under the microscope, whilst the film, through the person of Harvey Keitel's character Mr Dabney, also poses the question of why prejudice is passed down through generations unquestioningly.
- DirectorJeff BlecknerStarsLouis Gossett Jr.Joseph MazzelloJames GreeneBased on a true story. A poor black sharecropper strikes up an unlikely friendship with a hostile young white boy - but their budding friendship is threatened by a brutal red-neck sheriff.High Lonesome is one of the more accessible films I've seen on the matter of Southern United States racism and the Ku Klux Klan, but it is still not for the faint hearted, as it does not hide anything. It is, however, more three dimensional in its characterisation than many other treatises of the genre, and is therefore a lot more helpful to those of us who seek to combat racism. There is a small amount of humour, which makes the pathos more palatable, and the quality of the acting will hold you throughout. Louis Gossett jr. and Joseph Mazzello deserve recognition for the quality of their work here.
- DirectorDiane KeatonStarsAndie MacDowellJohn TurturroMichael RichardsWhen a youngster needs a break from the pressures of his parents' household, he moves in with his offbeat uncles and learns some invaluable life lessons.Based on a true story, this tells the story of a father who feels that there is no evidence to support faith in God, and who has disowned his brothers, who continue to believe in God, and of his son who runs to them out of need when he learns that his mother is dying.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJesse BradfordJeroen KrabbéLisa EichhornA young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.Depression era America, and a family living in a room in a rundown hotel are struggling. The mother goes to the TB Sanatorium, the younger brother is sent away, and the father takes a job out of state, leaving the twelve year old son to prevent the bank that owns the hotel from kicking the family out.
- DirectorDonald ShebibStarsCharlton HestonBruce GreenwoodPatricia GageTwo young orphans have to relocate to Nova Scotia and endure their bitter and jerky grandfather, but when they find a baby washed up on the beach, everything changes.A little love at home can make a harsh life easier. Too little love at home can make you desperate.
- DirectorDavid MooreStarsJulian WadhamAlex PettyferStephen FryDrama about life at Rugby School in Victorian England. The headmaster is fair but not effective and life is brutal for the young boys because of bullying and its consequences. The acting and character development are good and the roles well cast. It's a good adaptation of the novel and was filmed at The Rugby School.An examination of the horrors of bullying, both personal and institutional, and of corporal punishment.
- DirectorJohn SchultzStarsJonathan LipnickiCody LinleyJesse PenningtonZachary Beaver, a sideshow attraction known as the world's fattest boy, arrives in the sleepy town of Granger, Texas.A multi-stranded rope of a film, where townsfolk are made to re-examine who they think of as heroes and whoories they think of as villains. The stories told here make you examine personal responsibility and prejudice, as well as society's priorities.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsPat O'BrienRobert RyanBarbara HaleThis parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.The message of this film is clear: No More War. This film is a rather charming and persuasive entreaty from the children of this world to the adults to stop rushing headlong into conflict, and to remember that their decisions affect others who are rendered powerless to affect their own destinies.
- DirectorRod HardyStarsDaniel RadcliffeTeresa PalmerLee CormieOne summer, four orphans boys who have grown to be the closest of friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family.Four orphan boys are sent on a holiday to the Australian coast. They are a group that think of each other as brothers, but one of them is chosen by a family in the village they are staying in.
- DirectorMetin HüseyinStarsKabir BediMax BeesleySanjeev BhaskarMeena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who have come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family. Anita is 14, blonde and beautiful, exactly what Meena thinks she wants to be. She becomes part of Anita's world, but events do not run smoothly. Meena is growing up, and that brings plenty of changes.A true story of an Asian girl growing up in 1970's Britain.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsMel GibsonNick StahlMargaret WhittonChuck wants to leave home but can't make the grade for boarding school. Then he finds out the disfigured recluse living nearby is an ex-teacher.A town spends its time gossiping and laughing about the disfigured freak who lives in the house at the tip of the bay. Rumours fly around, and one of the children takes a closer look. The child is lost inside, and reaches out to the man after they meet. The man also needs to be reached by the child, and their budding friendship causes tongues to wag further.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsDenzel WashingtonKevin KlineJosette SimonSouth African journalist Donald Woods is forced to flee the country after attempting to investigate the death in custody of his friend, the Black anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko.This has to be one of the most powerful films about Apartheid-era South Africa. It is also the true story of the friendship between black civil rights campaigner Steven Biko and Donald Woods, the white newspaper editor that Biko reaches out to to tell his story.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsIoan GruffuddAlbert FinneyMichael GambonThe idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.The true story of the fight to find a way to make the British Parliament end the slave trade between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
- DirectorGary LedbetterStarsGary FarmerKeegan MacIntoshNancy BeattyVerlin is 9 years old and does not talk, nor does he even seem to hear. Henry, a child-like adult, befriends Verlin and pulls him from his shell. Verlin's mother mistrusts Henry, who she feels is dangerous. Eventually, Henry's family is convinced that he should be placed in an institution. Henry's sudden disappearance from Verlin's world drives him deeper into himself.This is a simply stated portrayal of disability and mental illness in a small town in 1930's North America. This is not a melodrama, but a slice of life. Gary Farmer is spot on with his portrayal of a man with the mind of a child, and Keegan Macintosh will grab you as the child locked inside of himself. Wilfrid Bray's portrayal of Henry's friend Elvin, who has symptoms of schizophrenia, is quickly sketched but accurate. This is a positive and well researched film representation of mental illness. Margot kidder also deserves mention as the one legged prostitute.
- DirectorPatricia CardosoStarsAmerica FerreraLupe OntiverosIngrid OliuIn East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.This is a story of expectations in the Latin community in Los Angeles. A 17 year old girl has to battle for her family's support to go to university when her mother thinks it is above her station.
- DirectorMimi LederStarsKevin SpaceyHaley Joel OsmentHelen HuntA young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.A teacher assigns his 11 year old students the task of changing the world. In this true story, one child sets out to do just that.