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Unplanned (2019)
Fiercely Nonpartisan and Healing
Intellectual honesty wins in this fiercely nonpartisan film. Abby Hoffman's story is compelling, beautiful and brave and should be required viewing for post-modern civic literacy. This film transcends the tired old "liberal-conservative" narrative around human rights. Whatever one's partisan leanings, this film's incisive, data-based documentary nature will challenge conventional political cliches. Any one interested in honest dialogue and seeking a path forward out of the seemingly intractable electoral over what it means to be human, GO SEE THIS FILM!
First Man (2018)
The Triumph of the Therapeutic
OK, credit duly given to the technical accomplishments of "First Man" are indeed something to behold-Chazelle shot it on 35MM with IMAX cameras-but sadly he never explored the inner universe of his subject. We are left with a relentless and mind-numbing shaky-cam torture chamber for the viewer that at the end of the day undermines even the greatest strength of the film, its cinematographic prowess.
The consequence of such technical one-dimensionality is we never feel the complexity of emotions and politics that created this uniquely American man and narrative. Chazelle frames Armstrong's journey by starting with the death of his daughter at a very young age. Already a quiet man, Armstrong became even more so after it, never even talking about it with his wife , and pouring himself into his work. Sadly, Chazelle's trajectory remains merely psychological. We are left with a reading of "First Man" that it's about a man who had to go to the moon to get over a tragedy no one should ever have to face. Chazelle reduces the cultural, emotional, political and spiritual complexity that is and was Neil Armstrong into a one-dimensional psychological narrative: the grieving father. There is more to both the Apollo Generation and Neil Armstrong than that.
Chazelle mutes and ignores the interwoven cultural, social and political milieu that fueled the NASA projects . Technical virtuosity alone cannot tell that story.
Neil Armstrong and Apollo's triumph was about more than the merely therapeutic.
Gran Torino (2008)
Redemptive Friendship
A masterful unsentimental tale of an emotionally wounded, war-traumatized veterans quest for redemption. Eastwood's character is a richly complex and haunted man. Equal parts blue-collar working class bigot, defender of the weak and marginalized, and seeker of justice on his terms. Decidely pre- and anti- political correctness, the
barbershop banter scene is hilariously reminiscent of days when humor was non-ideological. He is at one old school and yet ultimately and sacrificially protective of those whom he allows into his heart and soul. This is one of Eastwood's finest and most spiritually mature films.
Operation Finale (2018)
Riveting, true story of a people's search for healing, justice and a new future.
Magnificent and haunting, this film chronicles the inspirational real-time search for justice for a mass murderer. Sir Ben Kingsley again delivers a blockbuster performance exploring the psychology and moral architecture of the infamous Adolf Eichmann, mastermind of the Third Reich's Final Solution. That truth is not only stranger than but often times more beautiful and poignant than fiction is seen in this amazing and healing film. Do yourself a favor, get out of the tired old world of cynical post-modern political narratives, and drink from the the healing wells of the mystical vision of David Ben Gurion, Israeli President, who commissioned these real-life military heroes with these words:
"Our memory reaches back thu recorded history.
The book of memory still lies open--
And you are the hand that holds the pe."
The Greatest Showman (2017)
FAKE & Sentimental Crap
A triumph of feel-good ideology and sentimentality, an utterly dishonest film. HALF THE FILM WAS FAKE NEWS. NEVER HAPPENED. JUST TELL THE FAR MORE INTERESTING REAL STORY OF PT BBARNUM WITHOUT YOUR AGENDA. WHAT AN INSULT TO THE INTELLIGENCE OF VIEWERS.
The Rider (2017)
Follow Your Dreams: Grace, Mystery and Suffering
One of the finest depictions of the human-equine relationship I've ever seen. Artists, theologians, musicians throughout history have depicted the intimate and mysterious bond between horse and rider. This film takes its place in that genre as a based-on-true-story masterpiece. Part documentary, part fiction, the director's imagination, the real-deal Native American cowboy culture she so carefully narrates is achingly and unsentimentally beautiful. The uncut, raw horse-breaking and training scenes are mesmerizing. A triumph of the artistic and human Spirit!
1945 (2017)
The Evasion of Conscience
An unflinching portrait of the power of conscience and the human effect of its avoidance. The post-modern narrative of identity politics and Nietzschean and victim culture here vaporizes into the dustbin of history. Human choices matter. Memory matters. Morality matters. Selfishness and structural, political complicity therewith lead to social disintegration. As C.S. Lewis wrote, revenge is the predictable arc of human affairs. There is only one thing that breaks the cycle of material human history and that is forgiveness.
Go. See. This. Film.