• Year: 2019
• Released: 07 May 2019
• Country: Ukraine, United States, Netherlands
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8503162/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hydra
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Ukrainian, Russian, English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Documentary, Crime, History
• Runtime: 72 min
• Writer: Ram Devineni, Svitlana Rudiuk, Taras Tkachenko
• Director: Ram Devineni
• Cast: Vladimir Tymoshenko, Dmytro Vovchuk
• Keywords: drug abuse, war on drugs, 1990s, ukraine, security service of ukraine,

4.9/10

The Hydra Storyline

“The Hydra” is a fast-paced suspense thriller and feature documentary about the sudden rise of ecstasy in Europe to epidemic levels after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

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The Hydra Movie Reviews

• Year: 2024
• Released: 02 Jan 2024
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30808249/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/north_korea_dark_secrets
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: History
• Runtime: 79 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: N/A
• Cast: Jim Cutler, John Verhoff
• Keywords:

5.8/10

North Korea: Dark Secrets Storyline

Discover how the North Korean people suffered famine, labor camps and public executions, while the Kim regime spent three generations relentlessly pursuing nuclear ambitions.

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• Year: 2018
• Released: 11 Dec 2018
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 win
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9419838/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/panic_the_untold_story_of_the_2008_financial_crisis
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: TV-14
• Genre: Documentary, History
• Runtime: 96 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: John Maggio
• Cast: Gary Ackerman, Steve Bannon, Ben Bernanke
• Keywords: financial crisis,

7.3/10

Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis Storyline

This documentary looks at the factors that led to the 2008 financial crisis and the efforts made by then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to save the United States from an economic collapse.

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Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis Movie Reviews

Good, well made documentary, but doesn’t question enough the actions

Really professional documentary with all the key players involved, certainly giving me an insight into the motivations and hard work behind keeping the US and probably the world economy afloat. However…what was disappointing was the lack of challenge to the actions that took place, the lack of a counter view. All we got was the acknowledgement that they realised their actions were unpopular, but they maintained they were necessary.

The government, financial watchdogs and banks caused the recession due to a combination of actions. Successive governments starting with Reagan and leading to the present day have removed the “checks and balances” that were in place to prevent another depression. Where are the consequences for these people?

• How can any system & country be in a situation where a private company can destroy the economy and create misery for millions?
• Why weren’t measures and controls in place to ensure this didn’t happen?
• Why weren’t all the management removed for all the companies involved?
• What measures are now in place?
• What retrospective actions has or is happening to hold the banking system accountable for the misery they created?

Great re-telling of the ’08 financial meltdown, could do without the anti-Trump nonsense at the end of the film.

I thought this documentary was a great re-telling and explanation of all the moving parts of the ’08 financial crisis. Having the key players interviewed and explain their thought processes was a good way to tell the story.

The obligatory Holly-weird anti-Trump nonsense at the end of the film was wholly unnecessary and seemed beyond oddly out of place. But, what else can we expect from Holly-weird these days than to blame anything on Trump.

Aside from the absurd connection of Trump to the ’08 financial crisis, the film was very good.

Riveting documentary with all the main players looking back, now a decade later

“Panic: The Untold Story of the 20098 financial Crisis” (2018 release; 96 min.) is a documentary on the roots of the 2008 financial crisis, how the crisis itself unfolded, and most importantly, the unintended long-term consequences of it all. As the documentary opens, we are “September 11, 2018”, as all of the main players from a decade earlier get together for a remembrance dinner. We then go back to “May 9, 2006”, not long after Henk Paulson has joined the Bush administration as the Treasury Secretary, and the market is showing signs of a housing bubble. It sets into motion a financial crisis of unimaginable proportions. At this point we are 10 min. into the film.

Couple of comments: the film makers concentrate on the three main guys: then Treasury Secretary Henk Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. These three band together as a triumvirate and rarely decide anything without consulting each other. Interestingly, all three make clear that they are motivated to do whatever it takes to avoid another Great Depression. Of course many others are featured as well. Several things are striking: (i) when facing calamity, the political leaders in Washington came together and acted in a bipartisan way that is simply and utterly unthinkable in today’s climate; (ii) “we should’ve done a better job explaining to the public what we were doing”, sighs Paulson, and he is right of course; mostly lost in the narrative of the financial industry’s bailout is the inconvenient truth that all of the $700 billion TARP bailout money was repaid WITH INTEREST to the US government; (iii) perhaps most surprisingly, former President George W. Bush comes across as a calming yet resolute leader who lets the experts do their job (meaning, the complete opposite of the current POTUS).

The last 15 min. of the documentary are the most revealing, as it just “the straight line between the the financial crisis and the populism in today’s politics, linked by the rise of the Tea Party starting in 2009. It is absolutely devastating to see how in just a single decade we are now living in a world of untruths, disinformation, lies, conspiracy theorists, the real v. imagined “deep state”, and the shocking incompetence and complete lack of leadership coming from the current POTUS and his administration. Meanwhile, “Panic: The Untold Truth of the 2008 Financial Crisis” is a riveting documentary that contains a lot of valuable lessons to understand how we got where we are today.

• Year: 2012
• Released: 18 Nov 2012
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. 2 wins & 5 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357472/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dust_bowl
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: TV-PG
• Genre: Documentary, History
• Runtime: 229 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: N/A
• Cast: Dorothy Williamson, Donald Worster, Timothy Egan
• Keywords:

8.2/10

The Dust Bowl Storyline

A documentary about the 1930s drought of North American prairie farm land, and its consequences during the great depression.

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The Dust Bowl Movie Reviews

Bad politics caused it, good politics fixed it. Period.

All Americans have heard of the Dust Bowl and know it was a phenomenon associated with drought in the 1930s, and that Okies left for California, a la The Grapes of Wrath. We have also heard about the more recent droughts in the West. So the thought arises, could it happen again? But that’s about it. Most non-Americans don’t even know that.

With some of his documentaries on more distant subjects, Ken Burns relied on old photographs and narratives read by actors. But The Dust Bowl is the story told by the people who saw the massive dust storms, day after day, with their own eyes, breathing the dust, eating the dust, getting lost in the dust. They are often the very people in the pictures used. At at the end, we see a dedication listing the participants who had died before the documentary was released. Burns was just in time to save this bit of oral history.

What struck me initially was how objective, unemotional, and even dry was his approach, far less spirited than subjects like the Statue of Liberty, Baseball or Jazz. And the pace is leisurely, a lot of time spent looking at a lot of towering dust clouds and hearing account after account of being engulfed by dust and sand. Most film makers would have sped things up for the MTV generation, perhaps added booming sound effects and gimmicky zips and flashes to keep our attention. But this is Ken Burns, and he has the street cred to do things his way. And it was the right way. People actually lived through these dust and sand storms for years, so surely we can endure the accounts for a few hours to get a feel for it.

But this tells a larger story, of how the region was settled, telling another side of the Oklahoma land rush that I had never heard, and how government policies and World War I led to foolish overproduction of wheat on land better suited to grazing. Yes, foolish. The people involved say so, themselves, for the most part. This is not Ken Burns political propagandist, as some reviewers allege.

What struck me is how objective this account is, how balanced, presenting various sides, and grounded in fact, like good journalism. The film covers the New Deal policies of FDR to try to save the land and help those living in the Dust Bowl; it also provides insight into the origins of farm price support policies. Is this what causes some viewers to froth at the mouth? I kept waiting for the judgment, the observation that global warming could cause more dust bowls, in America, and around the world. But it never came. Perhaps he could anticipate the response. Frankly, he didn’t need to spell out the connection.

With better, scientific farming practices, the Dust Bowl land could be saved, more or less. You still need rainfall, unless you are willing to drain aquifers. But the story of the Dust Bowl also offers some promise that there may be intelligent ways to adjust to the effects of climate change on agriculture. Discussion of this is the part that I wish was included.

This is a vitally important story that needs to be remembered, with lessons for our and future generations. It is also a story of the human spirit, of people who endured hardship far longer than any of us should, or probably could, bear. I am glad they got a chance to share their story with us.

— Footnote:

A good supplementary program is The Civilian Conservation Corps episode of The American Experience, #22.1, for a larger context on the environmental and economic situation.

Ken Burns does it again.

Once again, Ken Burns has crafted an excellent, informative documentary. This one is about the Dust Bowl. Interviews, photographs, diary entries and footage are used to paint a picture of the time and place, a time when monstrous behemoths of dust could literally blot out the sun.

Most effective are the interviews. Men and women who were children when dust storms swept the plains tell stories of their experiences. Some of these are very emotional. For example, two brothers choke up at the memory of their sister who died of ‘dust pneumonia’ when still a young girl. The anguish in their voices is simply heartbreaking. Another man recalls how he became separated from his parents when a dust storm hit and for a while they had no idea if he was dead or alive. All of these stories give one a full appreciation of the devastation wreaked by the event and make it painfully personal and human.

“The Dust Bowl” is a powerful story of human suffering and human endurance. Watching it, I was moved by the plight of people who struggled on against hope in an effort to retain their dignity or survive. It was very educational. I highly recommend seeing it.

(Oh, and to the previous reviewer: Much of this documentary is told through the words of people who actually lived through the Dust Bowl. Quite a bit of the film simply allows these people to speak for themselves without any quick cutting, signs of manipulation, or propagandistic techniques. I saw no signs of any ‘agenda’ on the part of Burns here.)

not bad

This is a decent documentary and if you don’t know much about the dust bowl then it will give you a good overview. I was a bit disappointed to find that part 1 was very similar to a television documentary called: ‘The American Experience – Surviving the Dust Bowl’ and featured much of the same footage and photographs and talking heads. I guess this mini series is four times longer overall so it’s a better option if you want a more in depth look at this very sad time in recent north American history. I have to say that I find the music in the background is a bit distracting and often had to rewind bits that I didn’t catch because my mind had wandered with the music.

• Year: 2023
• Released: 18 Jan 2024
• Country: Sweden, Denmark
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18163814/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stockholm_bloodbath
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Action, History, War
• Runtime: 145 min
• Writer: Erlend Loe, Nora Landsrød
• Director: Mikael Håfström
• Cast: Sophie Cookson, Alba August, Emily Beecham
• Keywords: based on true story, 16th century, mass execution,

	4.7/10
	43% – Critics
	false% – Audience

Stockholm Bloodbath Storyline

Anne and Freja seek revenge on the men who murdered their family. They end up in Stockholm, where they are drawn into a political power struggle between Sweden and Denmark which culminates in a mass execution.

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• Year: 2013
• Released: 13 Nov 2013
• Country: France, Austria
• Adwords: 3 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2340784/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_last_of_the_unjust
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: German, French, English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Documentary, History
• Runtime: 220 min
• Writer: Claude Lanzmann
• Director: Claude Lanzmann
• Cast: Benjamin Murmelstein, Claude Lanzmann
• Keywords: holocaust (shoah),

	7.3/10
	80/100
	79% – Critics
	false% – Audience

The Last of the Unjust Storyline

1975. In Rome, Claude Lanzmann filmed a series of interviews with Benjamin Murmelstein, the last President of the Jewish Council in the Theresienstadtghetto in Czechoslovakia, the only “Elder of the Jews”* not to have been killed during the war. A rabbi in Vienna, following the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, Murmelstein fought bitterly with Adolf Eichmann, week after week for seven years, managing to help around 121,000 Jews leave the country, and preventing the liquidation of the ghetto. 2012. Claude Lanzmann, at 87 – without masking anything of the passage of time on men, but showing the incredible permanence of the locations involved – exhumes these interviews shot in Rome, returning to Theresienstadt, the town “given to the Jews by Hitler”, a so-called model ghetto, but a ghetto of deceit chosen by Adolf Eichmann to dupe the world. We discover the extraordinary personality of Benjamin Murmelstein: a man blessed with a dazzling intelligence and a true courage, which, along with an unrivaled memory, makes him a wonderfully wry, sardonic and authentic storyteller. Through these three periods, from Nisko in Poland to Theresienstadt, and from Vienna to Rome, the film provides an unprecedented insight into the genesis of the Final Solution. It reveals the true face of Eichmann, and exposes without artifice the savage contradictions of the Jewish Councils. *according to Nazi terminology—Cohen Media Group

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Harrowing Aspect of the Final Solution in Nazi Germany

I am not sure what to make of THE LAST OF THE UNJUST. It tells the story of Theresienstadt, now in the Czech Republic, which was designated by Adolf Eichmann as a “model ghetto,” an idealized place which was deliberately designed to mislead the world about the ways in which Jews – especially the elderly, as well as children – were being treated. A propaganda film, released in the early Forties, shows a happy community of people contributing to the nation through regular work and ample leisure-time in which people were free to do as they wish.

In truth the “model ghetto” was just another death-camp in which Jews were herded together and either left to die or gunned down in cold blood. Benjamin Murmelstein, the last president of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council, was forced to negotiate day after day from 1938 until the end of the war with Eichmann. When the war ended he was ostracized by the Jewish population and forced into exile into Italy.

Three decades later director Claude Lanzmann tracked him down and interviewed him in Rome. Like many of those involved in the Final Solution, Murmelstein protests his innocence as well as trying to justify his behavior. But of course nothing can ever redeem him from the guilt of what happened.

Lanzmann’s footage remained dormant for nearly four more decades until Lanzmann, now an elderly man himself, decided to put it in a film. THE LAST OF THE UNJUST is a long piece of nearly four hours duration, wherein the Murmelstein interview is split up with historic footage, as well as Lanzmann talking direct to camera about the reminiscences of those unfortunate enough to be members of the community, both living and dead.

The message is a harrowing one, reminding us of the depths to which humanity can sink in its lust for power. What renders the film even more difficult to fathom, however, is our awareness that similar atrocities have taken place elsewhere in the world since 1945, and continue to dominate the headlines. It seems that no one really wants to learn from the lessons of history despite Lanzmann’s laudable attempts to make us do so.

Interesting insight into concentration camp life

“Le dernier des injustes” or “The Last of the Unjust” is a co-production between France and Austria that resulted in a 2013 movie that runs for a massive over 3.5 hours. But if you know writer and director Claude Lanzmann, then you already expected this perhaps (or expected an even longer film) as he is the man behind “Shoah”. But back to this one here. It is Lanzmann’s most recent work and given the director’s age, it may very well be his last. He is over 90 now and this film by him also received some awards recognition. A lot of the footage in here is however really old. This refers in particular to Lanzmann’s interviews with Benjamin Murmelstein, who was considered the last living Elder Jew at that point and this description implies that he was the one working together with the Nazis at concentration camps (namely the one in Theresienstadt) in order to be an interface between captors and captives. This is also why he is a bit of a controversial figure, even if most people today would agree as well that he was a victim of the entire situation and not an aggressor of any kind.

Anyway, there are passages in French too, but a whole lot of the movie is in German language because of the interviewee’s nationality. Lanzmann is French of course, but he also speaks German during the interviews and this is also a bit of a sign of respect towards Murmelstein, who has a lot of interesting stuff to talk about, some of it involving high-profile Nazi politicians that he was in direct contact with. I myself found these interview parts also the most interesting sequences of the film. And while I enjoyed the film overall, I cannot deny that people with no great interest in European 20th century history will probably come to the conclusion that the film drags quite a bit. Maybe the best choice for these is to not watch it or watch it maybe in 7 parts of 30 minutes each or 5 episodes of roughly 45 minutes as watching the entire thing at once may just not be too rewarding. Anyway, I think that Murmelstein was really interesting enough of a character to not only justify the making of this film, but also to let me recommend it to everybody who is as interested in the days of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as myself. Thumbs up and I believe it is on the same ölevel as “Shoah” quality-wise, even if it is not half as famous.

nope

This is a fascinating companion piece to Shoah, director Claude Lanzmann’s justly celebrated nine-and-a-half hour investigation into the Nazi holocaust, and a great documentary in its own right. While recording what must have been hundreds (or even thousands?) of hours of interviews for Shoah, Lanzmann obviously had to leave a great many voices out of the finished work. One that was omitted haunted Lanzmann: Banjamin Murmelstein, the Rabbi of the last Nazi sanctioned Jewish ghetto, which stood right through the war and liberation.

Lanzmann had excluded Murmelstein’s voice from Shoah not because he didn’t find the man’s story fascinating, but because he had such profoundly mixed feelings about him that he could not fit him into a larger historical cartography of the Final Solution. The Last of the Unjust begins with Lanzmann, now in his nineties, informing us that the figure of Murmelstein had haunted him for the last three decades, and that he felt he had an obligation to bring his story to screen, for the atrocities of the age could not be adequately understood without understanding Murmelstein.

The film starts a bit slowly. One is not clear for a long while why Murmelstein’s story seems so singular. This is not to say that the film is ever uninteresting. Murmelstein fiercely refutes, and indeed mocks, Hannah Arendt’s characterization of Adolf Eichmann as “banal”. The Eichmann described by Murmelstein is a subtly monstrous man, capable of cloaking the most inhuman threats of violence through a cultured choice of words. Eichmann seemed to like Murmelstein because he was one of the few people perceptive enough to understand just how much Eichmann enjoyed the suffering he caused. Arendt’s account is, for Murmelstein, a foppish depiction that has done history the disservice of absolving a devil.

As in Shoah, Lanzmann demonstrates a great instinct for landscapes, noticing the beauty of the settings for some of the twentieth century’s greatest atrocities. Here, though, these perceptions seem touched by a bit of sloppy sentimentality, perhaps a result of the auteur’s age.

One of the most memorable aspects of Shoah is how it documents the incredible lengths the Nazis went to obscure their crimes even as everyone living under their power seemed to know about them. Theresienstadt, the ghetto under Murmelstein’s charge, was designed as another attempt to deceive the world about the Nazis’ actions towards the Jews. Propaganda films were made showing Theresienstadt’s residents dancing and singing. The Nazi’s thus tried to present their attitude towards targeted minorities as “separate but equal”. In reality, however, Theresienstadt was little better than a death-camp itself in which many people starved or were worked to death. In a telling example of Murmelstein’s rapport with his Nazi captors, they ask him what he thinks of their propaganda film about the ghetto. He responds, “I understand why you don’t show the corpses filling the attics, but don’t you think having everyone smiling and singing is laying it on a bit thick?”

The full complexity of Murmelstein’s role in history isn’t really revealed until the film’s extraordinary last hour. Although himself imprisoned, Murmelstein gradually attained absolute control over the day to day life of the ghetto, determining who could eat what and how long and in what way each “resident” would work. Feeling he had to keep the ghetto productive if it was not to be destroyed, Murmelstein adopted a brutal regimen of labor and scarcity under which not a few of his subjects died or went insane. The survivors, however, were amongst the very few Jews to escape the death camps when liberation came. (Murmelstein, appropriately it seemed to me at the time, laughs off a question posed by Lanzmann about whether he was trying to save those under his control or merely himself. The two were interconnected, explains Murmelstein, and one who has not faced such ethical choices are not fit to ask where survival instinct ends and ethics begins.)

The question, of course, is whether Murmelstein was more of a Jewish savior or a Nazi collaborator. The answer, or course, is that he was both- an individual thrust into an ethical situation so impossible that not only were there no blacks or whites, but barely any perceptible grey areas. As I watched the film, I found myself taken in by Murmelstein’s perspective, as I sensed Lanzmann was as he interviewed him. In the film’s final shot, Lanzmann embraces Murmelstein with convincing warmth. This made sense to me, as well, knowing Lanzmann’s Zionist politics and the accompanying conviction that the “super-oppression” that has, from a Zionist perspective, characterized the history of the Jewish people justifies offensive violence by the Jews in the name of survival. Murmelstein, the film seems to be suggesting, is the embodiment of the “Jewish condition”.

OR IS IT?

Lanzmann tells us at the beginning that he had felt irresponsible for thirty years for not telling Murmelstein’s story. Prior to the film’s last hour, consisting almost exclusively of interview footage taken in the early 1980s, the old Lanzmann relates to us in recently taken footage how the first two rabbis of Theresienstadt had destroyed themselves because of the ethical impossibility of the situation into which the Nazis had thrust them. The full horrors of Theresienstadt, never fully discussed by Murmelstein, are revealed. If Lanzmann had, thirty years prior, been persuaded by Murmelstein of the necessity of his actions, is this new film a kind of confession on the part of the filmmaker that he embraced a man who had become part and parcel of the Nazi machinery of death? If so, does this reveal a reconsideration on the part of the old Lanzmann about the role of Zionist violence? If so, Lanzmann will never admit to it, but I wonder.

• Year: 2023
• Released: 19 Apr 2024
• Country: France, Germany, Spain, Belgium
• Adwords: 1 win & 7 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12672620/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_three_musketeers_part_ii_milady
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: French
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Action, Adventure, History
• Runtime: 115 min
• Writer: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre Dumas, Alexandre de La Patellière
• Director: Martin Bourboulon
• Cast: François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris
• Keywords: musketeer, 1620s, three musketeers,

	6.5/10
	73% – Critics
	false% – Audience

The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady Storyline

D’Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past shatters old alliances.

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The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady Movie Reviews

Eva Green illuminates in these dark times

Once again a tremendous spectacle, served with a bunch of very fine actors (“la fine fleur” of French actors) in all their glory, who make most of the scenes of the movie a tasty delight to savour… In particular the highly charismatic Eva Green and François Civil, who both have this magnetic presence that makes you wanna follow each of their adventures (each of the moments they share is captivating)…

The staging and overall design of the movie is as majestic pleasing as in the First Part (both movies were shot at the same time) with very gorgeous framings and lightings (wonderfully mastered)… The action and stunts do the job (in spite of this recurring shaky camera), with a few cool bits (hats off to the final confrontation).

Of course the stakes -even if already pretty high at some point in the First Part- are even higher here… Numerous events in this Second Part mirror events recounted in the First Part ; the situation is pretty tight for the main players, and the whole -mysterious- intrigue gets thicker and tastier as it evolves… With Milady playing a pivotal role in everything ; even when she is not here, her shadow never is very far… But things, during the entire movie, don’t really go as expected, twists after twists…

In the end, this two-parter story definitely is a pretty gem in the long history of French Cinema, because it shows the nice will to produce a pleasing cinematic piece, à la française ; but in a fashion that uses some of the welcome contempory/modern tools.

A fine and tasty adventure to watch, and potentially a Third Part to come (?)

High Adventure!

The Three Musketeers: Milady: As dark and gritty as the first film. If anything the fight scenes are even more exciting, hand to hand individual fights and battle scenes. Plenty of conspiracy, betrayal and back stabbing. Eva Green shines as Milady, a special forces style agent of Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf). Dastardly as both are though more depth is given to their characterisation and motives. Richelieu really is a Gray Eminence. D’Artagnan (François Civil) and Athos (Vincent Cassel) both perform great acts of derring_do but also face heartbreak. A great adventure! Directed by Martin Bourboulon, Screenplay by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière. 8/10.

The Three Musketeers: Milady

I can’t say that I enjoyed this as much as the first outing for this new breed of musketeers, but it’s still an enjoyable and authentic looking adaptation of these timeless and honourable Dumas characters. We know that “Constance” (Lyna Khoudri) has been kidnapped and that the enamoured “D’Artagnan” (François Civil) is determined to get her back – but how? Well the almost fatal attack on the king (Louis Garrel) has galvanised everyone – friend and foe, and the musketeers determine that they must get to the ringleader of that plot before it is eventually accomplished and the kingdom is plunged into chaotic warfare. Now everyone suspects the malevolent Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) but surely it’s not in his interests to kill Louis XIII? The Queen (Vicky Krieps) and her not-so-secret English lover Buckingham (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) might be in the mix, or maybe just a disgruntled nobleman? “D’Artagnan” is first with a clue after he inadvertently rescues “Milady” (Eva Green) from a prison (after she fell off a cliff!) armed with a secret, coded letter. What does it mean? Can it help find his love and save the kingdom? Meantime, we start to learn a little more about this enigmatic “MIlady” and of her relationship with “Athos” (Vincent Cassel) whilst his two pals “Aramis” (Romain Duris) and the affable “Porthos” (Pio Marmaï) do their bit for the story and the country too. It looks great – the settings, the costumes, the combat scenes all smack of effort having been spent on making the scenarios ring true. I’m still no great fan of Eva Green, but here she starts to exude just the tiniest hint of menace as the story builds to the conclusion of this search for love and traitors. It’s a wee bit more earnest, this time around – there’s less humour and I missed that. I don’t mean laugh out loud stuff, but here we rarely see all the musketeers together; their camaraderie isn’t so obvious. This is essentially Civil v Green and that doesn’t always work so well. Still, it’s a solid and quickly paced adventure story that I found passed two hours effortlessly.

• Year: 2012
• Released: 21 Jun 2012
• Country: USA
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5619540/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gay_power
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Short, History
• Runtime: 33 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: Sharon Hayes, Kate Millett
• Cast: Sharon Hayes, Kate Millett
• Keywords:

2.6/10

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• Year: 2012
• Released: 01 Sep 2012
• Country: United States, Canada, Germany
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2206976/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/she_said_boom_the_story_of_fifth_column
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
• Runtime: 64 min
• Writer: N/A
• Director: Kevin Hegge
• Cast: Caroline Azar, G.B. Jones, Bruce La Bruce
• Keywords:

7.1/10

She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column Storyline

She Said Boom: The Story Of Fifth Column is the story of a group of young female artists in the early eighties. They used music, film, and self publication to defy conventions of art practise, gender ideas, and femininity. These endeavors snowballed into global art and political movements and subcultures. This film looks at their work, and explores why you may not have heard of them, despite their impact.—Anonymous

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• Year: 2009
• Released: 16 Sep 2011
• Country: Germany
• Adwords: 2 wins & 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1298540/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/berlin_36
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: German, English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama, History, Sport
• Runtime: 100 min
• Writer: Lothar Kurzawa, Eric Friedler
• Director: Kaspar Heidelbach
• Cast: Karoline Herfurth, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Axel Prahl
• Keywords: nazi, sports, olympic games, based on true story, female athlete, track and field,

	6.3/10
	45/100
	49% – Critics
	false% – Audience

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“He didn’t want to embarrass the Nazis”

Berlin 36 (2009), is a German film directed by Kaspar Heidelbach. As the name implies, the action is set before and during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany.

German politicians were caught on the horns of a dilemma–some of their finest athletes were Jewish. The Nazis would rather lose a medal for Germany than admit that Jewish athletes could be among the world’s greatest.

When it became obvious that German Jews were being systematically kept out of the competition, progressive U.S. citizens called for a U.S. boycott of the Olympics. However, Avery Brundage, the U.S. Olympic President, would have none of this. Not only did he want U.S. athletes to compete, which at least is understandable, but he was a known Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. (Not just my opinion–check out his Wikipedia entry.) So, the problem was solved by having the Germans give assurances that German Jewish athletes could, indeed, compete at the Olympics, and then making sure that they didn’t actually compete.

Caught in this sick, volatile situation is Gretel Bergmann (played by the lovely Karoline Herfurth) who is certainly the best woman high jumper in Germany, and possibly the best in the world. The Nazis were determined that she would not compete, and one method they chose to assure this was to bring onto the team an untried, but gifted, athlete named Marie Ketteler. Both Gretel and Marie understand what’s going on, but they nonetheless form an unlikely friendship and alliance.

In the ghastly situation present in Nazi Germany in 1936, whether or not an athlete competes in the high jump may seem extremely trivial. However, the movie gives a good sense of how thoroughly Naziism pervaded the entire fabric of pre-war Germany, and how readily non-Germans with fascist tendencies played along with Hitler’s plans.

Incidentally, although this is not portrayed in the film, Brundage also saw to it that some American Jewish athletes were removed from Olympic competition because “he didn’t want to embarrass the Nazis.” He was just a great all-around sportsman.

We saw this film at the wonderful Rochester Jewish Film Festival. Some of the effects of the large-scale stadium productions will be lost on the small screen, but the intense parts of the film will work well on DVD.

For some reason, this movie has earned a ridiculously low IMDb average of 6.5. Hard to believe and, to me, inexplicable. Ignore the rating. Find this film and see it!

A Nutshell Review: Berlin 36

With Singapore hosting our first Olympics event, albeit the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, perhaps it is apt for us to reflect upon the importance of the values and spirit promoted by the Games toward the notion of Swifter, Higher, Stronger, because not always were the Games free from influence other than sports excellence and the triumph of human determination and to see how perseverance and training paid off.

Based on a true story and set in 1936 Berlin, where Germany is on the cusp of holding their first Olympic Games in the summer, Berlin 36 tells of how politics managed to get embroiled into sports, no thanks to Adolf Hitler sweeping into power some three years before, and taking the Games as a platform to further his party’s propaganda, extending his prejudice and discrimination toward the Jews in not allowing them to compete under the German flag. This of course does not bode well for the United States, and to appease them in order to stave off a potential boycott by the US and her allies, the Germans had to pass off a show to rescind their decision for the Jews exclusion. This means that the world’s best high jumper of the time, the German Jew Gretel Bergmann (Karoline Herfurth) had to be “persuaded” to return to the Fatherland for representation and competition.

This drama directed by Kasper Heidelbach not only tackles the issue of the kind of extreme discrimination and belief in the superiority of the Aryan race, but poses a more thought- provoking examination at the macro level issues as faced by Gretel in tackling and addressing prejudices from all angles, being the lone athlete in a training village, treated like an outcast by fellow citizens. She finds it near impossible to show love and pride in being able to represent her country that doesn’t love her back, what more to earn honours for it? Like any authoritarian regime, they function on the basis of threats not only to self but family, and is able to shape outcomes as desired through silence, and misdirection.

And the worst was of course in hand-picking Marie Ketteler (Sebastian Urzendowsky) to become Gretel’s chief rival both in training and the eventual competition, not that there was any intent anyway to allow Gretel to make it all the way to the Olympics proper. Marie is seemingly able to challenge Gretel one on one, which is quite expected should you read the synopsis or know the background of Marie’s deep, dark secret. Like Gretel, Marie was also forced to be in the limelight to do as told, and deviations to the established plan was going to be frowned upon severely. What once began as a cold rivalry soon paves the way toward firm friendship, as both Gretel and Marie find themselves under the same circumstances of being played as puppets, and both harbour hopes of somehow being able to break away from the bonds that shackle them.

It is precisely the chemistry between the cast, especially the leads, that pull this film off, in providing an engaging and engrossing premise for their cooperation/competition. Production values for this historical story is kept high, and also provided room to boast some fantastically designed sets and effects used to recreate 1930s Germany, as well as the impressively recreated Stadium used for the Games featuring huge Zeppelins flying overhead. These money shots at the finale will put you smack in the middle of the propaganda festivities where important decisions will be made by the leading two athletes, and one can imagine just how the actual mood and feel would be like on the streets and at the venue.

I have a penchant for films about sports from the yesteryears, because when documented and portrayed accurately, allow the modern audience a glimpse into how the sport of today have evolved from time past. The high jump here is slightly different from the techniques and styles employed now, so that should pique your interest enough as one of the points to watch this film. There may be some quarters grumbling about how much the YOG budget is costing us, but let’s not mix politics with this platform for our youths to have a go and competing with their peers representing the best from countries around the world.

Free interpretation of historical event

The year is 1936 in the Germany of Adolf Hitler and the ’36 Olympics is to be held in Berlin. Germany’s best high jumper is the Jewish Gretel Bergmann which creates a problem for the Nazi sports establishment. If they field a Jew and she wins a gold, Hitler would not be amused and this could have nasty repercussions for the officials in charge. Ergo the plan is to enter a ringer, a talented male jumper who has been masquerading as female jumper with success. Though that may sound improbable it actually happened. The jumper is identified as Marie Ketteler though his real name at the time was Dora Ratjen.

The main action begins at the training camp where Gretel and Marie are room mates. As a Jew, Gretel is subject to continuous slights and insults and Marie is portrayed as supportive.

The biggest deviation from reality was the scene in which Marie reveals himself to Gretel to be male. Gretel said she only found out about it years latter from an article in Time Magazine on males who competed as females.

Gretel is omitted from the competitors due to lack of performance. Marie competes and finishes fourth. The film suggests Marie intentionally performed poorly out of protest to the exclusion of Gretel and as Marie set a new world record in 1938 this does lend some credence to that portrayal.

The most interesting scenes are at the camp with the actors practicing their jumps. Thereafter the narrative gets lost in the machinations of Gretel’s expulsion and the scenes at the Olympic village are too fakey.

Karoline Herfurth gives a credible performance as the embattled Gretel while Sebastian Urzendowsky performs heroically in dresses.

As a film its strongest point is the strangeness of the circumstances rather than any merit as a drama.

• Year: 2017
• Released: 05 May 2017
• Country: Spain
• Adwords: 16 wins & 4 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5732530/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_chessplayer
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Spanish, French, German
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama, History, War
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Julio Castedo, Stefan Zweig
• Director: Luis Oliveros
• Cast: Marc Clotet, Melina Matthews, Alejo Sauras
• Keywords: chess, nazi, imprisonment,

6.3/10

The Chessplayer Storyline

In 1934 Diego Padilla wins the Spanish Championship of Chess and meets Marianne Latour, a French journalist, and they fall in love. At the end of the civil war, Marianne convinces Diego to live in France with her and their daughter, where shortly afterwards Diego will be accused of spying by the Germans and imprisoned in an SS prison. In prison, Diego will try to survive in a hostile environment thanks to Colonel Maier’s passion for chess.

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A finely crafted film , set in Nazi time , with romance , intense drama and historical background

Moving and attractive melodrama about an obstinate man , a chess player , who becomes involved in several problems when is accused as a spy in the Nazi invaded France . It starts in 1934 Diego Padilla (Marc Clotet) wins the Spanish Championship of Chess and finds his friend Javier Sánchez (Alejo Sauras) , the latter introduces him a French reporter , Marianne Latour (Melina Matthews) , and subsequently they fall in love , marry and they have a daughter . At the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) , Marianne convinces Diego to live in Paris with their daughter, where shortly afterwards Diego will be framed of spying by the Nazis and imprisoned in a Gestapo prison.

Wonderful adaptation of the novel by the prestigious writer Stefan Zweig to the big screen . A stirring and romantic flick with dramatic events, thrills, emotion, betrayal and a love story. There are numerous historical remarks about Spanish Republic , Stalinist period and Nazi time. Interpretations are uniformly decent. The yarn is very nice set, packing luxurious cinematography by cameraman Juan Carlos Gómez , evocative musical score by Alejandro Vivas , great production design and glamorous costumes. The production values and settings of the show are also outstanding : buildings , halls , jails , all of them with colorful photography and flawlessly selected locations and costumes make us travel in time to the most convulsive times in the history of the 20th century . I was really impressed to see how the two protagonists filled up the screen so wholehartedly . Stars Marc Clotet as a stubborn young man called Diego who will try to survive in a hostile environment thanks to SS Colonel Maier’s passion for chess and Melina Matthews as the romantic heroine . And good secondary cast , such as : Alejo Saura is pretty fine as the astute communist who falls in distress , Andrés Gertrúdix as an unfortunate prisoner , Stefan Weinert in his usual role as a Nazi officer ,Pau Durà as Commandant Hernández , Mike Hoffmann as Sergeant Kauffman , Maarten Dannenberg as Corporal Reinke , among others .

The motion picture was competently directed by Luis Oliveiras and inspiring by historical events about the Spanish Civil conflict and German encroachment on France (1940-1945) . Luis had budget enough thanks to important producer Gerardo Herrero that financed lavishly this enjoyable movie . Oliveiras is a good craftsman with an interesting career , his film debut was Pata Negra , though he has made a lot of TV episodes of popular series , such as : La Valla , Estoy Vivo , Alatriste , Manolita Gafotas , La Huella Del Crimen and El Angel De Budapest.

This El Jugador De Ajedrez 2017 won several Nominations and Prizes , such as : Global Music Awards (GMA) 2017 Winner Silver Medal Best Original Score/Soundtrack (Film and Television) Alejandro Vivas . Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival 2017 Winner HIMPFF Award Best Original Score Alejandro Vivas . London Independent Film Awards 2017 Winner Best Original Score Best Original Score Alejandro Vivas . Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2017 Nominee Golden Biznaga Best Spanish Film Luis Oliveros . European Independient Festival : award to best musical score . North American Film Awards 2017 Winner Silver Award Alejandro Vivas. Oniros Film Awards 2017 Winner Best of Year Best of Year Julio Castedo (producer) Juan Antonio Casado (producer) ,Gerardo Herrero (producer) , Ishtar Films ,(production company) , Tornasol Films (production company) Winner October Monthly Edition Best Original Soundtrack , Best Feature Film Luis Oliveros ,Julio Castedo (writer) . Views of the World Festival 2017 Winner Jury Award Best Music Alejandro Vivas . WorldFest Houston 2017 Winner Gold Remi Award Best Music Score , Best Actor Marc Clotet , Winner Platinum Remi Award Best Feature Film ,Luis Oliveros (director) , Ishtar Films (production company) , Best Feature Screenplay: Historical-Period Piece.

A simple story, beautifully told

If you’re looking for wild action/adventure or crazy plot twists, this movie won’t be for you. It’s a simple story, told through beautiful images and very good acting. I loved it, enough so that I’m looking forward to watching it again.

Great

it was great to me, i love this kind of movies and it get through me deeply to my heart. the actors were so good. the cinematography and directing was great. the music was light and smooth and its nice. good movie. i like the main character so much and it was good written and imagined with great acting. it was perfect to the main character.

• Year: 2014
• Released: 05 Sep 2014
• Country: Taiwan, China
• Adwords: 7 wins & 15 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4012914/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paradise_in_service
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Mandarin
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama, History, Romance
• Runtime: 133 min
• Writer: Doze Niu, Li-ting Tseng
• Director: Doze Niu
• Cast: Ethan Juan, Jianbin Chen, Regina Wan
• Keywords: prostitute, brothel, 1970s, taiwan, national service, military,

6.7/10

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Doze Niu’s vain attempt to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s gradualistic aesthetic

“Albeit its fine production value, pulchritudinous shoreline and small-town setting, the film is irrevocably marred by Niu’s macho prospective in term of his treatment of female characters, mostly, the double-standard towards prostitutes and her clients, for example, Lo’s abrupt cop-out of consummation with Nini on the eve of her departure smacks of a man’s ingrained disparaging of a female sex worker, and a patronizing stance of preserving the purity (which is totally for his own sake instead of hers, as it is her makes the first move), and Jiao has to take her lump for acquisitiveness, but shouldn’t she be smart enough to keep obvious harms at bay as a seasoned strumpet whose sole purpose of surviving is to find a way out? One can read a lot of connotations through a director’s subjective options in telling the story, and in Niu’s case and in hindsight, it becomes somehow telltale that he has been embroiled in sexual assault allegations since 2018 in the MeToo era, as the movie itself can bear out his own tunnel vision regarding the better sex.”

Paradise in Service

An achingly beautiful film based on a unique part of Chinese history that not many has the guts to tell. Doze Niu deserves all the credit in the world for this work, as he delicately pieces these little stories together through personal stories of these personalities. Also great that the film didn’t focus at all on the sexual aspect of the story, and at the film’s very core, it digs deep into the sense of displacement and yearning for belonging, and it is a very serious film. The cast also comes together brilliantly, it has the sense of these very talented performers banding together create artwork.

The achingly beautiful film is lushly produced, and features a hauntingly heartfelt performance by Chen Jian Bin

For playing a gangster with a heart of gold in Monga (2010), 31 year old Taiwanese good looker Ethan Ruan took home the Best Leading Actor prize at the 47th Golden Horse Awards. While we do not have not have much qualms about his acting, we thought such accolades were meant for more veteran actors. The Taichungborn actor rose to fame in the Taiwanese drama Fated To Love You, and has a steady fanbase made up of, yes, nothing surprising here – teenage girls.

From a business point of view, it makes perfect sense to cast him as an army conscript from southern Taiwanwho’s selected shortly after arriving on Kinmen to be a part of the elite Sea Dragons amphibious force by a tough sergeant major. Alas, our protagonist cannot swim and is promptly transferred to the infamous “831” unit, also known as “Paradisein Service.” There, soldiers are serviced by comfort women and our leading man works through the administration side of things, never once touching the girls. But how long does that last, you ask?

Appearing in his third film directed by Doze Niu (after 2010’s Monga and 2012’s Love), Ruan delivers a decent performance here. We empathise with him as his friendship with one of the ladies blossoms into full-blown love. We feel for him as he fights his own demons and the conflicts of interest he faces. He questions his own promise of celibacy and the promise to his country.

But the character who tugs at our heartstrings in this Golden Horse nominated film is Chen Jian Bin’s strict sergeant major. His haunting performance as an illiterate northerner who is struggling to learn the Taiwanese dialect is almost heartbreaking, as the fierce character often intimidates soldiers with his tough front. It is his story that highlights the true tragedy of the screenplay. A man who is forced to fight against the country he once called home is stationed on an island where he feels like an alien, forced to fight the people whose accent seems more familiar, he encounters a personal war. Displaced, disillusioned by propaganda, demonised by the destruction and a pending tragedy with a prostitute, Chen’s wonderful performance embodies the Taiwanese struggle (for those of you who know Taiwan’s history well).

The film has streaks of brutality in Niu’s previous gangster picture Monga, but the 134 minute movie is anchored by a large dose of melodrama. Men desperately declare love and marriage while others vie to have every woman available. Larger than life characters from both sides create moments of humour and pathos to get your attention. There could have been more effort put into fleshing out the supporting characters, including a bespectacled conscript (Wang Po Chieh) subjected to bullying by his fellow soldiers, a prostitute (Regina Wan Qian) who is selling her body to reduce prison time and an alluring woman (Iven Chen) who dreams of a better future while seducing men with empty promises.

Technically polished, the film is a joy to look at. It benefits from cinematographer Charlie Lam’s beautiful lensing and auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien who takes on the role of editing director and co producer. At the end of the two odd hours, you’ll walk out of the cinema pondering how a war can impact life in so many different ways.

• Year: 2013
• Released: 29 Sep 2013
• Country: United States, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territory
• Adwords: 3 wins
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2535162/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/under_the_same_sun
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Arabic, Hebrew, English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Drama, History, War
• Runtime: 75 min
• Writer: Yossi Aviram
• Director: Sameh Zoabi
• Cast: Ali Suliman, Dirar Suleiman, Mahmud Abu-Jazi
• Keywords:

6.2/10

Under the Same Sun Storyline

Shaul, an Israeli, and Nizar, a Palestinian, seem to have little in common, but for a shared spirit of entrepreneurship. They create a solar energy company with plans to bring renewable energy to communities in the Palestinian territories. Support for their venture is difficult to gain. From families who question them, to community members who threaten them, and government policies that make collaboration nearly impossible, Shaul and Nizar face many obstacles. Through everything, they grow to respect and trust one another. But though they continue to believe in their project, they recognize that their company cannot succeed without change. They take their story to the Internet and inspire others to work together. What began as a partnership for business becomes a partnership for peace.—Anonymous

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• Year: 2006
• Released: 18 Oct 2006
• Country: France, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Israel, United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443448/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/o_jerusalem
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: English, Arabic, Hebrew
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, History
• Runtime: 100 min
• Writer: Élie Chouraqui, Didier Le Pêcheur
• Director: Élie Chouraqui
• Cast: JJ Feild, Saïd Taghmaoui, Maria Papas
• Keywords: israel, male friendship, 1940s, interfaith, jerusalem,

	6.0/10
	39/100
	36% – Critics
	60% – Audience

O Jerusalem Storyline

“O Jerusalem” meticulously re-creates the historic struggle surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. At the center of these events are two young, American friends – one Jewish, the other Arab. The film is told from the alternating viewpoints of the Jews, Arabs and Brits, all of whom collide in their fight for the control of Jerusalem while bringing to the forefront themes of courage, terrorism, deprivation, politics and a strong sense of morality. Their involvement takes them from the streets of New York to The Holy Land, where they risk their lives making incredible sacrifices along the way to fight for what they believe in, as the city of their dreams teeters on the brink of destruction. The film, based on historical accounts from the best-selling novel “O Jerusalem,”

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O Jerusalem Movie Reviews

A complex subject given an earnest treatment – Not perfect, but not to be dismissed.

I first saw the trailer for this film some five or six years ago and then never heard of it again, which was a shame because I was really looking forward to seeing it on a big screen, shame then that it all but vanished and hasn’t to the best of my knowledge ever had a proper release on UK shores. (I imported the DVD)

Though as quoted by others, this is based on the book of the same name, it only draws on the factual detail and uses the more human stories for its focus which for a drama dealing with an issue as complex and as controversial as the formation of the state of Israel is essential. Set against the backdrop of the events of 1946 in Palestine and the violence that followed, two friends who meet in America, one Arab and one Jewish find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict that is beyond their own making. Both of them realising that violence is not the solution do their best to stay out of it, but ultimately find this unavoidable.

The film focuses on their attempts to understand and deal with the historical events that they face, of which they little control over but have no choice but to get involved in.

The film has its strong points. The historical attention to period detail is very well done, the budget for this production is NOT low, as another reviewer has stated (factually inaccurate) nor does it look so. The blend of actual news footage from the time slips seamlessly with the way the film has been shot and invokes a feeling of genuine history. Points of history are sign posted with titles and everything is told neatly in chronological order.

Where the film is weaker however is the script. The friendship of the two friends feels rushed and unlikely, the acting is variable, some scenes are handled well while others feel the need to rush straight into melodrama without any real emotional investment to get there. On that level it feels more like a drama documentary where a mini-series would probably have served it better. Our main characters seem to just flow along with the story as the historical events unfold, rather than really being fully involved in them, maybe that’s the point, but the strength of their emotional journey gets lost. The death of several supporting characters never seems to have the impact that it should and its hard to pin down the exact reason for this, but the scene at the end falls especially flat when it should have had me in tears.

Those criticisms aside this doesn’t mean the film makes for uninteresting viewing. I have no personal affiliation to any side of this conflict, and the film seemed initially to strive to give both sides an equal voice, (Possibly Israel gets more screen time but their own atrocities in the conflict are not overlooked) certainly at first I didn’t feel a bias one way or another, but after the first half it felt the Jewish characters became more and more noble where as the Arabs became more and more one dimensional but this just makes me want to do my own research on the subject, but does it make for a good movie?

The high production values, good acting despite struggling with a fairly orderly historical script, attention to detail and nice photography all make the film well above average. Nice turns from supporting cast such as Tom Conti, the under rated Rene Zagger and the ever strong Ian Holm give the leading cast great back up and Saïd Taghmaoui is always very watchable but their talents do make some of the weaker players stand out a little.

A film on this topic is going to stir emotions on anyone who might have an affiliation with one side or another, so maybe its more important what those who have little understanding of the origins of this seemingly never ending conflict gain some understanding of how it started and as a starting point for that education, you can certainly do far far worse than this. As a well made historical epic its not a bad film at all.

Unfortunately where the film is less convincing is in the conflict between the friendship of the two leads, I found it unrealistic and somewhat unbelievable and didn’t quite create the dichotomy I had hoped for but simply watching the events of history unfold still made for captivating viewing.

This is a conflict I would love to see finally resolved in my life time for the sake of the generations that will follow in the footsteps of their relatives who were involved in these events. Dismissing the film so easily is simply not a tenable opinion.

There aren’t enough films on this subject to make this one irrelevant and the simple truth is that no film on this topic will ever be completely successful, just as the search for an answer to finally allow all those involved to live side by side in harmony will go on for some time yet. If you have even the vaguest interest in the subject and can watch it from a neutral stand point, I would recommend it.

I enjoyed this film and I’m going to review it

I enjoyed this film and I’m going to review it instead of discussing the pros and cons of Israel/Palestine.

I saw it at Cinema Sundays at the Charles, here in Baltimore MD USA.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not Jewish, and I am anti-Israel and pro-Palestine.

At Cinema Sundays, the host is Jewish, and this week’s discussion leader is also Jewish — I think I’m safe in saying it’s a largely Jewish group which goes to Cinema Sundays and attended this screening. Although a show of hands said that more liked it than disliked it, the host and discussion leader didn’t like it at all — the discussion leader had even skipped the pre-screening the day before — his reason seemed to boil down to he had better things to do.

The discussion was largely (but not all) panning the film.

I thought (with one glaring exception, which I won’t reveal here) that the movie was balanced, while telling the story primarily from the Jewish side. In the foreground, it concerns an American Jew and an Arab Palestinian who meet in the U.S. and become friends. Each finds himself going to Palestine in 1947, knowing that a conflict is coming, a struggle for control of the land. The story of these two men and their friends and lovers is in the foreground, and in the background is the story of the British leaving Palestine, and the U.N. vote for partition.

There’s a fair amount of violence, sudden, unexpected violence realistically portrayed. However, there’s no enjoyment of the mayhem, and but little glorification of it.

I felt well-informed by the movie in terms of its telling of the story of the birth of Israel. I think this is good story-telling — although, of course, the two main characters keep encountering each other even after they split up – well, duh, it’s a movie about these two characters! :o) A little cinematic license. There’s a very touching and emotional scene near the end which had me riveted.

I think the story is told relatively objectively (which is to say, more objectively than, say, 90% of news coverage here in the USA, which overwhelmingly favors Israel) while holding out hope for reconciliation between Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine. And, I have to say, I think that’s why so many people at Cinema Sundays disliked the movie, without really being able to articulate why (“I’ve seen this all before, oversimplified, unlikely…”) — because it was objective and told the Arab side, and portrayed the Palestinians as human beings who suffered in the partition.

I give it an 8 because of the one pulled punch, which I thought destroyed the balance of the film. I’ll discuss that on the Message Boards, as I don’t want to Spoil the movie.

One hard subject, one beautiful movie.

I thought I am not a good candidate to write a review about the movie (Being a Jew who was born in Israel) – Until I saw the other review here and I was shocked and sadden.

There are many “views” of what really happened in 1948. Each side holds its own view to events, as Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” wisely tells us about the subjectivity of truth and the uncertainty of factual accuracy.

The independence war is part of Israel’s collective memory as it is to the Arab side. Of course anything that I will write will be influenced with that filtration – as well as the previous reviewer and possibly the reviewers to follow. We all “own” our subjective truth.

So Instead of replying to the previous reviewer with “my facts” to the events that took place in 1948 in order to contradict his claims, I will halt here and urge you to not to give up upon your believes but to hold them back and see the movie. You will not regret it.

Yes, I know the movie will not be enjoyable to or appreciated by everyone. If you are an Arab or Jew extremist you will probably leave the cinema in the middle of the movie – If you wish to see a one-sided, “the truth is here” movie I suggest you see a Michael Moore movie.

But if you wish to see a movie with a brilliant script that tries to touch the human triumph and tragedies of the 1948 war with a superb cast that will make you shed a tear – this movie for you.

• Year: 2016
• Released: 17 Apr 2016
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 2 wins
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5598206/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/command_and_control
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Documentary, History
• Runtime: 92 min
• Writer: Robert Kenner, Brian Pearle, Kim Roberts
• Director: Robert Kenner
• Cast: Michael Bideller, Andreas Birnbaum, Tom Brokaw
• Keywords:

	7.3/10
	77/100
	95% – Critics
	76% – Audience

Command and Control Storyline

Documentary of 1980s near-nuclear ground explosion of a Titan II missile in Damascus, Arkansas in Silo 374-7, based on Eric Shlosser’s award-winning book of the same title. A riveting minute by minute account of the accident started by the failure to follow written maintenence procedures.—Odyssey10

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Command and Control Movie Reviews

A Powerful and Timely Documentary about a Cold War Accident

You won’t find much about the 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion on Wikipedia. It was one of those minor Cold War mishaps that barely made it beyond the local news. A young airman was doing routine maintenance at an Arkansas ICBM site. He didn’t fully appreciate the difference between a ratchet and a socket wrench (who knew there was a difference?) and accidentally dropped the heavy steel head of his tool into the silo of an aged Titan II missile. The head punctured the skin of the missile, resulting in a fuel leak and, a few hours later, an explosion that wrecked the silo, killing one airman and wounding 21 others. Fortunately, the Titan’s nine-megaton thermonuclear warhead, the most powerful US bomb then in existence, did not explode.

This low-key but powerful documentary examines the chain of events that led to the accident and, more pertinently, looks at the wider significance of what did and didn’t happen. There are interviews with the surviving site crew and some impressive re-enactments of the sequence of events, so realistic that at first you think it must be authentic historical footage. The investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, author of an acclaimed book about the Damascus accident, had a large hand in this production and appears periodically in the film.

Knowing little about Damascus, you might be tempted to chalk it up as a calamity avoided because the safety systems in place actually worked. By the time the film is over, you won’t be so dismissive. The most serious nuclear threat to the US at this time (because it occurred on a frequent daily basis, and had little to do with international tensions) was from accidents within its own arsenal. (A similar situation must surely have prevailed in the Soviet Union.)

Are we safer now, given that there are far fewer nukes deployed and Command and Control organizations have learned from past experiences? The documentary has a clear answer, and it’s probably not the one we hoped for.

Comprehensive but one sided

This documentary is a rather good run down of the tragic events which took place at one of the American Titian II missile silos near Damascus AK. This documentary clearly explains the reasons and the errors made during an maintenance cycle of the missile itself and the subsequent damage and consequences of that event.

Unfortunately, this documentary is rather one sided. The main interviews are with ex Air Force personnel that were disciplined for their actions when they felt they should have been rewarded. As one how served in the armed forces, this is difficult to swallow as the two disciplined were rightly disciplined despite the fact they worked very hard and risked their lives to correct the issue. The fact they did so is the reason they were not court marshaled and sent to prison. One was given a rather light punishment of an LOR as he was the individual who caused the accident in the first place. The second was given an Article 15 for breaking the two man rule when dealing with nuclear weapons (he was very lucky he as not given a 20 year prison term for that). While I salute his reasons for going in alone, you just don’t do that period. I also salute his courage and gallantry in trying to resolve the problem. Again, this why he did not get prison.

All in all, this worth a look. Just remember it is one sided and the there is also an annoying drum beat of the risk of this weapon exploding in a nuclear fashion. Based on physics of these devices, that chance may not be zero but it is also not more than 1% either.

on the edge of the abyss

The message of Robert Kenner’s documentary Command and Control is crisp and scary. Atomic weapons are man-made machines. Man-made machines sooner or later break. A very serious accident, or even atomic apocalypse is only a matter of time. Actually a very serious accident did happen in 1980 at a nuclear missile in Arkansas, when the area around, the continent and maybe the whole world was close to a disaster maybe similar in proportions to the one that happened in Chernobyl in Ukraine (than part of the Soviet Union) a few years later.

I liked the low-key documentary style of this production. The authors restrained from commenting too much (although there are a few punch lines) and let the facts speak. It is amazing how much filmed material was available if we are taking into account the classified nature of the events that took place. We can also draw some conclusions, this being mostly left to us, viewers. At the end of the day the safety systems in place worked, but the wrong decisions of the human factors did not lack either. What was different from the incident in the Soviet Union besides the very existence and quality of the safety equipment was also the fact that the decisions were made at a relative low level, and eventually the right decisions prevailed. Heroism was there, at least one precious life was lost, and several people remained with physical and psychological traumas, not to speak about the imposed silence about the events. For these people the film is an act of recovery and rehabilitation which seems to be well deserved.

One more thought could not escape me when seeing this film – how young the heroes of this story were. The safety of the nuclear devices was put in the hands of very young people in uniform, who were only a few years before just kids. Many of the members of the emergency teams were also very young. Maybe one day a film needs to be made about those kids, or men and women who have been so recently kids to whom we trust not only the manipulation of deadly weapons, but the very existence of the planet and of life on it.