Filmmakers are responding to our current era with movies that engage in an all-out culture war. They turn to history to resist the falsifications and suppressions integral to the right wing’s agenda of miseducation.
In the process, they reclaim their cinematic voices against nostalgia and cliche. They devise distinctive forms of embracing historical scope and personal passion, like the tense drama of artistic myths and realities by Ougie Pak.
The Tillman Story (U.S.)
A strong-minded documentary that refuses to let the military’s coverup of Pat Tillman’s death go unpunished. Competing narration adds to the tension, and the film makes it clear that Tillman wasn’t the flag pin patriot portrayed by the government.
He was an atheist who read Norm Chomsky and wanted to avoid war, but the Army used him anyway. This film follows his family’s struggle to discover how much the military had lied and why.
The White Man’s Burden (U.S.)
Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem urged whites to undertake the task of civilizing “savage peoples,” and it became a popular endorsement of imperialism.
The poem’s laudable rhetorical flourishes and stoic images of self-sacrifice provided a powerful rationale for the American takeover of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. It was, after all, a noble endeavor. The “silent, sullen peoples” would never offer thanks.
The Nightingale (U.S.)
After The Babadook shook audiences in 2014, filmmaker Jennifer Kent has returned with another period thriller. The Nightingale centers on a 21-year-old Irish convict in 1820s Tasmania who seeks revenge against her abusive master. Sam Claflin and Baykali Ganambarr star.
Nightingale’s research showcased the importance of sanitation and public health. She also framed army mortality in easy-to-understand comparisons, showing that many deaths were avoidable.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (U.S.)
John Ford’s sombre, poetic look at the end of the Wild West era. It was ahead of its time in trying to de-mythologize the American West, a process that would accelerate with revisionism and other movements a few years later.
James Stewart stars as Senator Ransom Stoddard, a young greenhorn lawyer who arrives in the small western town of Shinbone. He soon comes to know local menace Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). He tries to dispense justice in the town.
The Man Who Made Movies (U.S.)
The grumpy widower of this story finds new purpose when a lively family moves in next door.
The result of a relentless director, a stressed crew, and great expectations is an amazing film that will touch you in unexpected ways.
The subject matter is sensitive and may be triggering for some audiences. This movie includes detailed depictions of suicide. Seek guidance if necessary.
The Tolstoy Project (U.S.)
The Tolstoy Foundation helped a number of Russian Displaced Persons (DP) to come to the United States after World War II. This was a very challenging endeavor as many of them were not very willing to change their lifestyle.
The Foundation’s Tatiana Schaufuss and the other members of her small staff worked very hard in assisting them. This involved working long hours.
Rise Roar Revolt (U.S.)
With a nod to Marvel’s blockbuster model, but without the self-aware irony or the fetishized superheroes, Rajamouli’s three-hour epic is a rousing spectacle of song and dance. It’s a riot of gravity-defying stunts, big emotions and a menagerie of CG animals.
Until recently, American moviegoers had rarely seen a film from Tollywood (a segment of Indian cinema that caters to Telugu-speaking audiences in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). But “Rise Roar Revolt” changed all that with its 2022 rerelease.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (U.S.)
With a screenplay by Steven Knight, Fede Alvarez, and Jay Basu, this reboot of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise brings Claire Foy back as Lisbeth Salander. The movie aims for the same menacing appeal that made its predecessors work, but it loses a dimension with this iteration.
Computer scientist Frans Balder returns to Sweden with his autistic son August after being contacted by law enforcement agencies about the danger from an international crime syndicate known as the Spiders.
The Old Man and the Sea (U.S.)
After the critical failure of his previous novel, Across the River and into the Trees, Hemingway needed a big hit. He got it with this story about an old Cuban fisherman and his epic struggle with a giant marlin.
Spencer Tracy gives a magnificent performance as the old man, and Hemingway’s skill for merging drama and tenderness lends the film a timeless quality.
The Spy Who Loved Me (U.S.)
The Spy Who Loved Me was the third film in the James Bond series. The movie has virtually nothing in common with the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, but it makes up for this detachment with its impressive set pieces and stunts.
The opening sequence, with Bond skiing off a cliff and then jumping into a parachute, is one of the greatest in film history. Lewis Gilbert, who had directed Bond in You Only Live Twice, returns to direct.
