By Govindini Murty. Israel has had tremendous problems in recent years getting any fair treatment in the Western media or in Western popular culture. As we have already well documented here at Libertas Film Magazine, the Western cinema – in particular Hollywood – is going out of its way to portray Islamic radicalism in a positive light (just look at the pro-Islamist messages in recent films like the remake of Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven, and even Avatar). These films all portray Islamic radicals to varying degrees as noble freedom fighters, oppressed minorities, and virtuous warriors against the hegemonic forces of the West. What is so sad is that there is a democracy in the Middle East, Israel, that is truly made up of an oppressed, persecuted minority – the Jewish people – who receive no such favorable treatment from the Western cultural establishment.
This is all the more tragically clear in the media’s biased coverage of the current crisis off the coast of Israel. Since LFM is not a political site but a film and culture site, I wanted to let our readers know about some good documentaries that will shed some light on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The barrage of lies about Israel by the Western media and cultural establishment is so great that even the most well-reasoned books and columns by pro-Israel commentators have little chance of getting through to the public. That’s why supporters of Israel need to pursue artistic and cultural means to communicate why Israel is worth defending.
Here are seven documentaries you should see in order to understand what is actually going on in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We’re proud to have shown a number of these films at the Liberty Film Festival, and you can buy most of them in our LFM Store above. Note, these films are listed in the order that people should ideally see them, starting with the earlier documentaries and proceeding then to the later ones: Continue reading 7 Films about Israel & The Background to the Current Gaza Crisis
• The Washington Examiner asks: did CAIR ruin 24? Answer: not really. 24‘s right-wing audience was already tapped-out by the show’s 3rd season, so producers appeared to make move to political left to broaden show’s appeal. Result? 24 became season 4 of The West Wing.
• An MTV reality show is causing controversy in Saudi Arabia … close on the heels of a similar show causing controversy in Pakistan. MTV re-asserting itself as major American weapon in war against global stuffiness. I still wish they would re-boot Aeon Flux.
By Jason Apuzzo. We hope everyone is enjoying this Memorial Day Weekend, and that we’re all remembering the reason for this extended summer holiday: the bravery and sacrifice of the countless men and women who have fought and died for America’s freedom.
It’s a pleasant coincidence that this Memorial Day, May 31st 2010, also happens to be the 80th birthday of Clint Eastwood – a coincidence that puts a cheerful cast over what should otherwise be a sober day.
As the most popular and enduring movie star since John Wayne, Clint needs little introduction – particularly to longtime Libertas readers. If for some reason, however, you happen to not be familiar with Clint’s incredible body of work, Turner Classic Movies has been showing his films all day long during its 24 hour tribute. They’ve certainly chosen well, as Clint’s extraordinary ‘Man With No Name’ trilogy of films (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) directed by Sergio Leone is on the list, as well as Where Eagles Dare (a personal favorite of mine), Kelly’s Heroes, and the first two ‘Dirty Harry’ films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force). If you miss any of the screenings, you can pick up copies of all these films in our store below.
I will confess to having mixed feelings about the type of films Clint has been making over the past 15 or so years – essentially since he left the Western genre after the masterful Unforgiven. This isn’t the day for such quibbling, though. Clint’s had an extraordinary and iconic career, and with a handful of exceptions like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, no male star of his generation has approached his popularity. Our congratulations to Clint on this milestone birthday.
When I was a young kid first exploring movie history on home video, the stars who made a big impression on me were Eastwood, Humphrey Bogart, and Errol Flynn. Is it a coincidence that they were all Warner Brothers men? Perhaps not. Richard Schickel explores Eastwood’s career at Warner Brothers (Eastwood’s home from the 1970’s forward) in his new documentary, The Eastwood Factor, which is also showing on Turner Classic Movies during the 24 hour tribute – and the documentary is also available in the LFM Store above.
It was a pleasure having Richard Schickel at the Liberty Film Festival a few years ago – and we congratulate him on this latest collaboration with Clint. Richard also wrote what is the essential biography of Clint, Clint Eastwood: A Biography – which is also available in the LFM Store above, along with Richard’s new book, Clint Eastwood: A Retrospective.
By Jason Apuzzo. Actor Dennis Hopper died earlier today at age 74. Hopper will be remembered for many things, but I wanted to say just a few brief words in his honor with respect to what seems to me to be his most singular achievement: his film Easy Rider. Every filmmaker today who turns to independent filmmaking to express a personal and uncompromising vision, every filmmaker who seeks to reach young people, every filmmaker who plays the role of David to Hollywood’s Goliath, owes Dennis Hopper thanks for Easy Rider. Easy Rider was genuinely the film that changed the entire landscape of Hollywood during the late 60s-early 70s, and allowed the New Hollywood generation to get its big chance. And it was Hopper – as Easy Rider‘s director, writer and star – who was primarily responsible for the film getting made. Seen today, I think Easy Rider has stood the test of time, and has become its own genuine piece of Americana – a kind of wild, bacchic ode to freedom.
Hopper will be missed. He was an extraordinary performer on-camera; one thinks in particular of his electric appearances in Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet, among many other films. We want to wish his family and friends our condolences.
By Jason Apuzzo. • In honor of Memorial Day, Turner Classic Movies is showing three days’ worth of classic war films. Check here for specific listings. Some of my favorites today include In Harm’s Way, Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Britain and Midway. On Sunday, check out The Guns of Navarone and The Green Berets. Each of these films is available through the LFM Store below.
• If you’re in Los Angeles, The Egyptian Theatre will be screening 4 other war classics: The Dirty Dozen, Attack, The Big Red One and The Steel Helmet. Check The LA Times for further details. Each of these films is available in the LFM Store below.
• Also at the Egyptian Theatre, Pam Grier will be doing a book signing on Saturday, June 5th at 6:15 pm for her new autobiography, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts. There will also be a discussion with her prior to a screening of her films Foxy Brown and Jackie Brown. See here for more details. You can buy a copy of Foxy in the LFM Store below.
Hedy Lamarr.
• And also in Los Angeles, the Academy is putting on a wonderful-looking exhibit of Ray Harryhausen’s work, featuring many of Ray’s original models from his films. Check the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website for further details. You can also pick up a copy of The Ray Harryhausen Collection in the LFM Store above.
• On the book front, there’s a new biography of Hedy Lamarr coming out, called Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr. The book will be released in October. The author, Stephen Michael Shearer, has previously written a biography of Patricia Neal. See here for further details. Pre-order your copy of Beautiful in the LFM Store above.
• Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless has been re-released by Rialto Pictures, with a restored new print. Right now it’s playing at New York’s Film Forum, to be followed by a national release. Check here for screenings in your area, or pick up a copy of the newly restored Breathless in the LFM Store above.
• Movie Morlocks, the official blog for Turner Classic Movies, had a great post up by Moira Finnie on Duke Wayne’s Hondo. Check that out, and pick up a copy of Hondo in the LFM Store.
• … and don’t forget to catch Jennifer Baldwin’s LFM Classic Movie Obsession post (Memorial Day Edition) for this week: Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York.
Best wishes to everyone this Memorial Day Weekend, as we honor the men and women who’ve sacrificed everything to keep this nation free.
[Update: Actor Dennis Hopper has died at age 74, after a battle with cancer. He was, of course, one of the pivotal stars and cinema personalities of the past 40-50 years. Our condolences to his family and friends.]
By Jason Apuzzo.Prince of Persia is opening this weekend, a Jerry Bruckheimer film based on a video game and starring an American guy of Swedish descent in the lead. If that’s your type of cinema, feel free to knock yourself out this weekend – but I thought that for the heck of it I would briefly review a marvelous film that’s still out in theaters right now and that was made by (and about) actual Persians. It’s a little indie gem called No One Knows About Persian Cats, which won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Persian Cats is about two young Iranian rock musicians – a naive young guy and his cute, shrewd girlfriend – who are planning an indie rock gig for themselves in London just after having been released from prison. The film takes place in the underground rock scene of Tehran, where such imprisonments are apparently common. Hoping to snag fake passports and visas for themselves, the two young people spend much of the film meandering through the underground rock scene of Tehran – much of which is literally underground – trying to convince other musicians to join them in their attempt to get out of the country.
What makes Persian Cats so compelling – even somewhat shocking – is how utterly Westernized the young kids and their musical compatriots are. There was a period of my life when I spent a lot of time around musicians, and Persian Cats almost feels like a documentary about struggling young musicians in New York or LA – except in this case, these young kids are literally struggling to launch their careers under a death threat. As tragic as the circumstances are, though, the film makes it abundantly clear that American culture – and the freedom it embodies – is seeping through the pores of Iranian society to a degree far beyond what the regime there can control.
Persian Cats is directed by Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses, Marooned in Iraq), and this is the second film of Ghobadi’s to deal with Iranian restrictions against women singing. [In Iran, it’s illegal for women to perform even traditional Persian music in public, so don’t expect Lady Gaga to appear there any time soon.] Ghobadi’s Marooned in Iraq dealt with a Kurdish man helping his ex-wife flee Iran subsequent to the ban on women performing. Persian Cats thematically picks up where that film left off, although this film is considerably more dynamic – and, indeed, more musical than its predecessor.
The film’s two leads are played by Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan Koshanejad, both real-life figures of Iran’s alt-rock scene. In their mission to re-assemble their band (Take It Easy Hospital) and purchase forged passports and visas to exit the country, they encounter a variety of colorful figures – the most amusing being Nader (played by Hamed Behdad), a fast-talking agent-fixer. Behdad gives what is to me the stand-out performance of the film, particularly when at one point he grovels his way out of being lashed by the authorities.
Acting performances really are secondary, though, to the music and cinematography of the film. Cinematographer Turaj Mansuri draws deeply saturated colors out of the Tehranian night, and the indie-alt soundtrack features some nice numbers that are still swimming around in my head. The film is otherwise shot and edited very much like a documentary – and whereas the ‘documentary-realist’ style comes across in most films as an affectation, here it works perfectly. Persian Cats has a mellow, bouncy, improvised feeling to it – there’s not a moment that’s forced or contrived. And the acting itself feels improvised, although that may be because the cast members were apparently playing thinly veiled versions of themselves.
Persian Cats was co-written and executive produced by Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was imprisoned in Iran last year on trumped-up ‘espionage’ charges. And there is, ultimately, an aura of the ex-patriot about the whole production. Persian Cats feels like a film made by – and for – a younger generation who have mentally and emotionally checked-out of contemporary Iran, even when they’re still living there. That’s both encouraging and disheartening. Persian Cats is ultimately a film about young kids living free lives … for as long as they can keep the cage door open. That cage door is always there, though, as certain events late in the film make poignantly clear.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this film for making such a light, sweet and stylish feature about what is otherwise an ongoing tragedy. Persian Cats is not going to bring down the regime in Tehran – but perhaps someday when the mullahs are gone, it will remind people that not even that horrible regime could stop young people from rocking.
No One Knows About Persian Catsis still playing in select theaters (see here), and the DVD will be available on July 26th. You can also catch it right now on video-on-demand on a variety of cable networks (I caught it recently in gorgeous high-definition on Cox cable).
By Govindini Murty. Israel has had tremendous problems in recent years getting any fair treatment in the Western media or in Western popular culture. As we have already well documented here at Libertas Film Magazine, the Western cinema – in particular Hollywood – is going out of its way to portray Islamic radicalism in a positive light (just look at the pro-Islamist messages in recent films like the remake of Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven, and even Avatar). These films all portray Islamic radicals to varying degrees as noble freedom fighters, oppressed minorities, and virtuous warriors against the hegemonic forces of the West. What is so sad is that there is a democracy in the Middle East, Israel, that is truly made up of an oppressed, persecuted minority – the Jewish people – who receive no such favorable treatment from the Western cultural establishment.
