The Color of Freedom 2007

     This film is also listed under the title Goodbye Bafana.  Based on the true story of James Gregory, he was a white South African racist with the job of guarding Nelson Mandela.  James once lived on a farm and he was a friend of Bafana.  Now he is really a plant in the prison to spy on Mandela as the censor of all written and verbal communications as well as their visitors.  Mandela has become the African National Congress Leader.  As James begins to know Mandela better now that they are both adults, he begins to understand why he became a rebel.  James also witnesses the harsh conditions in the prison plus the brutal police and security officers’ treatment of civilians, including women and infants.

     Written from a different point of view, features the lives of the guards and their families.  The guards are under as much surveillance as the prisoners and they only know part of the story of what is happening.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

118 min, Drama directed by Bille August with Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger, Patrick Lyster, Shiloh Henderson, Tyrone Keogh, Megan Smith, Jessica Manuel, Faith Ndukwana.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 7.0 out of 10. 44% critic 64% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Inescapable 2012

     The government in Tunisia is crumbling and it’s not a good time for Muna to pay a visit to see her father’s homeland.  Adib Abdul-Kareem lives in Canada with his wife and two daughters but he is originally from Syria.  He has not shared any of the details of his life in Syria with his daughters.  This has made his journalist daughter Muna curious and now she has gone missing in Damascus.  Adib contacts his friend Fatima and ask her to help him search for his eldest daughter.  Adib has not been back to Damascus in 20 years. 

     This movie was not filmed in Syria but in Johannesburg.  I kept hoping this would get better but it doesn’t.  There is a lot of created tension but it seems to always be going nowhere.  2* (I didn’t like this movie) 

93 min, Drama directed by Ruba Nadda with Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Saad Dissiqui, Fadia Nadda, Bonnie Lee Bouman, Jay Anstey.

Note:  Blockbuster 1 ½*, imdb 4.8 out of 10, 19% critic 31% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ginger & Rosa 2012

     London teen friends Ginger and Rosa do everything together until Ginger gets very involved with missiles.  This is 1962 and the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis between the Soviet Union and the US.  Ginger is going to meetings to ban the bombs and beginning to attend protest rallies.  She is also having a difficult time since her parents’ recent separation.  This has happened before but it has increased her fear of war and the end of life on earth.  The days of their friendship may be numbered after Rosa begins seeing Ginger’s father.

     Ginger’s father, Roland, is a real piece of work!!  He is the adult here and he’s coming between his daughter and her best friend.  This is bad enough but he is still married to Ginger’s mother!!  Seems to spread itself slightly thin with the addition of Spall, Platt, Benning.  Has a touch of soap opera too.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

90 min, Drama directed by Sally Potter with Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Allessandro Nivola, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Annette Benning, Christina Hendricks.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 6.0 out of 10, 79% critic 53% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

The House I Live In 2011

     The War on Drugs has been going on four decades and more than 45 million people have been arrested.  Each person jailed destroys a family.  Most of those arrested are men.  This removes another father from a home and sets the children in the family, especially the boys, down the same path the father took.  Since men are the higher wage earners, this leads to more poverty in the family.  When groups of people are segregated into housing projects, it causes more poverty and lack of jobs.  Lack of jobs and poverty lead to finding the only way to make money and that is dealing drugs.  People segregated, in poverty, without jobs, without hope turn to drugs to relieve their pain and to supply themselves with drugs, they deal.

     There are a lot of problems, mandatory minimum sentences, disparity between sentences for crack cocaine and powdered cocaine, asset seizure, police enforcement supported by the assets and prisons as a business venture.  What are the answers?  What we are doing that isn’t working?  Will 40 more years go by with America expecting different results?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

108 min, Doc directed by Eugene Jarecki with Nannie Jeter, David Simon, Michelle Alexander, Shaniqua Benitez, Mark Bennett, Mike Carpenter, Larry Cearly, Eric Franklin.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 7.7 out of 10, 94% critic 87% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Nobody Else But You 2011

     The original title of this film is Poupoupidou.  David Rouosseau is a popular French crime novelist working on a new book but also looking for a new story.  Candice Lecoeur is a young and attractive woman who thinks her life is following along the lines of Marilyn Monroe.  She was born in a remote location in France but she is discovered working at a gas station and selected as a model for a small cheese company in the area.  She becomes a local star and also does the weather.  Her body is found buried in the snow at the border of France and Switzerland.  This is a no-man’s land and there will not be an investigation of her death.  Rousseau believes she did not commit suicide by sleeping pills.

     This is a different style of film and the character of Candice does draw you into the story.  Rouosseau will use any means legal or not to find out the details of this case.  The sound track has hits from the 60’s, including a remake of the Mamas and Papas California Dreamin.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

102 min, Crime directed by Gerald Hustache-Mathieu with Jean-Paul Rouve, Sophie Quinton, Guillaume Gouix, Olivier Rabourdin, Clara Ponsot, Arsinee Khanjian.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, 82% critic 67% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Filly Brown 2012

     Majo Tonorio has struggled with her mother being behind bars.  Majo is hoping developing her skills as a rap artist will lead to a better life.  She also wants to get money to help her mother get a new trial.  She gets help with her music career from a local record producer and this is the opportunity of a lifetime.  What she doesn’t know is the rap words her mother gave her were stolen from another earlier obscure rap artist.  Everyone finds out the words are stolen, the producer wants his money back and she has turned her back on her friends as she gained fame.

     Rap is not my thing, the back story is still good in this film and it’s filled with urban Latino life situations.  Jenni Rivera, the late banda singer-songwriter, plays the role of the lying, selfish, addicted, double-dealing mother.  This is her first and only feature film performance.  3* (This movie is OK)

99 min, Drama directed by Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos with Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera, Lou Diamond Philips, Lala Romero, Jorge Diaz, Edward James Olmos.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 4.4 out of 10, 45% critic 76% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Venus and Serena 2012

     Based on their lives during 2011 and a profile of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.  During this year, Venus was diagnosed with autoimmune disease and Serena had a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.  Explores their lives, careers, approaches to the game, training, temperaments and how others perceive them.  Includes highlights of some of their important matches.  

     I don’t feel I know very much more about them after watching this film.  It doesn’t go very much into their lives except as tennis professionals and some information about their family.  This is not a personal portrait of two world-famous women but only about two incredible athletes.  3* (This movie is OK)

100 min, Doc directed by Michelle Major, Maiken Baird with Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Richard Williams, Anna Wintour, Bill Clinton, Arnon Milchan.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 5.6 out of 10, 77% critic 71% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.