The War Between Israel and Hamas – 7 Movies About The Holocaust

I grew up on the West side of Chicago.  It was the late 50’s.  Our neighborhood was diverse,  The majority of the merchants were Jews.  Most lived in the apartments above the storefronts where they had meat markets, toy stores, dry cleaners, hardware, and home furnishings.  Mrs. Isaacson owned a drug store.  She gave me my first puppy who we named Roscoe. 

I saw men with numbers on their arm and asked my dad about it. You see, I was a daddy’s girl and Saturdays were days he spent in the local newspaper stand, talking with other older men.  I went with him pretty much everywhere on weekends when he was off work, and looked forward to going to the newspaper stand. I looked at the paper doll cut-out books and the comics, and I listened. Being 6 years old, I didn’t understand much of what they were saying, but I did understand that they each understood each other. They talked about what happened in other countries, why they were in Chicago, what they had endured and what they survived.  They talked about trust and distrust.  They talked about giving their children better lives. 

Yes, at the age of 6, I looked forward to getting a brand new Buick as a high school graduation present!

My dad died when I was 16-years old.  I grieved really hard and it was not until I became an adult  that I thought back to the things I learned from my dad, rather than wondering what my life would be like had he lived.

It was my dad who exposed me to the real world, including knowledge of the Holocaust and why it is important for the Jews to have their own land returned to them.

Being a people close to my heart, I’ve been drawn to movies about the Holocaust.  Here are the trailers for some of them.  I won’t put a description.  They are in order for the year they were released.

I encourage you that with war going on in Israel,  it might be a good time to remember that today, there are still hateful, evil people wanting to repeat history, and moral, strong people of all nationalities and colors who say, “never again”.

Chris Rock Was Wrong

Okayokayokay. That doesn’t mean that I think Will Smith’s response was right.  This isn’t an either-or where we should pick one person out as being right and the other wrong.  Both were wrong, with Chris Rock being the instigator.

I love movies (some more than others) and look forward to the Academy Awards each year.  2022 was no different.  What seems to be the major event of this year’s ceremony is not the actors, directors, etc., that received awards, but the slap that Will Smith gave to Chris Rock.

What I’ve notice since the slap is that many are supporting Chris Rock.  That’s okay if they think he is a victim.  What’s not okay is having double standards.  This is what I mean …

Chris was on stage to present an Oscar winner when he took time to joke first and said to actress Jada Pickette-Smith,

“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,”

Jada Pinkett-Smith

Pinkett Smith announced she had shaved her head last year after being diagnosed with alopecia.  She did not shave her head to play a movie role.  Jada was not in the 1997 movie “GI Jane”.   In that film, actress Demi Moore shaved her head to play the role.

Jada shaved her head because of a medical condition. That is why it’s my position that Chris Rock was disrespectful, degrading, and flat-out wrong.

 

Stan Lee, Creator of Marvel Super Heroes, Dead at 95

This breaks my heart.  The day that I received my diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer in September, I remember wondering if I would live long enough to see the sequel to Avenger’s Infinity War that is scheduled for release in May 2019.  That is how much of a fan I am of Stan Lee and the actors in his movies.

 

Per TMZ ;

Stan Lee, the man responsible for much of the Marvel Universe, has died … Stan’s daughter tells TMZ.

We’re told an ambulance rushed to Lee’s Hollywood Hills home early Monday morning and he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. We’re told that’s where he died.

Lee had suffered several illnesses over the last year or so — he had a bout of pneumonia and vision issues.

Stan started Marvel with Jack Kirby in 1961 with The Fantastic Four. He went on to create Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and The Avengers.

Stan made cameo appearances in all of the Marvel movies.

Lee had a rocky relationship with Marvel once the company went full-tilt Hollywood. He sued the company in 2002 for royalties he said he was owed for the first “Spider-Man” movie. Three years later he settled the case for $10 million.

“Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” is the latest installment of the film’s franchise and will be released next month.

Lee is survived by his daughter, J.C. His wife of 69 years, Joan, died in 2017.

There’s a saying that when men have been married a long time and their wife dies first, that it’s not long before they die.  I’ve known that to happen to two friends.   May Stan and Joan both rest in peace.

 

The Blind Cannot Lead The Blind –Blindness, The Movie

Okay.  I admit.  When I first became aware of Mark Ruffalo was in The Avengers.  I fell in love with how he played Dr. Banner/The Hulk character.  That movie was released in 2012, and I suspected that Ruffalo had to have started his career long before then.  Since then, I search for movies On Demand that he appears in.

On my channel line-up is the Indie movie channel.  It is showing a movie titled “Blindness” starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore.  It was released in 2008 and is categorized as a mystery, drama, and sci-fi movie.

Imagine a city where everyone goes blind – citizens, emergency response personnel, police, military, doctors, scientists, politicians, criminals, etc., and you are the only person with eyesight.  Because everyone else is blind, they believe that you are too and you don’t tell them otherwise.

This post is going to be longer than I generally write, but I hope it captures your attention and reads fast because the movie Blindness is intensely symbolic.

Wikipedia describes Blindness as;

“Blindness is a 2008 English-language film, an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by Portuguese author José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. The film was written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo as the main characters. Saramago originally refused to sell the rights for a film adaptation, but the producers were able to acquire it with the condition that the film would be set in an unnamed and unrecognizable city. Blindness premiered as the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008, and the film was released in the United States on October 3, 2008.”

Although I have to address portions of the movie, (spoilers) this is not a movie review, per se.  It took me about 2 minutes into the movie to realize that blindness is a metaphor.  “Blindness” is about an ineffectual government. Blindness is about how people relate to each other under crisis – or not. Blindness is about disconnection of social structure.  Blindness is about people driven by what is just and fair – or not.  It’s also about people driven by fear – or not. It’s about placing value on self and others – or not.  It’s about the differences between control and power.  It’s about self-governance during social collapse.

I’ve only read synopsis about the book “Blindness,” but with art imitating life, I get the impression that Saramago’s written creation is intended as actor Danny Glover describes, “The story deals with something we have to confront, which is our own inability to see what’s going on around us.”

By the time the movie ends, the viewer should understand that there is a difference between “sight,” “seeing,” and “vision”.

None of the characters in this movie have names.  The city is unnamed.  The year is unknown.  What causes the blindness is unknown.  How long it lasted is unknown, although we get clues by seeing beards grown, fruit swiveled up, and dead plants, that it lasted over a month.

There are many scenes in this movie that I have not included.  Some give more understanding of the personalities of the characters.   There is symbolism, such as people rejoicing in the rain as a symbol of baptism into new life. The only person who has eyesight shows her overwhelming emotions as she witnesses the filth and chaos that others cannot see.  I was captivated by this film.   

“Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” Premieres July 30.

On the evening of February 26, 2012, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was shot in the heart and killed by George Zimmerman. On April 11,2012, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. A jury of 6 women, none of whom are Black, acquitted Zimmerman on July 13, 2013.

“Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” is a 6-part documentary series that premieres on Monday, July 30, 2018 on Paramount and BET.

Co-directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason interviewed more than 100 people for the series, with twenty-some sources in Sanford alone.  They employed an investigative team that included a former New York Times journalist and interviewed friends of Zimmerman, experts on the origins of Black Lives Matter; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which helped identify how the case was discussed in white supremacist chat rooms and message boards.

Come Together

“He say, I know you. You know me. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.”

There are times I feel out of touch; out of touch with new music artists, actors and movies.   There were once neighborhood movie theaters where you could take a walk and see what movies were playing and coming soon.  Now, they are located behind big parking lots.   Some previews are shown during commercial breaks on television, but they cannot be compared to the movie posters of old.

Why am I reminiscing?  Saturday evening, family got together to watch a movie.  It is not the movie that caused me to reminisce but the one song on the soundtrack.

I’m a Marvel Comic movie fan and not much into DC Comic movies.  Superman was once my favorite superhero and remains on the list.  I think I watched the 1978 movie ten times or more; twice at the theater.   I never cared much for Batman.  The movies are dark and dank and without his special gadgets, Bruce Wayne is no superhero. 

Oh What A Night

It’s been tiring and time consuming keeping up with all of the news.  Some comfort I’ve found is putting time aside to watch at least 2 movies a week — movies I’ve not watched previously.  (I’m a stickler for re-watching movies I like.)

When I saw the movie “Jersey Boys” was on, I watched it.  Jersey Boys is a movie released in 2014.   It’s based on a Tony Award winning musical by the same title.  Jersey Boys is a biography about 4 boys leading a life of crime, going in and out of jail, and how they later became the singing group the Four Seasons.  The movie is a bit long at 2 hours, 4 minutes, but I enjoyed the story, the actors, and the music. 

Stranger Fruit – A Must See Documentary That Unravels What Happened To Mike Brown

On August 9th, 2014 an unarmed 18-year-old named Michael Brown was killed by Ferguson, MO Officer Darren Wilson. Michael’s death became viral news and sparked protests for him worldwide.   Mike’s death also sparked a great deal of division and controversy.   Ferguson looked like a police state with the presence of the National Guard.

Sometime ago, I remember seeing on Twitter about the discovery of another video of Mike Brown in the convenience store.  I also remember various criticisms of the video and of the person who released it, even one that said the man who released the video was trying to promote his “book”.

As a blogger who has followed cases, I will tell anyone that it’s very difficult to convey in writing what is on video.  It is more difficult when what the video shows is being disputed.  Videos need to be presented in order for eyes to see.  As a journalism professor once told our class, “Show.  Don’t tell.”

The documentary Stranger Fruit, shows.  That doesn’t only apply to an additional video not released to the public during investigations into Mike’s death.  It also applies throughout the various interviews. It shows what is being discussed.

The Movie “Get Out” – Suspense And Racial Metaphors

The previews promoted the movie Get Out as a horror or comedy movie.  I’m not a big fan of horror movies so didn’t make time to see it in the theater.  When the movie became available On Demand, I watched it.  In fact, I’ve watched it about 5 times.

Get Out was nominated for, and won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.   Those selecting movies for nominations just didn’t know what category to use for Get Out.  I categorize it as a suspense movie.  There’s some science fiction stuff in it but overall, the movie is about aversive racism.

If you haven’t seen Get Out, there are spoilers in this post, but I promise you, even the spoilers will help increase your enjoyment and understanding of the movie.

Some Whites reading this might feel uncomfortable.  Some might feel insulted.  Some might see it as an eye-opener to check their own sense of entitlement because truly, people with entitlement characteristics tend to use the same manipulative schemes to try to get what they want from everyone, regardless of race.

Some have accused Get Out of promoting distrust and hatred of Whites.   It doesn’t.   The movie doesn’t have to create distrust.   It is telling Whites what most Blacks already know about aversive racism and its bed partner, White entitlement.

The movie tells the story of a White family whose ideologies include that Whites are superior in intelligence, while Blacks are physically superior.   Even the one character whose brain was newly implanted into a Black body, spoke of his Black experience in terms of spending more time doing chores.  In other words, he’s attempting to validate the idea that Blacks are created for servitude and physical labor.

The grandfather of the Armitage family developed the means to transplant the brains of Whites into the bodies of Blacks, while leaving enough of the victim’s brain so the victim becomes a spectator of how the White recipient is using their body.

The children of the family include a son named Jeremy, who likes to physically challenge Black men’s strength and so, uses sleep holds and physical force to kidnap and restrain them.  The mother, Missy, is a hypnotherapist who has developed a technique to put victims in a “sunken place”.   The dad is a neurosurgeon.  Jeremy’s sister is Rose. More about Rose later.

The Movie “What Happened to Monday” Has Deep Messages

No, Monday does not literally refer to a day of the week in this movie.

I’ve always enjoyed futuristic films about how the powers-that-be seek to control how others live and think.  In What Happened to Monday, there are shades of The Matrix, In Time, and as it concerns the dishonesty of the powers-that- be, Soylent Green.

There are some movies, such as The Matrix and In Time where we are not told how mankind came to the futuristic conditions.  What Happened to Monday does tells us.  There are some spoilers because I’m not a movie reviewer but simply like the symbolism and messages contained in movies and like discussing them.

What Happened To Monday is a Netflix film, titled Seven Sisters in Canada, France, Italy and Slovakia.  It was released in 2017.

Around the year 2043, overpopulation has caused a worldwide crisis in food and water shortages.  Man developed super genetic food to feed the world and as a result, humans started giving birth to litters of children.  I say litters because the movie is about septuplets – 7 identical sisters.  Their mom died during childbirth and Terrence Settman, played by actor Willem Dafoe, keeps the multiple births secretive and raises his granddaughters.  He names each one after a day of the week.

In their apartment, each sister can be herself.  Outside however, each one has to be Karen Settman, and they are only allowed outside on the day that they are named after.  This also means that they have to decide what career they will all share because Monday goes to work on that day; Tuesday goes to the same job on that day, etc. Noomi Rapace plays all seven of the sisters, and she does a great acting job.

Nicely Done… Samuel L. Jackson

There might not be a role that Samuel L. Jackson cannot play. I enjoy his acting and his name in the credits is one of the fastest ways for me to see the movie. I recently saw “The Samaritan” and his character in the “Hateful Eight” makes the story.

cfbostonbrian

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Oprah Winfrey’s Acceptance Speech of the Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Award

Oprah, in her charismatic personality, said it all in her acceptance speech.  She included some of her personal experience, putting a very personal and real touch to her words.

 

In Time – A Must See Movie For Those Interested In Social Issues

Time is money.

Time is power.

Time is life.

I’m not a professional movie reviewer.  I just love movies and because of a class in college, I like getting into the heads of directors.  Is this a movie just for entertainment purposes, or are they showing us something deeper?  Is the focus on the characters or the message?  What about the script?  Does it tell, or does the director expect for the audience to understand deeper messages by showing rather than telling?

The movie In Time is one I just saw and want to watch again.  Released in 2011, I somehow missed it.  It is now being shown on FXM.

The message is deeper than the characters, although we need to watch the characters to understand the impact of the message.

In Time has taken everything about society and turned it into life expectancy that is issued out by unknown powers.  The movie doesn’t tell us how it started, but at the end it gives us a glimpse of how it loses control and the people take control.

The movie takes place in a dystopian future when humans are bioengineered.  They stop physically aging at 25 years.  When they reach age 25, their clocks come on.  They are given 12 months of time.   Those 12 months however, are reduced or increased because time has replaced money.  In other words, it’s not a matter of living for the next 12 months preparing to die because time is also used to pay for basic living expenses; rent, food, utilities.  Because the clock is always ticking down, getting back 12 months of time is impossible for the working class because whatever they earn, they spend on living expenses.  Then too, they have to sleep.  While sleeping, their clocks tick down.

Stories, Social Studies, and Another Film I Love

When my sister and I were in high school in the 60’s, we were required to read the book “Lord of the Flies” for social studies. Because she was 2 grades ahead of me, I always had the chance of helping her study and reading assigned books. I’m happy that I read Lord of the Flies before I had to read it.  That is because when a character in book named Piggy died, it saddened me.  I knew what to expect two years later when it was required reading for my social studies class.

Lord of the Flies is a novel written in 1954 by Nobel Prize winning English author William Golding.  In the midst of a wartime evacuation, a British plane carrying school boys crashes on an uninhabited island. Only the boys survive.  They make a disastrous attempt to govern themselves.  Of the boys who tried to organize and form a democratic society and responsibility to help rescuers find them, only one survived to the end of the book.  He is alone as the other boys descend into savagery.

The book has an allegorical level, such as the human conflict with having rules as opposed to becoming savages to survive and how each person has the potential of both within them.

By the 1980’s and with the creation of VHS, some high schools began showing the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy” in their social studies class.

A Science Fiction Love Story Movie That Isn’t

Science fiction movies, especially those that involve space travel, generally allow human logic in their characters.  At least, it is logic that goes with the plot. Most of them that involve hyper-sleep while traveling to other planets, are with a purpose of conducting something scientific or capitalistic.

In the second movie in the Alien franchise, the movie tells us that they sent a group of settlers to a planet that is inhabited by alien creatures whose sole purpose is to use human bodies as hosts to give birth to reproduce more aliens.

In the movie Avatar, we see scientists and mercenaries travel to a moon for a company that is stripping it of natural resources. In Avatar, the people on the ship were in hyper-sleep for 5 years.

What about a movie where Earthlings pay money to be put on a space ship to travel so far away, that they will be in hyper sleep for 120 years?  The only reason that the movie gives to us is that the people want to start over.

The movie I’m talking about is Passengers.  Since first seeing Chris Pratt in the movie Jurassic World, I became a fan.  In fact, I became so much of a fan that I looked up other movies he appeared in before Jurassic World and watched them, such as Guardians of the Galaxy.  I also like science fiction movies, so you might say that with Chris Pratt being in Passengers, I had to see the movie.

Desmond Doss and Hacksaw Ridge – Evidence of Faith

I love movies.  When it comes to war movies, I’m seen many and some I really liked, but never want to watch again.  Saving Private Ryan is one such movie.

When I heard of the Academy Award nominations for 2017, there were movies that caught my attention. Hacksaw Ridge was one such movie.  It is categorized as a war movie, directed by Mel Gibson.  In other movies he directed, Gibson likes to show the horror of reality.  In The Passion, he showed spurting blood from the hands of Jesus as the nails were driven in.  In Braveheart, Gibson did not shy away from showing the use of swords to cut off the legs of horses ridden by the English army.  It brought their soldiers to the ground, making combat more equal.

A war movie directed by Gibson would have to be brutally bloody.  However, the war itself is not the main theme in Hacksaw Ridge.  The main theme is a man – a real man, a Pacifist, and his struggle to serve in the Army as a combat medic while staying committed to his faith.

I rented Hacksaw Ridge through On Demand and I watched.  I watched again, and again.  Desmond Doss captivated me.  As a Pacifist, he was misunderstood.  I can relate to that.

On April 1, 1942, Desmond Doss joined the United States Army.  It was just after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Desmond wanted to serve his country – the United States, saving lives.  He was 23-years old; a skinny native of Virginia with a southern drawl. In Desmond’s mind, God said, “If you love me, you won’t kill.”

When he voluntarily enlisted, he was assured that he would be assigned to a medic company and because of his Seventh Day Adventist belief in Saturday being the Sabbath, he was told that belief would be honored.

Instead, Desmond was assigned to an infantry rifle company.  His commanding officers wanted to get rid of him.  They intimidated him, and assigned him to extra duties.  They even tried to court martial him for refusing a direct order to carry a rifle.  But, they failed to toss him out, and he refused to leave.

His fellow soldiers ostracized and bullied him.  Because he refused to touch a gun, they called him a coward.  Desmond believed in the Golden Rule and never held a grudge.  When the men got blisters on their feet, Desmond had a way of healing them.  When they fainted from heat stroke, he was at their side with his own canteen. 

Get On The Bus

Christmas Eve, while the cornbread was in the oven, and the smoked turkey boiling in the pot waiting for the green beans to be added, I turned off Christmas music and tuned on the television.

GET ON THE BUS, Roger Guenveur Smith (second from left), director Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Charles S. Dutton, Richard Belzer, 1996, (c)Columbia Pictures

The movie, “Get on The Bus” was on. Get on the Bus is a Spike Lee film, released in 1996 on the one-year anniversary of the Million Man March. In the film, there are 12 Black men from Los Angeles on a bus bound for Washington, D.C.   The only thing that the men have in common is their race. They are various ages and their careers range from petty thief to police officer.

There is a scene in the movie that takes place when the bus is pulled over by State Troopers in Knoxville, Tennessee.   Getting out of the police car with a dog, the Trooper, played by Randy Quaid, tells the men that they are checking for drugs. Gary, who is bi-racial and a Los Angeles police officer, introduces himself to the Trooper and shows his badge. It means nothing to the Trooper, who has the Sherman Shepherd dog brought on the bus.  As the dog sniffs each row of seats, the Trooper shines his flashlight into the face of each man, asking them if they wanted to confess to having drugs before the dog finds them. The men shielded their eyes from the blinding flashlight as the Trooper calls them “boys.”

RETURN OF THE JEDI

I always wait until the theaters are not crowded — plan to see it after New Year’s.

The Fifth Column

Disney/Lucasfilm

THE HUFFINGTON POST

‘Star Wars’ Just Came Out And Already Broke A Box Office Record

Anxious “Star Wars” fans who will tolerate none of your spoilers have broken one box office record — and the movie just came out.

Ticket vendor Fandango says “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has already broken its record for the most tickets sold for any film over its entire theatrical run. It usurped “Jurassic World” — another nostalgia-heavy flick — for the title.

Fandango, which sells tickets to a majority of theater screens in the U.S., did not specify the value of the tickets sold. But The Associated Press reported earlier today that the film has earned more than $100 million in presale tickets in North America. What’s more, according to a poll on the site, 63 percent of respondents had plans to see “The Force Awakens” more than once in theaters.

So yes, theaters will…

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Not the Blind Side –Black Foster Child Attacked By Cops In His Own Home

The Blind Side

In 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” is a semi-biographical film about the life of Michael Oher, and offensive lineman who plays for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. Oher has an impoverished upbringing, but high prospects in college football, and was without parents and homeless when he met Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Oher, who is Black, was adopted by the Tuohy’s, who are White. Actress Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film, and the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a leading role. The film itself received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Tim McGraw played the role of Sean Tuohy.

When I heard about DeShawn Currie of Wake County, North Carolina, (just south of Raleigh) I immediately thought of the movie, “The Blind Side,” although for DeShawn, it was not classmates that made him feel unwelcomed – it was the cops. For about a year, DeShawn has lived with his foster parents Ricky and Stacy Tyler, who are White.  They moved into their new home in July.

DeShawn Currie

DeShawn came home from school the other day.  A neighbor profiled him as “suspicious” and called 911. When the cops arrived, DeShawn asked them why they were there? He told them that he lives there. The cops looked at photos on the wall and seeing that the photos are of White people, accused DeShawn of lying.

Let’s Talk About Race Relations – “The Well”

The Well is a 1951 movie nominated for two Academy Awards; one for best screenplay and one for best editing.  Shot on location in Marysville and Yuba City, California, this film holds up today as a socially conscious film.  In my opinion, every Sociology class across America should see and discuss this film.  Let us take the opportunity to do so here.

The Well is a story of how a community becomes racially divided and how truth overwhelmingly brings it back together.  It is balanced, showing human tendencies regardless of race.

The director tells us the truth from the beginning of the film.  The film’s characters do not know that truth and as the movie continues, we see the townspeople become lost in anger and hatred, forgetting what started it all.

This film is about 81 minutes.  If you have that time, please try to watch it in one setting, and please click the box on the bottom right of the Youtube frame for full-screen.

Since posting this, the Youtube channel where the film was located has been deleted by the owner.  We’re including a film clip found on Youtube instead.