Queimada (1969) Director: Gillo Pontecorvo Actors: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez Runtime: 132 min In the golden age of colonialism, British government sends an agent to a tropical island under Portuguese rule with the mission to start a slave rebellion, so that Britain would take over the island, for its significant sugar cane production. However, after …
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrick Actors: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden Runtime: 95 min Hilarious and very intelligent (also terrifying at the time it was made) Cold War black comedy that completely reveals insanity and absurdity of the Cold War paradigms. …
All the President’s Men (1976) Director: Alan J. Pakula Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford Runtime: 138 min During the U.S. presidential campaign of 1972, Washington Post reporters Karl Bernstin and Bob Woodward investigated the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. An anonymous source from the FBI, …
Belle epoque ili poslednji valcer u Sarajevu (1990 / 2007) Director: Nikola Stojanović Actors: Slobodan Ćustić, Davor Janjić, Vita Mavrić Runtime: 135 min On the 28th June 1914, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, member of the secret revolutionary group Young Bosnia (Mlada Bosna), shot dead the archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The film …
Hotaru no haka (1988) Director: Isao Takahata Runtime: 89 min A tragic story of two Japanese children left on their own in the midst od World War II. In the spring of 1945 U.S. bombers dropped napalm on Kobe, at the time the sixth-largest city in Japan with about one million inhabitants. The firestorm that …
Shoah (1985) Director: Claude Lanzmann Runtime: 566 min Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, the genocide of approximately six million of European Jews conducted by Nazis (and their collaborators) during World War II. It is very difficult to find the words to express or think about the Nazi industry of death. I will …
Chronique des Années de Braise (1975) Director: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina Actors: Yorgo Voyagis, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Leila Shenna Runtime: 177 min It is very rare to see colonialism depicted from the perspective of the enslaved. In this great Algerian movie, director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina succeeded in showing the essence of colonial rule and many aspects of resistance to …
Shake Hands with the Devil (2007) Director: Roger Spottiswoode Actors: Roy Dupuis, Owen Sejake, James Gallanders Runtime: 112 min General Roméo Dallaire was the Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in the moment when, at the beginning of April 1994, the Rwandan army and paramilitary forces of the ruling party MRND …
Syriana (2005) Director: Stephen Gaghan Actors: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright Runtime: 128 min A movie about the impact of the oil industry and petroleum politics on the Middle East, but also on world politics. Syriana is a term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical re-shaping of the Middle East. The structure …
Il Camorrista (1986) Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Actors: Ben Gazzara, Laura del Sol, Leo Gullotta Runtime: 164 min Outstanding movie about the Mafia in southern Italy at the end of the 1970s. In the beginning of the movie, the authors say they hope that viewers will strengthen their belief in the necessity of the state and …
