Punishment Park (1971) Director: Peter Watkins Actors: Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano Runtime: 88 min Punishment Park is a dystopia (reverse utopia) in which US President Richard Nixon declares a state of emergency, suspends all civil rights, the police arrests thousands of people and deliverers them to military tribunals which are adjudicating with no …
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 …
Medium Cool (1969) Director: Haskell Wexler Actors: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz Runtime: 111 min A realistic movie centered around a TV cameraman and his relationship with a single working class mother, made in the social atmosphere of a mass political awakening and loss of trust in the legitimacy of the system. The focus …
Les statues meurent aussi (1953) Directors: Chris Marker, Alain Resnais Runtime: 30 min The narrator says in the opening sequence: “When men die, they become history. Once statues die, they become art. This botany of death is what we call culture.” This documentary makes an excellent analysis of the cold cruelty by which colonialism and …
Afrique 50 (1950) Director: René Vautier Runtime: 17 min René Vautier went to West Africa to make a documentary for the French League of Schooling, but when he arrived there he was appalled by the colonial exploitation, brutal crimes of the French army and poverty people lived in. Although upon his return to the country, …
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) Director: Ivan Dixon Actors: Lawrence Cook, Janet League Runtime: 102 min In the political climate of integration, the CIA was required to enroll African-American recruits, but because of very rigid criteria, only one of them manages to complete the training, and the job assigned to him was …
