First Run Features

Eyes Wide Open

mandy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Viewing Eyes Wide Open is like watching a wrecking ball swing towards a beloved old building from afar; you can see the destructive aftermath coming, but are powerless to stop it. It is a gorgeously filmed demolition, filled with exquisite tenderness and emotion, but a demolition nonetheless.

The story follows the love between two Orthodox Jews living in Jerusalem. Aaron (an amazing acting job by Zohar Strauss) is a butcher, content living a simple life divided between his wife, children, job, and religious study. When Ezri (played by Ran Danker), a young gay man, is in need of a job, Aaron takes him in and teaches him the butcher trade. Soon it is Ezri who is teaching Aaron—opening his eyes up to fun, the pleasures of sex, freedom, and real human connection. Aaron awakens to a life outside of religion, and fights to reconcile it with everything he has been taught. He struggles to deny his passion for Ezri, seeing it at first as a challenge from God, but soon is overtaken by his desires and finds himself having an affair. Eventually, Aaron’s wife and the rest of the community find out, and the two are ostracized and attacked.

When Aaron’s rabbi visits him and asks him why he does not tell Ezri to leave he responds, “I feel alive. I need him. I was dead, and now I am alive.” It is a quiet but powerful moment, representative of the best of the film. Eyes Wide Open is masterful at silences, using as few words as possible to get its message across. Although the characters say little, we quickly become attached to them and their story. This is due mainly to superb acting by Strauss and Danker, who are well cast and very convincing. The audience genuinely feels their temptation and pain, and is invested in the survival of their relationship.

The message that it is impossible for homosexual relationships to exist within strict religious communities is not a new one. What is unique to the film is that the townspeople are not just against homosexuality. They interfere in each others’ lives and with heterosexual couples as well. Anything deemed immoral is grounds for personal confrontation. Thus, the film is not just looking at how religion restricts homosexual love, but how it restricts everyone. Aaron’s wife suffers as much from his infidelity as he does and the torment he receives from his community for his actions seems a small price to pay for a break from his monotonous, bland old life.

Eyes Wide Open does not offer any easy solutions for integrating religion with personal sexual orientation. But it does indicate that greater acceptance for diversity within religion would benefit everyone. Maybe, the film seems to say, there is some way to stop that wrecking ball before it strikes. Maybe the destruction is not as inevitable as we assume.

Written by: Arielle Burgdorf, January 16th 2011

Altiplano

priyanka — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Directed by Peter Brosens, Jessica Hope Woodworth

First Run Features

Award-winning filmmakers Jessica Hope Woodworth and Peter Brosens come together again to make the visually stunning Altiplano. Shot primarily in the mountains of Peru, Altiplano tells the story of two women: Grace, an ex-war photographer from Belgium, and Saturnina, a woman about to be married in the village of Turubamba, high in the Andes. The main narrative strain in the film is the story of Saturnina’s village as it interacts with the Belgian miners, who are mining for gold in the Andes, and the Belgian doctors who run a cataract clinic. Tensions around the gringos increases as the people of Turumbamba begin to suffer from mercury poisoning, which Saturnina connects to the miners.

The viewer is introduced to Grace in Iraq, where she is forced to photograph her guide and friend Omar as he is assassinated. Despite being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph, Grace has decided to withdraw from the competition with the explanation that the photograph should not exist. The film slowly brings the two women’s lives together, as Grace’s husband Max starts to work at the cataract clinic near Saturnina’s village. Eventually, Grace herself makes a pilgrimage to Turumbamba.

The filmmakers use the landscape of Peru to their advantage in many sweeping shots of the Andes mountains and the Peruvian desert. In part, Altiplano is a criticism of the colonial imperative of unregulated capitalism through its negative portrayal of the miners who threaten Saturnina's town with their improper disposal of mercury. However, the more interesting and perhaps even more nuanced theme of the film is the role and power of the image.

From the Virgin Mary statue that smashes at the beginning of the film and the religious spiritualism of such an image destruction, to Grace’s husband Max communicating with her through video diaries, to Saturnina’s own haunting video diary, to the images of the mercury-poisoned dead that the people of Turubamba thrust in the faces of the miners in protest, and to Grace’s photo of Omar, the film questions how images function. While Saturnina explains, "Without an image, there is no story," Grace’s experience of photographing Omar’s death also suggests that perhaps without the image, there would have been no story—without her presence, perhaps there would have been no assassination. The images of the dead haunt the living in this film and remind us that such images are culturally and politically charged with bearing both the mourning of survivors as well as the task of speaking out politically.

Perhaps the one criticism I would lay down on the filmmakers is that, despite the anti-colonial politics the film espouses, they choose to emphasize Saturnina’s proximity to the sacrificing Virgin Mary. Such emphasis sits in a long tradition of placing the "native woman" in the realm of iconography and myth—the spiritual addition to a story that in the end sees the White, Belgian Grace find peace and live in a world beyond the realm of imagery that Saturnina is relegated to.

Written by: Samantha McBean, October 22nd 2010

The Tiger Next Door

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Directed by Camilla Calamandrei

First Run Features

"Experts estimate that there are now more tigers in private captivity in the USA than there are roaming wild in the world."

This is the opening line from The Tiger Next Door, a compelling documentary about the surprisingly widespread practice of breeding, selling, and owning exotic animals in the United States. The film focuses on Dennis Hill, a big cat owner who resides in Indiana. Hill has been keeping tigers and other exotic animals since the early 1990s. The film follows his fight to keep his tigers, cougars, and bears after a government inspection put his facility in question.

The Tiger Next Door is a fascinating, thought-provoking documentary that presents a well-rounded look at the issue of owning exotic animals, raising many complex ethical questions that don't necessarily have a cut-and-dried answer. Should individuals be allowed to own big cats as pets? Just how much should the government regulate this?

Director and producer Camilla Calamandrei makes her stance clear on TheTigerNextDoor.com, with a “Take Action” page urging viewers to call for the ban of exotic animals as pets. Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel. On one hand, I am uncomfortable with the idea of keeping any animal—bird or lion—in a cage; on the other hand, doting pet owners often take exceptional care of their animals, with vet check-ups, treats, affection, and so forth. Is that a better life than living in the harsh wild? Or are we just indulging the humans that own them? What about keeping endangered animals in captivity to help restore their numbers?

Of course, it's a lot easier to care for a bird than a tiger. Questions were raised about the care Hill provided for his tigers, coming to a head in one explosive scene when Joe Taft of The Exotic Feline Rescue Center—who has taken in many of Hill's animals—argued that many of the cats were in poor health when they arrived at the rescue facility. Watching this film, I got the impression that Hill is extraordinarily devoted to his animals, although his own facility certainly had its flaws. I think if Hill is guilty of anything, it might be denial. It seemed that he couldn't bear to admit when he was overwhelmed with too many animals, which I suspect could have contributed to the alleged health issues. I think his downsized facility will make it easier for him to better care for his beloved cats, although he seems determined to add more tigers to his menagerie.

Personally, I feel that individuals should have the right live their lives as they see fit, so long as they are not causing harm. This is where the issue of animal rights comes in–if an animal is being abused or neglected, then obviously their owner is causing harm. Likewise, it is of grave importance that we safeguard humans from the threat that exotic animals pose—precautions must be taken to ensure that they cannot cause people any harm. Hill says in the documentary that he doesn't care if one of his beloved pets kills him—“What better way to die?”—and it's his right to make that choice. But it's critical that we have fair laws in place to regulate the conditions in which dangerous animals are kept to avoid unnecessary tragedies.

Regardless of your stance on keeping big cats as pets, I think The Tiger Next Door makes it clear that further action must be taken to ensure the health and safety of humans and felines alike.

Written by: Beeb Ashcroft, July 5th 2010

Fish Out of Water

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Directed by Ky Dickens

First Run Features

In Fish Out of Water, Ky Dickens recalls her effort to reconcile her devout, Christian faith with her homosexuality. She claims she feels like a “fish out of water,” because, after coming out during her senior year of college at Vanderbilt, she was ostracized from her academic community, but, at the same time, didn’t quit feel an affinity to the gay community at large. To remedy this intense feeling of conflict within her self, Dickens set out to study the Christian scriptures, mostly by traveling the country to consult leaders of the Christian faith. What she discovered during her journey was that many people lean blindly on the Bible—believing, for instance, that the Bible ordains that homosexuality is a sin, but, for the most part, these same people have very little idea about what actually is written in the Bible.

Therefore, Dickens’s objective in the documentary is to examine, through a series of interviews with key Christian leaders, the seven verses (of over 6,000 total) that are cited as the key verses used to buttress Christians’ condemnation of homosexuality and, specifically, same-sex marriage. Especially revelatory are the four verses analyzed from the Old Testament (the final three are from the New Testament scriptures written by Paul in Romans, 1 Timothy, and 1 Corinthians). In the creation story that begins Genesis, biblical scholars discuss how God created Eve as the “fit helper”—ezer kenegdo, a “corresponding helper”—for “Adam” (meaning human of no gender). Eve was not created as his servant or slave, but as a life companion, in which Adam can find strength to live life to the fullest. Not only does this explication turn misogynist interpretations of the Bible their heads, but it also works to clarify that the primary function of this creative coupling was to not “be fruitful and multiply,” but to live harmoniously. Eve was not meant to be the vessel for man’s reproduction, neither does this injunction to “be fruitful and multiply” connote that sexual relations, of whichever sort, that do not seek to reproduce are “unnatural.”

Another fascinating discussion focuses on the Sodom and Gomorrah story, which is cited by the ignorant masses as proof that homosexuality is “unnatural” and that “sodomites” will be subject to the wrath of God. The moral underlying the tale is not about the unnaturalness of homosexuality, but the consequences of failing to provide hospitality to strangers. Lot offers two strangers shelter for the night, to the dismay of the local villagers, who turn violent from what appears to be sheer boredom. They want to “know” (ie, rape) the two strangers, who turn out to be angels—and these angels unleash their fury upon the villagers, while allowing Lot and his family (his wife, who turns to salt, and his two daughters) to flee the village before it is destroyed. The two daughters, eager to create their own tribe, decide to get their father drunk and then rape him in order to procreate to begin their own tribe. Via analysis of this story, it becomes apparent how irrelevant and ineffective this verse is in a bigot’s arsenal against homosexuality—because it has nothing to do with same-sex relationships or marriage.

Overall, Dickens offers us a more satisfying take on the conflict between the Christian faith and homosexuality than other pieces, especially the tepid For The Bible Tells Me So, which had little substance in relation to is political bite. The focus on exegesis rather than politics renders the documentary a much stronger weapon against blind faith and bigotry. Fish Out of Water is a heartfelt but serious film for those who, like Dickens, long to ease the conflict between their religion and their sexuality. As well, it could prove a quite powerful tool if utilized in pedagogical settings, to dispel misconceptions of scripture in society.

Written by: Marcie Bianco, June 25th 2010

Behind the Burly Q

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Directed by Leslie Zemeckis

First Run Features

We can't deny that we're in the midst of a Burlesque Renaissance, at least in New York City—go to any club downtown and see for yourself. But there's also no denying that the art form has undergone a drastic change since its heyday, if not in the style of performance then in how its performers are received. Today there's something kitschy about women stripping down to pasties and shaking it 'til their tassels twirl. What was once our version of pole dancing has developed an innocent gloss with time. Nostalgia has helped us to appreciate burlesque for both its titillation and its humor, and to consider its performers not only strippers but also gifted comediennes.

In Behind the Burly Q, countless dancers from burlesque's "golden age" remind us that, even then, humor was always key, but that we shouldn't forget what the art form's really about. One former dancer recalls a remark made by her husband long after she'd stopped: "You weren't a stripper; you were in burlesque." She replied, "Well honey, what do you think I was doing in burlesque? I wasn't playing the piano."

This tongue-in-cheek attitude must have rubbed off on director Leslie Zemeckis, as she does her best to keep the film light even when approaching the darkest of subjects. Like many of those working the strip club circuit today, burlesque dancers of the thirties typically grew up underprivileged and often abused, with little hope for advancement. Some of the most famous performers, like Lili St. Cyr, carried their demons well into celebrity, falling into depression and drug use. Still, all of Zemeckis' interviewees look back on the era fondly, even when discussing their own struggles, and Zemeckis underscores their resilience with jaunty vaudevillian music throughout.

It's impossible to estimate how arousing burlesque was for audiences contemporary to its prime, but according to Behind the Burly Q, its performers were admired and courted by movie stars and politicians alike (including a young JFK). Burlesque brought them money and adoration, more than they could have garnered in any other profession available to them, and many of them truly enjoyed what they did. In fact, some dancers performed well into middle age, Ann Corio into her 80's. The film retains that same bawdy, shameless joy, while still managing to give proper reverence to its subject—and its originators.

Written by: Caitlin Graham, May 4th 2010

Off and Running

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Directed by Nicole Opper

First Run Features

Considering the number of children in need of adoption—and the number of children who are actually adopted each year—it's surprising there aren't more adoption stories being told. Aside from The Locator, we've had especially limited access to stories about adopted children reaching out to their birth parents. The delicate, vulnerable position of someone sending a letter out into the world, waiting and hoping to hear back about where they come from, is still a bit of a mystery, and more than worthwhile. In fact, I knew little about it until my own adopted mother finally reached out to her birth parents at age fifty-six.

Not only is that seminal search a matter of discovering identity for the adoptee; it is, potentially, a matter of deep-seated tension between the child and her adoptive parents. My mother actually waited until both of my grandparents had passed before seeking her own answers, to avoid the risk of hurting them.

Nicole Opper's Off and Running provides a candid, thoughtful portrait of such a situation in all its complexities. The documentary follows Avery Klein-Cloud, a charismatic star high school athlete from Brooklyn, who attempts to continue living the life she and her adoptive parents carved out for her while waiting on correspondence from her birth mother. The fact that Avery is trans-racially adopted—the African American daughter to two White Jewish mothers—makes her quest for identity that much more significant.

At the beginning of the film, Avery frankly admits her persistent discomfort in Black social spheres growing up, and later, when a counselor asks, “Do you feel Black?,” Avery says she doesn't know what that means. Her brother Rafi, also adopted but of mixed race, provides an interesting contrast; not only does he seem to have little interest in contacting his birth parents, but he seems entirely unconcerned with his origins. At the very least, he doesn't seem as dependent on where he came from for a sense of self.

Still, Avery's bravery in her search for answers is admirable, and considering how obviously torn she is about her particular situation, she is incredibly forthcoming and self-aware. We get an unexpected amount of access to her private thoughts and feelings about what she's going through, often things that she doesn't even share with her mothers. But as the tension in the Klein-Cloud household escalates, Opper seems to pull back and even gloss over certain pivotal incidents, like a falling out between Avery and her parents that results in her moving out for a period. Opper barely addresses an abortion Avery decides to get when an unwanted pregnancy threatens to impede her track career. In fact, this part of the story is so glossed over that I wasn't entirely sure that it happened.

In the end, Avery's coming of age—and to terms with the fact that she may never meet her birth mother—feels undeserved though still inspiring. Perhaps the fact that Opper has a personal relationship with the family (she was one of Avery's teachers in middle school) can account for her trepidation in handling such sensitive issues. But her reluctance does take away from the moral lesson of the film: that adopted children need to stand by those who've cared for them and showed them support every step of the way, which, in this case, is Avery's unconventional but extraordinary family.

Written by: Caitlin Graham, March 30th 2010

Off and Running

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Directed by Nicole Opper

First Run Features

Off and Running is a very non-traditional coming-of-age story told in a way that deftly conveys one young woman’s unique situation as well as more universal themes. Filmmaker Nicole Opper was afforded intimate access to her subjects, which enabled her to invite the viewer to take a sensitive and warm perspective as the events unfold.

The film’s central subject, a high school track star named Avery Klein-Cloud, is honest and likable. Her story, though specifically about interracial and intercultural adoption, asks questions that many young adults often don’t dare ask aloud. Avery introduces us to her family of white Jewish lesbian mothers and adopted brothers from multi-racial backgrounds during the Jewish festival of Chanukah. At the start of the film, she speaks very matter-of-factly about her decision to attempt to contact her birth mother during her junior year of high school. The significance of this year will be clear to those who have attended school in the U.S.—this is the year that standardized tests and sports results can affect college choices and scholarship options— not a year to be taken lightly. Avery begins to feel the strain, yet perseveres in her quest to find out more about her biological family and reconcile this aspect of her identity with her, at first, seemingly incongruous upbringing.

Along the way, we get to know her adoptive mothers and adopted siblings who all share a similar ‘tell it like it is’ vibe when speaking about serious issues with warmth and humour. Avery meets her old friends from her Jewish elementary school in scenes that further contextualise her upbringing. Filmed chats with another adopted young woman of colour raised by Jewish parents are natural and open—inviting the viewer in and allowing us to experience something we might never have seen otherwise. We also see Avery training for and competing in track meets supported by her long-term boyfriend, and getting to know African American culture with a group of high school friends. She is truly a professional and takes her sport seriously.

What makes this story all the more poignant is that her desire for more contact with her birth mother thwarts her progress in athletics and is detrimental to her relationships within her family. Although there are unexpected developments in this story, Opper maintains a strong, real narrative that shows a complete picture of the desires and feelings on all sides in this family. Opper’s choice to conclude the story the following autumn during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah is culturally and narratively satisfying.

I found myself empathizing with everyone, which is a testament to the director’s craft. Each of Avery’s brothers shares opinions about her quest, and though one brother is a Princeton freshman and the other is a second-grader, Opper affords them equal screen time in well-framed sequences. Avery’s mothers receive the same fair treatment, and disagreements on screen never feel voyeuristic or melodramatic. There are many television shows aiming for this level of intimacy and family drama. All pale in comparison to Off and Running. Opper has done a great service to this genre, allowing me to reinvest in it as an audience member.

The film looks good as well—kudos to director of photography Jacob Akira Okada and editor Cheree Dillon. Thankfully, there is no voice-over narration, or even excessive exposition: occasional captions show the passage of time. A sympathetic and unobtrusive soundtrack by Daniel Bernard Roumain gives the film even greater depth. Home movie footage and a few still photos provided by this very honest and dignified family round out the story visually.

Feminist? Yes. This is a true story about a young, Jewish, African-American woman who knows her own mind, stands by her decisions, and learns from her mistakes. Unusually, but very successfully, Avery Klein-Cloud co-wrote the film and has actively supported the production process. I’m sure others who see this original documentary will join me in routing for Avery’s and the film’s continued success.

Written by: Chella Quint, February 16th 2010

A Jihad For Love

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Directed by Parvez Sharma

First Run Features

To ponder the relationship between Islam and homosexuality is to consider something that does not exist. Parvez Sharma’s groundbreaking documentary, A Jihad for Love, calls this frequently held assumption what it is: a lie. A Jihad for Love is a deep exploration of Islam and homosexuality gleaned through the eyes of several gays, lesbians, and trans-genders set across the Muslim world. Filmed in twelve countries and in nine languages, it is a collection of stories that alternate between poignancy and the heart-wrenching battle between the equally challenging loves of faith and of humanity. Sharma effectively demonstrates the nuances that exist within different Muslim nations that have complicated attitudes concerning homosexuality based on the nation’s history and the different branches of Islam defying easy and/or lazy generalizations.

In depicting the struggles of the Muslim LGBT community, A Jihad for Love, shows that there are myriad perspectives in within their faith community. It begins in a nation that has a growing reputation for acceptance of the community: South Africa (the nation became the first in Africa and only the fifth in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2006). We learn the story of Muhsin, a gay imam who in his early life married and had children but eventually recognized his sexuality and began a process toward reconciling his sexuality with the faith that he also loved. The subsequent journey is not just one of self-discovery but also one in which the community discovers its faith anew and where there is a mutual understanding of far greater depth.

Moving north, we find a less fortunate but no less redemptive story in the Egyptian student Mazen. He is imprisoned after his arrest under the nation’s “indecency laws” which make homosexuality illegal and is in jail for nearly a year before being sentenced to an additional three years. He escapes, and upon reviewing a video recording of the trial, his anger is still raw, palpable.

The story of the Turkish lesbian couple of Ferda and Kiymet was one that I found most poignant. In particular, when Ferda introduces Kiymet to her mother, as it was a beautiful experience that I immediately related to. Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Kiymet says something that I could imagine my lover saying after meeting my mother: “Perfect!” I was as elated for Kiymet as I was for my partner and myself after we went through that “parental meeting” stage of our relationship. Turkey is more tolerant of homosexuality and the film briefly explores the connection between this state of affairs and the branch of Islamic mysticism, Sufism.

The three stories mentioned above among others brought knowledge to bear on my own misconceptions concerning the Islamic faith and homosexuality. The unprecedented focus of A Jihad for Love should continue the much-needed discussion between LGBT Muslims who seek to love within this peaceful and beautiful faith and the Islamic umma at large and bring knowledge and compassion to bear within such dialogue so that those that feel forced to love in secret can one day know the immutable joys of freedom.

Written by: Brandon Copeland, February 5th 2010

Mutluluk

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Directed by Abdullah Oguz

First Run Features

In his first few shots, all very wide angles and washed-out greens, Abdullah Oguz shows his cards as an ambitious, technically brilliant filmmaker. In the Anatolian countryside, a flock of sheep turns a slow circle as the camera, peering down on a girl’s body, does the same. A melody—composed by Zülfü Livaneli, who also wrote the book on which this film was based—hums through the valley. A shepherd picks up the girl, and so begins Mutluluk.

The characters in a village drama are executing by rote what, as a character glibly explains later, circumstances demanded: Young Meryem (Özgü Namal) has been raped. Her father reluctantly submits to cousin Ali Riza Amen (Mustafa Avkiran) insistence she be killed to mitigate the family’s shame. When Ali Riza’s son Cemal (Murat Han) returns from military service, he begrudgingly takes the girl to Istanbul in order to carry out his father’s sentence. But he can't carry it out, and after his last-minute change of heart, Cemal and Meryem flee Istanbul and Ali Riza’s henchmen. Aimless after a stint at a remote fishery on the Mediterranean, on a whim the young cousins join a stranger named Irfan (Talat Belet), who has fled his wife and professorship for a yachting joy-ride around the Aegean.

From there, the film devolves into maudlin lectures on beauty, purity, and love, giving its stars little room to develop their broadly drawn characters; Cemal swings between stoically surly and jealously unhinged, Irfan acts predictably free-spirited, and for the most part Meryem hangs back meekly. Fortunately, the lectures are lent some credence by the wide-angle attention that cinematographer Mirsad Herovic pays the seascapes and craggy shores and by the adaptable actors’ still game performances.

However, some of Mutluluk most powerful scenes become its most disappointing because the dramatic confrontations they stage prove neither earned nor transformative. Oguz saves the identity of Meryem’s rapist as a minor and unnecessary shocker for the end, and he pulls too many tricks to convey intensity: sped up tracking shots, sudden switches to black and white, barrages of extreme facial close-ups.

Such clutter is doubly frustrating because Oguz is a gifted storyteller with a knack for expansive imagery—fenced-in fishes, an elevated expressway—and an affection for his characters. Thanks to the tenderness with which he imbues even mundane exchanges, Mutluluk develops almost imperceptibly from a tale of sheltered villagers struggling with imposed moral codes into one of dear friends negotiating their personal senses of duty. While Meryem stumbles headlong past the sites of her rape and would-be murder, the film moves gorgeous and delicately alongside toward some seafaring redemption.

Written by: Sam Schulz, December 7th 2009

Inside The Koran

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Directed by Anthony Thomas

First Run Features

Inside the Koran is an excellent insight into Islam through the interpretations of a vast category of people from ayatollahs, clerics, and scholars to farmers, activists, housewives, and modern Muslim women. In a day and age when wars have become the universal circus at play on the bandwagon of religion, a deeper knowledge of the Muslim faith is more relevant than ever before.

From the practice of veiling and the debate on the status of women to the permissibility of jihad, Inside the Koran provides a deeper overview on these subjects by aligning the differing views together into one message: Islam speaks for peace and forgiveness and grants an equal status to women and men alike. "And if you punish, let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong that has been done to you; but if you show patience, that is indeed the best course” (Quran 16:126).

A beautiful scene from the film depicts a Muslim woman’s desire to wear the hijab despite her mother’s refusal to accept the veil as a commandment of the religion. This example of conflicting opinions highlights the importance of tolerance and respect, as is repeatedly quoted in the Koran: "There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way” (Quran 2:256).

The film also highlights another highly significant element of Islam: it is a religion devoid of priests and pastors. Hence, clerics and fundamentalists who continue to preach their own version of Islam are in no way doing justice to the religion. All are equal in God’s way, be it a man or a woman, a farmer or a cleric. “Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed to you, Muhammad), and those who are Jews and Christians and Sabaeans; whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does right, surely their reward is with their Lord, and there will come no fear upon them neither will they grieve” (Quran 2:62).

Director Antony Thomas investigates how Islam’s teachings in the Koran are very tactfully being employed by nations and powerful leaders alike to further their own political, cultural, and social norms. He explores the branches within the religion—including the Wahabi, Sunni and Shia Islam, as well as Sufism—and very simply merges the similarities and differences within these divisions through the voices of the people themselves. From an ordinary Egyptian woman to several notable scholars, Inside the Koran unveils the beliefs of ordinary Muslims who firmly believe in co-existence and tolerance of all.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, September 19th 2009

The Bible Unearthed: The Making of a Religion

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Directed by Thierry Ragobert

First Run Features

The Bible Unearthed is a French documentary based on the 2001 bestselling book by the same name authored by Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, Director of the Ename Centre for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation. Finkelstein’s archaeological investigation seeks to challenge the historical accuracy of the Bible by placing it in political, geographical, historical, and cultural contexts. We are toured through excavations in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, including Megiddo, a site of twenty-five scrutinized strata worth 7,000 years of history.

This main investigation is fed by interviews with biblical scholars from France, Canada, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, and the U.S., and museums such as the Louvre, the Museum of Cairo, the Museum of Jerusalem, and the British Museum, as well as archaeological specialists from the Levant. Archival footage of previous excavations, aerial photography, maps, computer animations, cuneiform tablets, extensive ruins, and various artifacts all supplement the interviews.

Copious questions are constantly posed by the narrator in an effort to evoke mystery—an effort that fails and evokes annoyance instead. This method also helps rob the film of dynamism, causing it to progress at an excruciatingly slow pace. The narrator uses florid language to say nothing. His are metaphors, general facts, and reiterations doled out sluggishly.

Accompanied by silence or music, shots of landscapes, old books, and close-ups of excavated finds are ubiquitous. Several of the questions posed are eventually answered by the various biblical scholars and archaeologists toward the end of each episode, which is when the episodes finally become engaging.

First is “The Patriarchs,” which begins with Genesis and evaluates where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ostensibly lived: Canaan. This episode is mostly vague and filled with questions. Next, “The Exodus” presents us with less speculation and more solid information, this time on Egypt and the story of Moses.

The third episode, “The Kings,” spans the story of God asking Joshua to conquer Israel, a feat that was then purportedly accomplished in two weeks. “The Kings” is the most compelling and dynamic episode thus far, in part because it puts the 1950s Israel excavation findings into a contemporary context. The archaeologists’ conclusions established just after the country’s independence, we learn, managed to fuel the notion that force and violence are necessary to give birth to a nation. This notion was allegedly what led to the conquest of Galilee by the Israelites.

The final episode, “The Books,” hunts for the writers of the Bible and the original Israelites, coming up with fascinating conclusions. This film is an engrossing adventure for religious enthusiasts, although not for the faint of heart. Let’s just say that much of the Bible is historically disproven and stories attributed to the political will of their writers. But if you want to skip the fluff and get more depth, go for the book.

Written by: Natalia Real, September 3rd 2009

Alicia en el Pueblo de Maravillas (Alice in Wondertown)

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Directed by Daniel Diaz Torres

First Run Features

As Alice in Wondertown begins, a sense of foreboding emanates from the screen. Alice is running along a beach, away from an invisible threat, and her ill-fitting boots are impeding her progress. She makes it to the main road, screaming to a truck full of workers for help. After what seems like a full minute of Alice screaming, the truck finally screeches to a halt and the occupants acknowledge the distressed woman in the street. Alice gratefully hops aboard the back of the truck.

As the truck begins to roll along again, a tall, hooded figure rises above the rest of the passengers and again Alice is sent into a screaming panic. With a look that can only be described as sheer mania, Alice rises to face the figure walking towards her and, in one swift movement, causes it to be thrown from the truck and off the bridge the truck is crossing. Later, investigators from the Cuban government scouring the crime scene can find no body, no clothing, and no evidence of a body having fallen from a 100-foot bridge to the grass below.

This scene can be considered a metaphor for how the rest of movie seems to work. There is always a form of tension or distress looming in the distance, but it is hard to explain how much of this distress and the resulting actions are actual or merely perceived by the protagonist, Alice. Much like Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the film straddles the line between the sane and the absurd, and absurdity seems to win out in the end.

The film is set in the small town of Maravillas, where Alice becomes a drama teacher after leaving her office job, and her lover Serafin. The night of her arrival, Alice settles into her roach infested hostel room and rips down a poster describing the virtues of hard work. While at the sink in the bathroom, she opens up the mirror to find that, rather than seeing a medicine cabinet, she is facing Omar Rodriguez, who will become her companion and defender throughout the film. They greet one another and partake in momentary small talk. Omar has a face full of shaving cream and Alice is still getting over the shock of finding a person in her medicine cabinet, so they say goodnight. Omar leaves her by saying, “Maravillas loves the theater, it’s in the blood.”

Throughout her days in Maravillas, a vision of Serafin repeatedly appears to Alice. He calls her naïve and tries to persuade her to return to her old life. She ignores his pleas, saying that she has no troubles in Maravillas and would like to stay. However, she never offers Serafin or viewers a reason as to why she decided to go to Maravillas in the first place.

Alice faces resistance and anger from town residents as she attempts to modernize their annual play. A rabid debate ensues over whether learning history is more important than creating change. Alice argues in favor of change, saying that it will make the play more interesting and more enjoyable for everyone involved. This assertion causes some of the Maravillans to become frenzied with anger, and Alice must leave the play rehearsal quickly.

After the tumultuous and non-sensical play rehearsal, Alice begins to become of aware of the many strange and backwards seeming sights, people, and situations that she sees daily in Maravillas. Sitting on a bench in the scorching Cuban sun, Alice confides in Omar that she has the desire to write about the strange stories of Maravillas. She is in disbelief that no one has published the ridiculous stories of the place already. Omar, who was always staunchly in support of Alice’s progressive ideas, now tells her that she is naïve. A loudspeaker vomits as he says these words. The distinction between reality and illusion is now completely non-existent.

Alice in Wondertown is worth seeing if for no other reason than to view a Cuban film that reflects the rich culture and struggle of this nation. After the movie set attendance records when it was initially released in 1991, the Cuban government stopped showing it on the grounds of indecency and absurdity. While the film is full of political observations masked in absurdity—like Alice’s closing moral, “You’ll never get far with fizzy water that you have to shake”—it offers a strong female protagonist and a cast of truly unforgettable characters. Are the political and artistic illusions in the film symbolic or merely 'theater'? That’s up to you to decide.

Written by: Rachel Muzika Scheib, May 20th 2009

A Wink and a Smile

admin — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:02:00 +0000

By Deirdre Timmons

First Run Features

Deirdre Timmons' documentary A Wink and a Smile is a love letter to Seattle's thriving burlesque scene. Our tour guide is Miss Indigo Blue, veteran performer and headmistress of the Academy of Burlesque, which offers classes including a six-week Burlesque 101 course culminating in a public performance. The film focuses partly on the ten women who took the Fall 2007 course. We learn about their diverse backgrounds and reasons for being attracted to the art of burlesque, and follow them as they develop their routines for the performance.

As the women learn to dance with feather boas between their legs and apply pasties, the film also takes us beyond Burlesque 101—a smart decision, as it allows us to better understand what the students are working toward and what attracted them to burlesque in the first place. Miss Indigo Blue discusses the history and makeup of the burlesque scene in Seattle, and we're treated to full performances by a diverse cross-section of the city's most daring and talented burlesque artists. They show that burlesque can mean any number of things and involve complex props, body paint, professional-level dancing, humor, men, drag, and social and cultural commentary of all kinds. In addition to being entertaining and titillating, a routine by a great performer can truly be an artistic achievement.

With the proliferation of reality shows on TV offering drastic makeovers and consistently delivering against-all-odds radical transformation narratives, it's easy to assume that A Wink and a Smile will do the same in regards to the Burlesque 101 students. However, Timmons doesn't exploit her subjects and set us up to be shocked or entertained by the fact that a woman of any particular age/size/type would or could do burlesque. In the end, the biggest surprise is that after learning more about burlesque and its endless possibilities, it's not a surprise to see any of these women morph into burlesque performers. A Wink and a Smile is a unique and joyous celebration of the human body, mind, and spirit—complete with tassels.

Written by: Kiri Oliver, May 17th 2009

A Hole In A Fence

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Directed by D.W. Young

First Run Features

For most films under an hour long, the first ten minutes are critical. In this short window, the story’s framework is established, point of view is explained, and the viewer basically gets to decide if they’re half as committed to following the plot as the film’s director was to sharing his or her vision.

During the first few minutes in A Hole In A Fence, I had no idea what I was watching. Several seemingly unrelated characters were introduced lacking title or affiliation, and some B roll and a clumsy voice-over made me question when the actual narrative would begin. I felt as if I was watching a film school class project, and as a somewhat recent graduate of such a program, I grimaced, long ago ready to put such screenings behind me. Thankfully, I stayed on my sofa, watching closely, and ended up being drawn into a captivating tale of a neglected neighborhood and a big box home goods supplier.

Despite its slow, awkward start, A Hole In A Fence quickly becomes an engaging story of gentrification, homelessness, a community split by poverty, and the loss of a historic Brooklyn waterfront area to a new Ikea and its behemoth parking lot. Having lived in Boston when a similar situation arose—in Beantown’s case, a waterfront Ikea likely to pollute the river it bordered, creating traffic jams, and also forcing out residents and a community arcade out of the low-income neighborhood—Red Hook’s dilemma did not surprise me, despite the sadness it caused.

Red Hook, like any other neighborhood split down the middle by a population of artists and folks in public housing, has as many problems as community-based solutions. While the neighborhood has homeless squatters, wild dogs, and illegal sex work, it also contains historic graffiti, a rare public graving dock, and a youth gardening project and farmer’s market. Throughout the film, you meet several groups campaigning for various neighborhood causes, usually related to sustainable resources or organizations that work with youth. Worried that their efforts will be squashed or at least rendered obsolete when the Swedes roll in, they spoke candidly about their work and their fears for their community’s future.

While mostly thorough in their research, the film’s team neglected one critical element of their story. They did not speak to any city or community officials in support of Ikea, nor did they speak to Ikea representatives. Whether or not the crew attempted such an interview is not mentioned. It is clear the filmmaker’s intention is to tell the story of a neighborhood being torn apart by commerce, but to not offer even a token appearance to the government or retailer makes the arguments against commercialism appear unbalanced and somewhat unfounded. When the question of partnering with Ikea is posed to members of community organizations, they seem open to the idea but lack factual information to support such a proposal.

Anyone familiar with the current state of Red Hook will know in addition to the waterfront Ikea’s arrival last June, MTV’s Real World, now in their seventeenth season, have set up shop in the borough as well. Nothing says gentrification like camera crews and Scandinavian furniture imports.

While Red Hook residents lost their battle, A Hole In A Fence is nevertheless an engaging forty-five minutes, an important historical document and a learning tool for anyone who cares about issues concerning urban planning, gentrification, the rapidly decreasingly public waterfront, architecture, green space, community revival and survival, and “development at the cost of identity.”

Written by: Brittany Shoot, April 23rd 2009

The 3 Marias

admin — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:55:00 +0000

Directed by Aluizio Abranches

First Run Features

The 3 Marias, a gritty 2002 Brazilian film directed by Aluizio Abranches, revisits the age-old theme of revenge, but with a delightful empowering twist. The film opens with haunting opening credits, and the story begins with a rather cryptic yet powerfully operatic scene. The plot then steamrolls forward, introducing the victims of unwelcome murder, and off we go. It’s a whirlwind tale of a woman, wronged by an ex-lover, who happens to be her late husband’s archenemy, imploring her three daughters to avenge the cruel and corrupt death of their father and two brothers. Filomena Capadocio (Marieta Severo) is greeted with the news of her husband and sons’ deaths and immediately springs into action passing on three commands to her three daughters: to find a hit man each to kill the three men who murdered their family.

The death of one of the characters (I will not give the details away) is quite powerful, reminiscent of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. The film is rife with references to Christianity, specifically Catholic tradition and imagery, with the use of the number three and overt references to biblical tales.

The women in the film seem to represent female stereotypes, which, at first, was off-putting; I assumed these women would be portrayed more as superficial caricatures, but once the credits rolled, I was happily mistaken. Filomena plays the role of the forlorn widow, however, she exhibits a much stronger, empowered personality of a family matriarch. The oldest daughter, Maria Francisca (Julia Lemmertz), was introduced as a prissy, little lady who wears heels while traversing the difficult and rocky terrain of the desert. The middle daughter, Maria Rosa (Maria Luisa Mendonca), is seen as meek and emotional, and the youngest daughter is pigeonholed as a tough, stand-offish vixen with exposed cleavage and a penchant for hard looks. These superficial introductions to the characters are shattered, however, at the end of the film, when each of the girls exhibit qualities contrary to her stereotyped persona, which drives home the point that these women are not merely the “gentler” sex, but wholly humans.

Written by: Erin Murphy, July 17th 2007