The following is an ever expanding list of socially relevant films. Dealing with a variety of social topics from alienation in our contemporary society to the destruction of entire civilizations, these films include various formats from documentaries to feature films. If we must escape from the drudgery of our everyday existence, perhaps we can still be engaged while taking some time to ourselves. For summaries containing the statement "summary written by", the information is courtesy of The InternetMovie Database. Used with permission.

• Aguirre, the Wrath of God - Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1973): A few decades after the destruction ofthe Inca empire, a Spanish expedition leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon river insearch of gold and wealth. Soon, they come across great difficulties and Don Aguirres, a ruthless manwho cares only about riches, becomes their leader. But will his quest lead them to "the golden city", orto certain destruction? Summary written by Chris Makrozahopoulos
• Alexander Nevsky (1938): Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, this film was made to inspire theRussian people to war in the coming conflict with Nazi Germany through a portrayal ofthe victories of Nevsky over Teutonic knights during the thirteenth century. In Russianwith English subtitles.
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): One of the first and most powerful war filmsever made, director Louis Milestone's adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque novelfollows a group of idealistic young German soldiers in the final days of the Great War.Winner of Best Picture and Director Academy Awards. Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, JohnWray star.
• All the President's Men (1976): Director Alan J. Pakula rendered Woodward andBernstein's account of the unraveling of the Watergate scandal and created one of themost suspenseful political thrillers of the '70s. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are theresolute Washington Post reporters, with Jason Robards as gruff editor Ben Bradlee;co-stars Jane Alexander and Hal Holbrook.
• The Big One (1998): Winner of Best Documentary at the Aspen Film Festival, it is a telling indictment of American media's lack of nerve thatthe funding for "The Big One" came from five foreign countries, including tiny Luxembourg. The BBC is the main backer,as was the case for Moore's "TV Nation". Written and directed by Michael Moore. 96 min.
• Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1982) Starring Harrison Ford as a detective tracking down artificial humans called "replicants" in LosAngeles circa 2019, Ridley Scott's reconstructed version of the science-fiction favorite differs fromthe original release by the addition of an important dream sequence and the omission of Ford'svoice-over narration. Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah co-star. 117 min.
• Bonnie And Clyde (1967) "They're young, they're in love, they rob banks!" Arthur Penn's dramatic (if not totally accurate)depiction of the famed '30s criminal pair ushered in a new era in screen realism. Warren Beatty, FayeDunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman and Best Supporting Actress Oscar-winner EstelleParsons star; look for Gene Wilder in a cameo. 111 min.
• Brazil (1985): Terry Gilliam portrays the consequences of the bureaucratization of societyand what can happen when the state conducts a "war on terrorism." Jonathan Pryce starsas a bemused paper shuffler in a red tape-choked future society at the brink of collapsingunder its own bureaucracy and economic exploitation. Also starring Ian Holm, MichaelPalin, Katherine Helmond and Robert De Niro. Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes
• Burn (1970): Engrossing drama, laced with political allegory and based on a true incident, stars Marlon Brando as a British agent sent toa 19th-century Caribbean island to instigate a revolt by sugar cane workers against their Portuguese overseers. Directed byGillo Pontecorvo ("The Battle of Algiers"). 112 min.
• The Burning Season (1994): The dramatized story of Chico Mendes, the activist who dedicated his life to saving the Amazon's rain forests and to alerting the world to the endangered status of these forests.
• Catch-22 (1970): A bombardier in World War II tries desperately to escape the insanity of the war.However, sometimes insanity is the only sane way cope with a crazy situation. Catch-22 is a parody of a"military mentality" and of a bureaucratic society in general. Summary written by Jeffrey Struyk
• City of Lost Children (1995): A fairy tale on acid is one way of describing this story of amad scientist who, unable to have dreams of his own, kidnaps street children in order tosteal their dreams. Ron Perlman stars as a simple-minded strongman who attempts torescue his little brother from the clutches of the scientist. In French with English subtitles.
• Closet Land (1991): A cautionary tale for those who support and share John Ashcroft'sworldview. A woman (Madeleine Stowe) in a nameless country is abducted by a man(Alan Rickman) who brainwashes and tortures her, ostensibly because the children's booksshe writes are deemed subversive. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes
• Cool Hand Luke (1967): Paul Newman is Lucas Jackson, a man sentenced to serve hard time in a tough chain gang in the South. What he finds thereare sadistic wardens, egg-eating contests and a definite "failure to communicate." George Kennedy (in his Oscar-winningrole), Strother Martin, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper co-star. 126 min.
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972): "Conquest" opens in 1991, after an epidemic has wiped out the dog population, and talking apes have become humans'favorite pets. But the primates endure a horrible existence, chained-up and forced to perform slave labor. Starring RoddyMcDowall, Ricardo Montalban, and Don Murray. 88 min.
• Conversation, The (1974): Harry Caul is a nationally known expert on surveillance. The Director of alarge company has hired him to record the conversations of two of the Director's employees. Some yearsprevious, Harry's work directly led to the murder of three people, and now he has reason to fear that itwill happen again. Summary written by Charles Cilek
• Cradle Will Rock (1999): In 1930s New York Orson Welles tries to stage a musical on a steel strikeunder the Federal Theater Program despite pressure from an establishment fearful of industrial unrestand red activity. Meanwhile Nelson Rockefeller gets the foyer of his company headquarters decoratedand an Italian countess sells paintings for Mussolini. Summary written by Jeremy Perkins
• The Cyclist (1989): The divisions between rich and poor in contemporary society are the focus of thispowerful and visually striking social drama from Iranian director Mohsen Makhmlbaf. In Farsi withEnglish subtitles.
• Daniel (1983): The fictionalized story of Daniel, the son of Paul and Rochelle Isaacson, who wereexecuted as Soviet spies in the 1950s. As a graduate student in New York in the 1960s, Daniel isinvolved in the antiwar protest movement and contrasts his experiences to the memory of his parents andhis belief that they were wrongfully convicted. Summary written by Michael C. Berch
• The Diary of a Chambermaid - Journal d'une femme de chambre, Le (1964): LuisBunuel’s wickedly funny satire on the morals of the bourgeoisie, as seen through the eyes of a lovely servant drawn inter her employer’s decadent ways a their rural estate in ‘30's France. Serves as a pointed observation of the rise of Fascism and a trenchant look at French social structure and sexual mores. With Jeanne Moreau and Michel Piccoli. In French with English subtitles.
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): U.S. Air ForceColonel Jack Ripper goes completely and utterly mad, and sends his bomber wing to destroy theU.S.S.R. He suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of theAmerican people. The U.S. president meets with his advisors, where the Soviet ambassador tells him thatif the U.S.S.R. is hit by nuclear weapons, it will trigger a "Doomsday Device" which will destroy allplant and animal life on Earth. Peter Sellers portrays the three men who might avert this tragedy: BritishGroup Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to the demented Gen. Ripper; U.S.President Merkin Muffley, whose best attempts to divert disaster depend on placating a drunken SovietPermier and the former Nazi genius Dr. Strangelove, who concludes that "such a device would not be apractical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious". Will the bombers bestopped in time, or will General Jack Ripper succeed in destroying the world ? Summary written byColin Tinto
• Easy Rider (1969): Two long-haired bikers from Los Angeles take off on a cross-country trip to NewOrleans for Mardi Gras. On the way they meet several unusual characters. A rancher and his family, ahitchhiker and the hippie commune where he lives, hookers, red-necks, but most noticeably GeorgeHansen played by Jack Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson gained national attention for his role as the "law'erwith the ACLU". Dennis Hopper won "Best New Director" at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. Summarywritten by J.C. Porter
• The Emerald Forest (1985) John Boorman helmed this unique adventure based on a true story. Powers Boothe stars as engineerBill Markham, whose young son disappears, while he works on a dam in the Amazon jungle. For tenyears, he searches for his son, and upon finding him, begins to question his own civilization. WithCharley Boorman, Meg Foster. 110 min.
• The Field (1990): Richard Harris was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his towering performance as an elderly eccentric whorefuses to give up his cherished field to an American land developer. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Ireland, thisstirring drama from director Jim Sheridan ("My Left Foot") also stars Tom Berenger, John Hurt and Brenda Fricker. 110min.
• Fight Club (1999): David Fincher's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel providesinsights into the alienation experienced by society as a result of our corporate culture, andprovides a revolutionary solution to the problems of modern living. Brad Pitt, EdwardNorton and Helena Bonham Carter co-star. Running time: 2 hours 19 minutes
• Five Easy Pieces (1970): Robert Dupea has given up his promising career as a concert pianist and isnow working in oil fields. He lives together with Rayette, who's a waitress in a diner. When Robert hearsfrom his sister that his father isn't well, he drives up to Washington to see him, taking Rayette with him.There he gets confronted with his rich, cultured family that he had left behind. Summary written by LeonWolters
• Forsaken Cries: Ethnic conflict and genocide between the Tutsi and Hutu.
• The 400 Blows - Quatre cents coups, Les (1959): Antoine Doinel is a 14 years old Parisian. Hisparents do not show much interest about him. He skips school to go to the movies or play with hisfriends. He will discover his mother has a lover, steal a typewriter, be suspended from school... toconceal that he suffers. Summary written by Yepok
• Gallipoli (1981): Compelling Australian drama by Peter Weir about the friendship between two runners from the Outback, their enlistment inWorld War I, and the harsh realities and the futility of war they face when they're assigned to fight the Turks in theDardanelles. Co-stars Mel Gibson, Mark Lee; scored by Brian May. 110 min.
• Germinal (1994): The story of a miner's strike that destroys one family, yet plants the seeds of change for future generations.
• The Greening of Cuba: Cuba's shift to more ecologically sustainable agriculture.
• Harlan County USA: Documentary of the 1970's mining strikes in Harlan County Kentucky. Wonderfully captures the struggle of miners against violent scab workers who are protected by the local police. The gender dynamics within the mining families echoes the dramatization in the film Salt of the Earth.
• Hearts and Minds (1974): This film recounts the history and attitudes of the opposing sides of theVietnam War using archival news footage as well as their own film and interviews. A key theme is howattitudes of American racism and self-righteousness militarism helped create and prolong this bloodyconflict. The film also endeavors to give voice to the Vietnamese people themselves as to how the warhas affected them and their reasons why they fight the United States and other western powers whileshowing the basic humanity of the people that US propaganda tried to dismiss. Summary written byKenneth Chisholm
• The Hill (1965): Intense drama from Sidney Lumet featuring Sean Connery as a British soldier in North Africa who tries to get medical helpfor a prisoner suffering from his military stockade's grueling punishment. When the prisoner dies, Connery attempts tobring charges against a sadistic sergeant. Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen and Ossie Davis co-star. 122 min.
• How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1988): A British advertising executive goes berserkwhen, in the midst of creating a campaign for a new pimple cream and questioning theindustry he is a part of, he develops a talking boil on his neck. Full of commentary onconsumerism and marketing, this film is an assault on the advertising industry. StarringRichard E. Grant, and Rachel Ward.
• Hungry for Profit (1985): A documentary showing how agribusiness has created large, mechanized plantations out of small, peasant farms which grow profitable export crops despite local food needs. Tells how this situation actually increases the amount of hunger for some of the Third World.
• Incident at Oglala (1992): On June 26, 1975, during a period of high tensions on the Pine Ridgereservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents were killed in a shootout with a group of Indians. Althoughseveral men were charged with killing the agents, only one, Leonard Peltier, was found guilty. This filmdescribes the events surrounding the shootout and suggests that Peltier was unjustly convicted. Summarywritten by Eric Sorensen
• Inherit the Wind (1960): Teacher B.T. Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin's theories. Famous lawyerHenry Drummond defends him; fundamentalist politician Matthew Brady prosecutes. This is a very thinlydisguised rendition of the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial" with debates between Clarence Darrow andWilliam Jennings Bryan taken largely from the transcripts. Summary written by Ed Stephan
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Dr Miles Bennel returns his small town practice to find severalof his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initiallyskeptical, especially when the alleged dopplegangers are able to answer detailed questions about theirvictim's life, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened, and determines to find outwhat. This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against those Damn Commies, or conversely asa metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthy-ism (or the totalitarian system of Your Choice) and has a pro-and epilogue forced upon Siegel by the studio to "lighten the tone". Summary written by MarkThompson
• Journey of Hope - Reise der Hoffnung (1990): In a village in eastern Turkey, tales of the economicsuccess of Turks in Switzerland inspire Haydar to convince his wife Meryem that they must go. He sellstheir livestock and small plot of land in exchange for passage for two. He wants to leave their sevenchildren in the care of the eldest and his parents; his father advises him to take one son to be educated inEurope, as economic insurance. The three set off for Istanbul, Milan, and Switzerland, stowing away ona ship. At Lake Como, they pay the rest of their money to unprincipled men who abandon them at anAlpine pass before a blizzard. Father and son are separated from Meryem. Will anyone reach the land ofpromise? Summary written by j hailey
• Jungleburger (1986): Focuses on the operations of a meat processing plant that exports meat used for the fast food industry, from Costa Rica to the United States and how this industry has contributed to the depletion of the rain forests and the drop in meat consumption in Costa Rica.
• Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) This powerful film documents the 1990 crisis when the White community of Oka, Quebec, Canadaattempted to appropriate sacred reserve land to extend a golf course. In defense, Native Americansof the Mohawk Nation blocked access to the area. Depicting the initial incident and the resulting siegefrom the Mohawk's point of view, it is a dramatic illustration of the culmination to 270 years ofEuropean domination, ethnocentrism and violence. Directed and narrated by Alanis Obomsawin. 119min
• King of Hearts (1967): This beloved Philippe de Broca anti-war comedy stars Alan Batesas a Scottish soldier who must defuse a German bomb left in a French town in the waningdays of World War I. The town, however, has been taken over by a group of asyluminmates, and they want to make Bates their leader. Genevieve Bujold, Pierre Brasseur co-star. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes
• Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985): Manuel Puig's novel (which was also adapted for the stage, and later the Broadway musical stage) is brought to the screen,with William Hurt starring as the effeminate prisoner who narrates Maria Montez- like camp film sagas (given fantasyembodiment by Sonia Braga) to pass the time in his South American jail; Raul Julia is the political prisoner for whomHurt's character has an attraction. 119 min.
• La Operación: Sterilization of women in Puerto Rico.
• Land and Freedom (1995): Spring 1936, a young unemployed communist, David, leaves his hometownLiverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men andwomen, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded he goes toBarcelona, where he decides to join another group of fighters. They remain in Barcelona and end upfighting other anti-fascist groups. David is disappointed and decides to go back to his old band. Summary written by Walter de Rijk
• Life of Brian (1979): Monty Python pokes fun at religious fanaticism, with GrahamChapman cast as a reluctant "messiah" born in a manger just down the street from JesusChrist's. Still considered blasphemous to this day by many defenders of religion. StarringChapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam.
• Life of Emile Zola, The (1937): Winner of three Oscars, including Best Picture, this movingbiographical dram stars Paul Muni as the famed 19^th-century French author. Joseph Schildkraut co-starsas Captain Louis Dreyfus, whose sensational trial brought Zola to prominence and served as a stirringtribute to the fight for justice against a corrupt government and military.
• Little Big Man (1970): Jack Crabb is about 100 years old as the film begins. A collector of oralhistories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by Indians, becoming agunslinger, marrying an Indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becominga scout for him at Little Big Horn. Summary written by John Vogel
• Local Hero (1983): Wonderfully understated comedy from Bill Forsyth about an American oil executive sent to a Scottish seacoast village toclose a land deal, a village filled with offbeat residents and quirky humor. Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson,Jenny Seagrove star; music by Mark Knopfler. 112 min.
• Matewan (1987): A labor leader seeking to organize the workers of a company town sets off a powderkeg of racial hostility, corruption and betrayal in this tale of the bitter clash between unionist miners and the tyrannical coal company owners in West Virginia in the 1920's.
• Men with Guns (1997): A narrative tale about a doctor looking for his students in the mountains of Central America. Shows the living conditions and repression of rural people.
• Metropolis (1926): Fritz Lang's masterwork, set in a towering city of the future whosepopulace is divided between the idle ruling class and the dehumanized workers who toilunderground, remains a landmark of science-fiction cinema. Silent with music score.Starring Brigitte Helm, Rudolph Klein-Rogge, and Alfred Abel. Running time: 2 hours
• The Milagro Beanfield War (1988): The poor residents of a small Southwestern town find new hope when they band to stop a land mogul's "redevelopment" plans. Wonderfully drawn seriocomedy, directed by Robert Redford.
• Missing (1982) Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek star in this exciting, riveting mystery based on a true story as thefather and wife of an American journalist who is disappeared by the military during a coup in a SouthAmerican country. Also starring John Shea and directed by Costa-Gavras. 122 min.
• Mission, The (1986): Father Gabriel ascends the mountains of Brazil to bring christianity to the natives.He is successful and brings about a golden age among them. Mendoza, a slaver, kills his brother in a fitof rage, and only Fr. Gabriel's guidance prevents his suicide. Gabriel brings Mendoza to work at hismission with the natives, and Mendoza finds peace and asks to become a priest. The church , underpressure, cedes the land to the Portuguese which will allow slavers in again. Mendoza breaks his vowsand organizes the natives to resist while Gabriel warns him to help them as a priest. Summary written byJohn Vogel
• Modern Times (1936): Chaplin's last 'silent' film, filled with sound effects, was made when everyoneelse was making talkies. Charlie turns against modern society, the machine age, (The use of sound infilms ?) and progress. Firstly we see him frantically trying to keep up with a production line, tighteningbolts. He is selected for an experiment with an automatic feeding machine, but various mishaps leads hisboss to believe he has gone mad, and Charlie is sent to a mental hospital... When he gets out, he ismistaken for a communist while waving a red flag, sent to jail, foils a jailbreak, and is let out again. Wefollow Charlie through many more escapades before the film is out. Summary written by Colin Tinto
• Moving the Mountain (1994): The film roots the origins of the Tiananmen Square protests in the wakeof the Cultural Revolution. Although shifts in Chinese governmental policy and Glasnost in Russia gavethe participants the courage to ask for a dialogue about greater democracy, the Chinese governmentfeared the instability created by a group of people questioning the government. The film gives a soberaccount of the innocence and naivety of a group of young people who simply want to make a change forthe better in their country.
• Network (1976): Peter Finch was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor posthumously for hisportrayal of a network executive who becomes disillusioned with the corporatedomination of television. A bitter satire that explores the inner workings of the medium oftelevision. Starring Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall and Ned Beatty.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984): After The Atomic War the world is divided into three states. London isthe capital of Oceania, ruled by a party who has total control over all its citizens. Winston Smith is oneof the bureaucrats, rewriting history in one of the departments. One day he commits the crime of fallingin love with Julia. They try to escape Big Brother's listening and viewing devices, but, of course, nobodycan really escape... Summary written by Mattias Thuresson
• The Panama Deception: A look at the 1989 invasion of Panama that was not covered by the media. The US military ousting of CIA bankrolled, Noriega resulted in nearly 3,000 civilian casualties. Does that figure sound hauntingly familiar?
• Platoon (1986) Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, this harrowing drama chroniclesVietnam frontline combat as seen through the eyes of young grunt Charlie Sheen (and drawn fromthe real-life experiences of creator Oliver Stone). Fine support from Tom Berenger and WillemDafoe; with Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn. 120 min.
• Proud Valley, The (1940): The Proud Valley is a stirring portrait of compassion and courage. PaulRobeson lends his magnificent voice and presence to the role of David Goliath, a stoker looking forwork in a Welsh mining town. Befriended by Dick Parry, the local choir master and miner, Goliath findsa job and a home. Tragedy strikes when Parry dies in an explosion and the mine shuts down, leavingmost of the townspeople jobless. Goliath puts his life on the line to save workers trapped in a tunnel.
• Raisin in the Sun, A (1961): Walter Lee Younger (Poitier) is a young man struggling with his station inlife. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man.Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall... Summary written by Greg Bruno
• REDS (1981): Warren Beatty won the Oscar for best director for this film biography ofleft-wing American journalist John Reed, who ventured to Russia and recorded the 1917Revolution in his book "Ten Days That Shook the World." Starring Beatty, Diane Keaton,Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Edward Herrmann, Maureen Stapleton, and JerzyKosinski
• Roger & Me (1989): A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan,which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get aninterview with GM CEO Roger Smith. Summary written by Murray Chapman
• Romero (1989): In El Salvador, the new bishop speaks out against the death squads and the terrorcampaign the government is using in an attempt to crush the guerilla war that is being waged againstthem. This is seen as disloyalty and the number of priests attacked goes up and even churches are shutdown by the government. Based on a true story, Romero continues to oppose the violence as the stakesare continually raised. Summary written by John Vogel
• Rosewood (1997) Drawing on a dark and little-known chapter in American history, director John Singleton recountsthe destruction of Rosewood, a thriving all-black town in rural Florida. In 1923, an angry white mobfrom nearby communities attacked Rosewood after a white woman falsely claimed she was assaultedby a black man. Ving Rhames, Jon Voight, Don Cheadle, Michael Rooker and Esther Rolle star. 142min.
• The Ruling Class (1972): Outrageously funny satire features an Oscar-nominated performance by Peter O'Toole as a British earl who thinks he's JesusChrist. Wicked barbs are thrown along the way at the Church and the aristocracy, and there's supporting turns by AlastairSim, Harry Andrews and other top British actors. 142 min.
• Sacco And Vanzetti (1971) An Italian-made drama that follows the controversial real-life story of two anarchist Italianimmigrants who were convicted and sentenced to death in America in the 1920s for murdering twopeople during a shoe store robbery. Was their execution due to their unpopular political beliefs? Thisfilm ponders the question with stirring results. With Gian Maria Volante, Riccardo Cucciolla. 120min.
• Salt of the Earth (1953): Controversial independent production (many of the cast and crew were blacklisted in Hollywood) tells the true story of a New Mexico miners' strike that was won when the wives took over for the mostly Mexican-American workers, who were prohibited from striking.
• The Seven Samurai (1954) One of the greatest action epics ever, Akira Kurosawa's masterwork is set in 16th-century Japan,where a small village hires a group of professional warriors to protect itself from roving bandits.Fabulous battle scenes are mixed with characters filled with emotion and humanity. Toshiro Mifune,Takashi Shimura star. 208 min. In Japanese with English subtitles.
• Something Like a War: Population control methods in India.
• The Steel Helmet (1951) Scripted and shot in just three weeks, Samuel Fuller's gritty Korean War drama is one of the finestgenre entries ever made. Gene Evans is the wounded army sergeant who joins a beleaguered platoonholed up in a Buddhist temple. An unglamorized look at the realities of warfare, the film also starsJames Edwards as a black medic and Harold Fong as a captured North Korean officer. 84 min.
• Three Kings (1999): This film becomes highly relevant in light of current events. DirectorDavid O. Russell provides an intelligent, thought-provoking study of America's role aspolice force to the world and the evils it fosters through a portrayal of the plight of Iraqicivilians during the Persian Gulf War. Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cubeand Spike Jonze. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes
• The Trial (1992): A powerful story of persecution and paranoia as written by HaroldPinter and based on Franz Kafka's novel, the film is set in an unnamed country in somepast time. A bank clerk is accused of an unspecified crime, and is scheduled for anunrevealed trial date. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Robards Jr.,Juliet Stevenson, Polly Walker, and Alfred Molina. Running time: 2 hours
• The Triumph of Evil: Ethnic conflict and genocide between the Tutsi and Hutu.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): This movie is concerned with intelligence as the division betweenanimal and human, then asks a question; what is the next division? Technology is treated as irrelevant tothe quest - literally serving as mere vehicles for the human crew, and as a shell for the immature HALentity. Story told as a montage of impressions, music and impressive and careful attention to subliminaldetail. A very influential film and still a class act, even after 25 years. Summary written by Robin Kenny
• 12 Angry Men (1957): Heralded as one of the all-time great theatrical releases, "12 Angry Men"focuses on a jury's deliberations in a capital murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to begin deliberations inthe first-degree murder trial of an 18-year-old Latino accused in the stabbing death of his father, where aguilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendanthas a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesseseither heard screaming, saw the killing or the boy fleeing the scene. Eleven of the jurors immediatelyvote guilty; only Juror No. 8 (Mr. Davis, played by Henry Fonda) casts a not guilty vote. At first Mr.Davis' bases his vote more so for the sake of discussion after all, the jurors must believe beyond areasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. As the deliberations unfold, the story quickly becomes astudy of the jurors' complex personalities (which range from wise, bright and empathetic to arrogant,prejudiced and merciless), preconceptions, backgrounds and interactions. That provides the backdrop toMr. Davis' attempts in convincing the other jurors that a "not guilty" verdict might be appropriate.Summary written by Brian Rathjen
• Wages of Fear (1953): Heavily censored when released in the United States, this film, now restored for U.S. viewers, is an indictment of corporate and U.S. exploitation of Latin America and of workers in general. The plot involves four destitute men who, with the promise of high wages, volunteer to drive two nitroglycerin-laden trucks over the mountains of Central America.
• Who's Counting? (1995): Elected to the New Zealand parliament at the age of 22 and subsequently re-elected three times, Waring has become the foremost spokesperson for global feminist economics. Witty, irreverent and accomplished in what she calls "the art of the dumb question", Waring challenges the myths of economics, its elitist stance, and our tacit compliance with political agendas that masquerade as objective economic policy.
• Z (1968): Z's edge of your seat action closely parallels the real life assassination ofGregorios Lambrakis, a Greek doctor and humanist whose murder in 1963 led to anabortive public scandal. The right-wing attacks against leftist and progressive groupsportrayed in the film are highly relevant to the current situation here in the U.S. YvesMontand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Irene Papas co-star. Running time: 2 hours 7minutes
• Zabriskie Point (1970): An epic portrait of late Sixties America, as seen through the portrayal of two ofits children: anthropology student Daria (who's helping a property developer build a village in the LosAngeles desert) and dropout Mark (who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policemanduring a student riot)... Summary written by Michael Brooke