Posts Tagged ‘racism’

Passage to India, A (1984)

Friday, December 19th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Davis, Judy | Banerjee, Victor | Ashcroft, Peggy | Fox, James | Guinness, Alec | Havers, Nigel | Wilson, Richard | Pemberton, Antonia | Culver, Michael | Malik, Art | Jaffrey, Saeed | Swift, Clive | Firbank, Ann | Seth, Roshan | Hotz, Sandra
Directors: Lean, David
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Adela Quested, a young Englishwoman, travels to India in the late 1920s to visit her fiancé, a British magistrate posted in a small town; her traveling companion is his mother Mrs. Moore. They want to see something of the country and to meet everyday Indians, but are frustrated by the British community’s insistence that relations with the locals are best experienced from a distance. Finally, a friend introduces them to a Muslim doctor whom Mrs. Moore had seen briefly on her visit to a mosque. He takes them on an outing to the nearby caverns (a local attraction), but what happens there threatens to destroy any civility between the British and Indian societies.

Gandhi (1982)

Thursday, December 18th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: India | UK
Actors: Kingsley, Ben | Bergen, Candice | Fox, Edward | Gielgud, John | Howard, Trevor | Mills, John | Sheen, Martin | Charleson, Ian | Fugard, Athol | Halmer, Günther Maria | Jaffrey, Saeed | James, Geraldine | Padamsee, Alyque | Puri, Amrish | Seth, Roshan
Directors: Attenborough, Richard
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When ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ (qv) first set foot in British India, he had already been to Britain and South Africa, and had created quite a stir for the betterment of the people. But in India, he realized that he had first to live the life of a peasant to understand what it is to be an Indian. This resolve will lead him to shed his westerners clothing, and don a simple loincloth, be subjected to racial slurs from none other than Winston Churchill (Half naked Indian Fakir); Mobilize awareness of local industry and less dependence on imported clothing and material; the historic dandee march for withdrawal of the salt tax; a fast unto death to stop the virtual slaughter of British troops by irate Indian mobs; and be imprisoned several times. His resolve was to work with stalwarts such as Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, Professor Gokhale, J.B. Kripalani, Maulana Azad, and Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru to ensure first of all to get the British to quit India, and then run an Indian Government under the Congress party. Gandhi will soon realize that it is not enough to be just an Indian, for India has many facets - Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Christian. The British relied on these many facets as an excuse for their continuance as they wanted to ensure that the minorities are not oppressed by the Hindu majority. Concerned over the inroads made by Gandhi to unite the Hindus, Muslims, and all others under a common umbrella, the British invited Jinnah for talks, and it is here that a seed was laid for a separate country called Pakistan. When Gandhi came to know about this, he pleaded with Jinnah to unite the Muslims, even take over as the first Prime Minister with his choice of Muslim candidates for Parliament, but separatist Jinnah had already made his mind. The World Wars of 1914 and 1944 having taken it’s toll on Europe and Britain in particular, the weary British finally decided to leave India in 1947 - not the India they had conquered - but an India that was ready to be divided in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Now after the much awaited independence was the real test for Gandhi - a test that will make him or break him - as he started a fast unto death to try and stop the violence that was threatening to break out into a civil war, not realizing that he had indirectly fanned Hindu extremism, which would later be called the Shiv Sena, into taking the matter directly in their hands to ensure that Muslims are kept out of their Hindustan forever.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Monday, December 15th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Peck, Gregory | Megna, John | Overton, Frank | Murphy, Rosemary | White, Ruth | Peters, Brock | Evans, Estelle | Fix, Paul | Paxton, Collin Wilcox | Anderson, James | Ghostley, Alice | Duvall, Robert | Windom, William | Denton, Crahan | Hale, Richard
Directors: Mulligan, Robert
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In the rural American south during the depths of the Depression, two children watch as their principled father takes a stand against intolerance.

Chinatown (1974)

Friday, December 12th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Mystery | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Nicholson, Jack | Dunaway, Faye | Huston, John | Lopez, Perry | Hillerman, John | Zwerling, Darrell | Ladd, Diane | Jenson, Roy | Bakalyan, Richard | Mantell, Joe | Glover, Bruce | Hinds, Nandu | O'Rear, James | Hong, James
Directors: Polanski, Roman
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Los Angeles detective Jake Gittes is hired by a woman claiming to be a Mrs. Mulwray to spy on her husband. Shortly after Gittes is hired, the real Mrs. Mulwray appears in his office threatening to sue if he doesn’t drop the case immediately. Gittes pursues the case anyway, slowly uncovering a vast conspiracy centering on water management, state and municipal corruption, land use and real estate, and involving at least one murder.

Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995)

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Genres: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: McDonald, Christopher | Gershon, Gina | Rolston, Mark | Simmons, Peter | Lawson, Cristina | Wallace, Dee | Smith, Michael Bailey | Brentley, Justin | Ward, Andra R. | Boyd, Barbara | Sakurai, Kitao | McKay, Cole S. | Hulin, Steve | Thomas, Jack C.
Directors: Rhee, Phillip
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A group of Russian mobsters have stolen a huge supply of paper for printing U.S. currency, and are now flooding the market with conterfeit bills. When one of the mobsters decides to give herself in and hand over a data CD to the DA, she is shot and killed, but not before handing the disc to an unsuspecting Tommy Lee. Despite working with the police as a martial arts instructor, Lee doesn’t go to the cops with the disc, but instead goes on the run, giving the mafia time to kidnap his daughter and hold as a hostage in exchange for return of the disc. Will Tommy ever see his daughter again?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Music
Countries: France | UK | USA
Actors: Clooney, George | Hunter, Holly | Turturro, John | Root, Stephen | Goodman, John | Durning, Charles
Directors: Coen, Joel
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Loosely based on Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ the movie deals with the grotesque adventures of Everett Ulysses McGill and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississipi. Sprung from a chain gang and trying to reach Everetts home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist they are confronted by a series of strange characters. Among them sirens, a cyclops, bankrobber George ‘Babyface’ Nelson (very annoyed by that nickname), a campaigning Governor, his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet, who warns the trio that “the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find.”

Ladykillers, The (2004)

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Crime | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Hanks, Tom | Hall, Irma P. | Wayans, Marlon | J.K. Simmons | Ma, Tzi | Hurst, Ryan | Delano, Diane | Wallace, George | McConnell, John | Weaver, Jason | Root, Stephen | Odums, Lyne | Jordan, Walter K. | Bell, George Anthony | Grunberg, Greg
Directors: Coen, Ethan
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A remake of the 1955 comedy, the story revolves around a Southern professor who puts together a group of thieves to rob a casino. They rent a room in an old woman’s house, but soon she discovers the plot and they must kill her, a task that is more difficult than it seems.

Running Scared (2006)

Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Genres: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Walker, Paul | Bright, Cameron | Farmiga, Vera | Palminteri, Chazz | Roden, Karel | Messner, Johnny | Milicevic, Ivana | Neuberger, Alex | Cudlitz, Michael | Altman, Bruce | Mitchell, Elizabeth | Nascarella, Arthur J. | Noble, John | DeLeon, Idalis | Warshofsky, David
Directors: Kramer, Wayne
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After a drug-op gone bad, Joey Gazelle is put in charge of disposing the gun that shot a dirty cop. But things goes wrong for Joey after the neighbor kid stole the gun and used it to shoot his abusive father. Now Joey has to find the kid and the gun before the police and the mob find them first.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | Thriller | War
Countries: Italy | South Africa | UK | USA
Actors: Mali, Xolani | Cheadle, Don | Dube, Desmond | Kae-Kazim, Hakeem | Kgoroge, Tony | Motene, Rosie | McCarthy, Neil | Sithole, Mabutho 'Kid' | Nolte, Nick | Mokoena, Fana | Ndlovu, Jeremiah | Okonedo, Sophie | Mashile, Lebo | Lyons, Antonio David | Khumalo, Leleti
Directors: George, Terry
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Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda–and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Suplee, Ethan | Affleck, Ben | Mosier, Scott | Lee, Jason | Mewes, Jason | Affleck, Casey | Smith, Kevin | Ewell, Dwight | Adams, Joey Lauren | Turner, Guinevere | Lee, Carmen | O'Halloran, Brian | Damon, Matt | Goebbel, Alexander | Torn, Tony | Waxman, Rebecca | Petrick, Paris
Directors:
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Holden and Banky are comic book artists. Everything’s going good for them until they meet Alyssa, also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she’s a lesbian.