It is a story about a Jewish woman, Arna Mer-Khamis, who created a children’s home and art center in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin.

Even in her advanced age, Arna was a firebrand who railed against the occupation by Israelis.

Watch the trailer here

Her son, Juliano Mer Khamis, who also helped direct a theater group for children created by his mother, directed the film.

What was unique about Arna was that she engaged the children through art and theater. She encouraged them to own their feelings of anger, fear, and desperation and express them in some way.

Even at a young age the children were suspicious of Arna and Juliano because they are Jews. It takes some time for them to accept them as people who want to help them.

What is hardest to watch is the juxtaposition of clips of the Palestinian children as kids who joke around and play to those of them as adults. One of the children, while an adult, videotapes a message to his family before he commits a suicide attack.

What is plain to see in the parts showing the children as adults is how they have become steeled in their opposition to the Israeli occupation. Long gone is the time when they would laugh and smile for the camera.

While Israelis are barely shown in the film (except for at some checkpoints or in tanks), the fact that Arna and her son give a voice to the oppressed is proof individuals can make a great difference even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

That being said, this film is important because it addresses a genocide that has been largely overlooked.
“Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” is a phrase attributed to Adolf Hitler by Armenian historians. Apparently he hoped the world would forget the 6 million people he killed much in the way it forgot the 1 million Armenians who were slaughtered.
Ararat is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

What is clear from the interviews is that most of the soldiers are hardly more than boys. Without wisdom gained from age and experience they can only process their plight as such.
This is not a heavy handed indictment against war. The directors do a marvelous job of giving a glimpse of the war in Afghanistan and allowing the story to tell itself.
Restrepo is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

Jandal laments his brother-in-law’s situation and seems to be looking for some kind of redemption, a pardon for singing like a canary when interrogated.
Director Laura Poitras does an excellent job exposing Jandal in layers – there is Jandal the father, the mentor, the jihadist, and the taxi driver. Her depiction of Jandal is one the audience should appreciate because he is quintessentially human, a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses.
While many in the West would like to demonize people like Jandal and Hamdam, Poitras makes the watcher squirm a bit because she puts a human face on the war on terror.
The Oath, which won the excellence in cinematography award: U.S. documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

“Gadhafi’s forces have intensified their assault on Libya’s third-largest city, firing tank shells and rockets into residential areas, according to witnesses and human rights groups. NATO commanders have admitted their airpower is limited in being able to protect civilians in a city – the core mission of the international air campaign.
“Hetherington, 40, was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2010 documentary film Restrepo.
“‘He was an amazing talent and special human being,’ Sundance Institute spokeswoman Brooks Addicott said in a statement. ‘We send our sincere condolences to the Hetherington family, to Sebastian Junger and Daniela Petrova, and to Tim’s many admirers all over the world.’
“Restrepo tells the story of the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company in the 173rd Airborne Combat Team on its deployment in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. The title refers to the platoon outpost, named after a popular soldier, Juan Restrepo, who was killed early in the fighting.
“‘We’re at war,’ Hetherington said in an interview with the AP before the Oscars. ‘We wanted to bring the war into people’s living room and put it into the movie theaters, and get people to connect with it. It’s not necessarily about moral outrage. It’s about trying to understand that we’re at war and try to understand the emotional terrain of what being at war means.’
“Hetherington was born in Liverpool and studied literature and photojournalism at Oxford University. Known for his gutsy ability to capture conflict zones on film, his credits included working as a cameraman on the documentaries Liberia: An Uncivil War and The Devil Came on Horseback.  He also produced pieces for ABC News’ Nightline.
“Hetherington’s photos appeared in Vanity Fair magazine, where he worked as a contributing photographer. He won the World Press Photo of the Year award for his coverage of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, and released Infidel, a book of photos capturing the lives of the 173rd Airborne Combat Team, in 2010.”
The full article can be found here.
A review of Restrepo will appear in this space soon.

The film tries to end on a positive note, showing coalition soldiers handing out goods to smiling children.
However, the truth is that the Taliban have a recruiting tool created by the current occupation: the coalition forces are foreign intruders and that trumps ideology.
What will happen remains to be seen. However, Afghanistan is called the “Graveyard of Empires” for good reason.
Talibanistan is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

It is also unfinished because it was released in 2006, a year before Fujimori was extradited to face criminal charges in Peru in September 2007. That part of his life should be regarded as a new chapter.
So, was Fujmori just the person Peru needed in the 1990s? Or did he go too far by using unethical measures to bring stability and peace to his nation?
The Fall of Fujimori is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

What might interest the audience is how hard liners like Damien hold Marxist ideals about economic as well as social and political equality.
This film is excellent as a historical drama and also as a story about love, friendship, kinship, duty, and national pride. Its effect can be felt even well after it’s over.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which received the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2006, is available for rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

It is creepy to see the absolute rapture on the faces of those lining the streets and hanging out of windows when Adolf Hitler rides by. One wonders how those same people responded once it became clear he was a monster.
Riefenstahl was a pioneer in film.
She was sure to shoot Hitler mostly from below to give him a larger than life presence. Riefenstahl also used aerial photography and telephoto lenses to great effect.
Triumph of the Will is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

The Panama Deception casts a light on the many poor people who were bombed out of their homes and never given any assistance to recover. They are truly victims without a voice.
The production values of this film are sorely lacking and the way the film wipes from scene to scene is amateurish.
The Panama Deception won the 1993 Academy Award for best documentary feature and was produced by the Empowerment Project.
The Panama Deception is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

A Prophet is compelling and gritty and the violence is brutal, swift, and bloody.
While not for the faint at heart and mostly depressing, this film is a must-see.
A Prophet is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

And Argentine President Cristina Kirchner notes that for the first time, South American leaders are looking more and more like the people they represent. She points to Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first indigenous person to be elected to that office in Bolivia, as evidence of that.
Stone also interviews Raul Castro of Cuba, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina (former president and husband to Cristina), President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay (a former liberation theologian), and Brazilian President Lula of Brazil, a labor organizer.
While Stone tips the balance on his coverage of these leaders, he also allows for frank dialogue which is illuminating.
Now that the media in the United States is caught up in war reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan, it is woefully ignorant of the massive changes happening just south of the border.
South of the Border, which is a must-see despite its leanings, is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

The film is a testament to the power of conviction, of standing up for what’s right in the face of many enemies. The more Mugabe’s government pushes against Campbell, the harder he and his family stand their ground.
This movie is a must-see.
Mugabe and the White African is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

Johnson interviews a man who is addicted to opium, another poppy-based product, as a sample of the growing number of opium addicts in the country.
Near the end of the documentary there are images of how Canadian troops and local Afghans treat their dead.
The former march in formation with a flag-draped coffin to a transport plane. The latter carry a dead man on a blanket onto the back of a pickup truck.
The last part of the film is a list of those who have attempted to rule Afghanistan, including Alexander the Great and the Greeks (330 BC to 305 BC), Genghis Khan, Mongols and Moghuls (1219-1709), the British Empire (1839-1919), and the Soviet Union (1979-1989).
It ends with the United States and NATO (2001 – ). It is up to us to determine what year will be etched on the other side of that hyphen.
The Forgotten War: Military Encounters in Afghanistan can be found at: www.pauljohnsonfilms.com
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

There are so many ways this could have been a better movie.
Where the lingering shot could have been used sparingly to add some intimacy, it is overused and reveals the fact that these men are profoundly boring.
And, there are just so many times the audience can see the men gathering salt. Once or twice would have been enough, but again the whole process is over filmed.
What could have saved this movie is the exposition of the ancient rituals practiced by the group. But even that is overlong.
The backdrop of this movie is the harshly beautiful landscape of Tibet. It is a forbidding land that shapes the lives of the people who populate it.
But even rugged beauty can become tedious to look at when yak after yak is shown traversing it.
This film is one to be skipped.
The Saltmen of Tibet is available for rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net