DVDs Can a Movie Change Your Mind

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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Can a Movie Change Your Mind? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-can-a-movie-change-y_b_63227.html [4/5/2009 8:38:32 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 www.TheGodMovie.com Feedback - Ads by Google HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More... LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted September 5, 2007 | 06:59 PM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get EmailAlerts Bloggers'Index DVDs: Can a Movie Change Your Mind? Read More: Demetri Martin , Entertainment News How easily a film can be misunderstood. Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes The Barley tackles the prickly subject of British troopsoccupying Ireland and the men and women whorise up to fight against them. As a British subject(born in Bermuda) with Irish blood who hasspent most of his life in America, I can see allsides to the conflict and be dispassionate. Butalmost no one in England or Ireland can. A few scenes of British soldiers mocking and belittling Irish men caused outcries that the film was anti-British (often claimed by those who hadn't seen it), even though they're balanced byanother scene where a British soldier describes his despair and pain at the situation they're in. Lost in the shuffle is the quiet, heartbreaking film itself, which follows two brothers (one played by the eerily beautiful Cillian Murphy) who join the IRA in the early 1900s to fight against the Britishand then get drawn into the Irish Civil War of the Twenties. It won the top prize at Cannes in 2006and went on to be Loach's biggest box office hit to date. But since Loach's box office is invariablymodest and it barely made a ripple in the US even among critics, it deserves to be discovered againon DVD. There you will discover one of the film's painful, central truths: how violence corrupts and corrodes. The violence begins with attacks on foreign soldiers occupying your country. Then itspreads to killing Irish people you've never met who collaborate with them. Then it spreads tokilling friends you've known all your life who cracked under torture and pain of death andsuddenly you find yourself pointing a gun at your own flesh and blood. None of this undermines the political arguments at play in wanting the British gone. It's just the way it goes - war is hell, even if the war is justified. And violence is poisonous. But seeing howviolence turns on you so quickly should give anyone pause about turning to it before all other Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Get Breaking News Alerts Share Print Comments never spam Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! 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Other DVDs out this week: Shakespeare Was A Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement's Home Movies ($19.98; Shout), a ramshackle celebration of the maverick Nashville songwriter, producer and all-around Falstaffian nut; A Curtain Raiser & Other Shorts ($29.95; Kino), works by the deliriously talented and diverse director Francois Ozon; the acerbic and entertaining sitcomIt's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Seasons 1 & 2 (Fox; $39.98); Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke ($14.98; Paramount), which unlike the drug it celebrates has not grown stronger with the passage of time; The City Of Violence ($24.95; Weinstein Co.) which is admirably restrained on boring plot points and common sense and admirably unrestrained in nifty action sequences; The Office Season Three ($49.98; Universal), a sitcom which keeps getting better and 30 Rock Season 1 ($49.98; Universal), a sitcom which might; Demetri Martin Person ($19.98; HBO), a stand-up act from the Daily Show correspondent who proves himself an amusing combination of Henny Youngman and Stephen Wright (the further away he gets from standard standup the better he is); the somewhat improved third season of Desperate Housewives ($59.99; Buena Vista); the dull second season of Prison Break ($59.98; Fox), which looks like it should have been a one-season telenovela andcalled it a day; the Miss Marple-like Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Collection($149.99; Acorn), who has naughty taste in sidekicks; and Alibi ($24.95; Kino), a little-known but remarkably stylized gangster flick from 1929. 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Ice Bridge Ruptures In Antarctic (VIDEO) An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has Scientists Find Rocket Fuel Chemical In Infant Formula ATLANTA — Traces of a Michael Giltz: DVDs: Can a Movie Change Your Mind? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-can-a-movie-change-y_b_63227.html [4/5/2009 8:38:32 PM]Comments Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink I believe that film is playing in Toronto, so we should have a review soon to tell us if it's any good. strummerfan See Profile I'm a Fan of strummerfan permalink Hotel Rwanda is an excellent film, but it didn't really change my mind about what happened to the people of Rwanda. It was horrific. It did, however, make me very angry at the U.N. and the rest of theinternational community.So I am currently waiting for the release of a Canadaian film, Shake Hands With The Devil, based onthe book written by Gen. Romeo Dellaire, the man in charge of that U.N. envoy left neutered by thepowers that be. I am hoping it will shed light on why the U.N. made the choices they did. ( I'm too lazyto read the book right now. Maybe in a year or so.) Usedtobequiet See Profile I'm a Fan of Usedtobequiet permalink There are so many movies that have changed me in so many ways. Thanks for asking. I've beenwatching a lot of "foreign" films lately. They can be so REAL, so truthful. Of late, here are a few thathave affected me deeply: Omagh - Ireland Osama -Afghanistan (no, it has nothing to do with "him") The Circle - Iran Blood Diamond was incredible in the way the scenes of war seemed so believable. A heartbreaking movie that made me ache for days. I've always had a very deep level of respect for Leonardo DiCaprio,but this movie cemented that for me. He obviously believed in what this film had to say. For daysafterwards, I thought about war and brainwashing and how a young boy can lose his soul under theright circumstances. Also, a great great American film that showed me how an "other" can see "us" is The Brother from Another Planet that John Sayles did starring Joe Morton. As a side note, did you see Cillian in 28 Days Later? "Eerily beautiful" is a really great way to describe him. As for the movie, EEK! Thanks for the reminder of The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink I especially enjoyed the Iranian film The Circle as well. Remarkable that it even got made,frankly. I wouldn't have thought of The Brother From Another Planet but of course you'reright. EspressoAtNoon See Profile I'm a Fan of EspressoAtNoon permalink I just added The Wind That Shakes The Barley to the top of my Blockbuster Queue. Thanks for thesuggestion, I can't wait to see it. Hotel Rwanda made a big impression on me. I found myself thinking about that movie for weeks after I saw it. Others that made big impressions were The Killing Fields, In the Name of the Father, Sophie's Choice, and Life is Beautiful. AIG Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein. In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael Giltzchemical used in rocket fuel were found insamples of... HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:20 PM on 09/10/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:09 PM on 09/08/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:32 AM on 09/06/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:01 PM on 09/06/2007This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: DVDs: Can a Movie Change Your Mind? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-can-a-movie-change-y_b_63227.html [4/5/2009 8:38:32 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Comments are closed for this entry Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink Hope you like it. Those are some powerful films. I remember catching up on the Oscar nominated films the weekend before the awards were being handed out and sitting in amassive, near empty theater in South Florida at the end of The Killing Fields, eeling stunnedand overwhelmed by that film's finale, in no small part due to the fact that it was at the time one of the rare films to get permission to use a John Lennon song. Apples See Profile I'm a Fan of Apples permalink Nice question, Michael. First, the film that changed my life has to be '2001: A Space Odyssey.' It was the moment when we realize that even though the two astronauts have done everything to keep their voices hidden fromHAL, the computer is lip reading. When the huge Cinerama screen plunged into sudden darkness tonote the intermission I was stunned. The emotional impact of that stunning moment was sooverwhelming that, for the first time ever in a theater, I realized that a film could be something morethan mere entertainment. The film that changed my mind is probably 'Soldier Blue.' It's not a particularly great western, but the military attack on the peaceful Indian village - though overwrought - had such an impact, my wholepolitical attitude towards both the military - yesterdays and todays - and the plight of the nativeAmericans was turned inside out. Perhaps in an indirect way 'Soldier Blue' is responsible for my daily reading of the Huffington Post. Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink 2001 certainly blew a lot of minds, but you're one of the few people that didn't talk about the light show at the end or the general stoner mind trip and focused on Kubrick's riveting (ifsometimes obscure) plot. That moment when you realize HAL is lip-reading is indeed aclassic. And the interesting thing about Soldier Blue is that you can have your mind changedeven by a film that won't necessarily stand the test of time. Thanks for commenting. You must be logged in to reply to this comment. Log in or Ads by Google Local 16mm Transfer High-end Conversion Process Limited time - 50% off www.digitaltransfersystems.net Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:28 AM on 09/06/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:25 AM on 09/06/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:02 PM on 09/05/2007 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:24 AM on 09/06/2007

DVDs Can a Movie Change Your Mind

📄 DVDs Can a Movie Change Your Mind

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