Anne recommends Control Room and Gunner Palace for some good Iraq war context. I am trying to build up my list of movies to see and taking suggestions. They don’t have to be about Iraq or about war or even educational (though the only other movie on my list right now, Whale Rider is also a documentary [it is not a documentary, check. Thanks maggie]), they just have to be worth watching.
For bonus points, I am also looking for reading for my upcoming trip to Cape Town. I just finished Hugh Masekela’s autobiography, Still Grazing, which made me realize that I know very little about the history of apartheid. Once upon a time, I knew a lot about it, and I need to find some books that will help me think about South Africa all over again.
I never saw Long Night’s Journey into Day, the 1999 documentary about the South African Truth and Reconcilliation Commission, which might be a good place to start. I was overwhelmed by Cry Freedom when I was 14, I wonder what I would think of it today.
Comments
if you’d be willing, sharing your movie list would be cool. I have very little movie watching time these days due to kid, and I tend to really not like watching bad movies, so if you compile a list of movies that are worth watching, I’d love to see it.
New to the list:
2046, The Constant Gardener, The Big Lebowski and, in the non-fiction department, Paradise Now. If I could keep track of what I thought looked appealing about those I’d be off to a good start.
In the “worth seeing” department, I offer you …
Brokeback Mountain — someone asked the other night whether it was worth seeing or just a lot of hype. I thought that was a settled question, but if you need an answer, it is. Yes, there are bare butts and men doing it with each other, but it is also a heartbreaking and beautiful love story. I was schooled for calling it a story of unrequited love, because they do love each other. Fair enough. They do. But they can’t be together. What does it mean to answer love? It is a good movie.
some highlights from my list:
the 3 spanish B’s
Luis Garcia Berlanga: Bienvenidos Mr. Marshall, El Verdugo, Placido
Bunuel–El Angel Exterminado, El discreto encarto de la burgesia
Bardem–muerta de un ciclista, calle major
fiction:
Matewan
Schindler’s List
docs:
The new americans
i like killing flies
Genghis blues
wanna start a spanish 3B’s film club? these big 3′s of spanish cinema are highly recommended by spaniards in the know.
ps. whale rider is fiction, not doc
Adding Tsotsi, which I am curious to see.
Spanish Spring? I like it. Let’s.