Gomorra (2008)

Gomorrah can be likened to a less visually stunning Italian City of God. Kids entering mob gangs in Naples - how they are initiated, how the gangs are accepted in the communities, and the trauma on members and the community. It's worth watching.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

This could be my favourite of the 9 films nominated for 2012 best picture. The visuals, the grittiness, the supreme performance of the little girl lead, the presence of the fantastical, the music... it's all so good. A fractured family living in The Bathtube - an anarchic society outside New Orleans who live on little islands unprotected by a levee - face flooding and the little girl gets to experience survival in a community of poverty, but also very alone. Just a gorgeous film - watch it if you haven't already.

The Pool (2007)

The Pool is a gracious look at the severe class divisions in India. A hotel worker becomes infatuated with a wealthy family's pool and then the family itself. The relationship between the two parties grows and understanding starts to form.

I quite enjoyed it, mostly because the poorer characters were so interesting and risk-taking.

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L'illusionniste (2010)

The Illusionist is a lovely tale from the makers of The Triplets of Belleville - this one is far more melancholy and far less violent.

A French illusionist ends up on the road in a rustic and remote island off of Scotland. There he picks up a loyal fan who has is urbanized slowly when they settle in Paris. The film centres on his resourcefulness, her quaintness, and their devotion to each other.

The animation is lively which is good because the film is rather slow. Great story telling though and you will find yourself responding out loud with the emotional movement.

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Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)

The narration is readings from late 19th century newspaper articles from Wisconsin's frontier. The stories are acted out on black and white film. That's it.

The title gives away the common thread of the various articles.

It's a fascinating film in that it shocks any kind of romance out of the settler/homesteading era. The madness, lack of social recourse, and ignorance in these remote locations is saddening, if not a quite upsetting.

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Dare mo shiranai (2004)

Nobody Knows is loosely based on true events of four children who are abandoned by their mother in Japan. The siblings are cared for by the oldest as they manage to elude discovery by the outside world. This is a very sad story, making the plight of abandoned children around the world more accessible as it is set against a first world backdrop.

Children need to be loved.

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Doctor Zhivago (1965)

This is the first time watching Doctor Zhivago and what surprised me (and pleased me) the most was the genuinely flawed nature of the characters. While I despised some characters, they held my sympathy and while I loved other characters, I hated some of their decisions. Its tragedy and epic portrayal of the Russian revolution bring the film to an even greater height. It won't be the last time I watch it!

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Winter's Bone (2010)

Authentically tense with some raw strength in both the characters and the gripping narrative.

Ree has to track down her dad who is out of prison on bond. If he doesn't show up for his court date, she loses the family land and house. The back hills of Arkansas aren't the most welcoming place to be poking around, in fact it's quite terrifying. Blood is thicker than water.

Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic, but who is this director? Debra Granik? She's awesome!

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Prestuplenie i nakazanie (1970)

This Russian adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment paces itself like the book, taking ample time inside protagonist Rodya Raskolnikov's head. It is done in black and white and the lack of colour adds the only other real joyless feature to the film beyond the glorious performances by the actors - who are unknown to the west.

Raskolnikov is pained by the conflict of his philosophical conclusion, that great men can accomplish whatever they like and should live without guilt and with impunity by virtue of the fact that they are great! He can not justify his philosophy because in his mind he himself is greater than his ignorant peers, but he and his mother and sister live in abject poverty. He decides to live out his philosophy by murdering a pawn broker, someone he views as a leech of society. The story plays out from here demonstrating his struggle to mute his conscience.

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Reparando (2010)

This Christian documentary takes a politically and spiritually informed look at the trauma-induced poverty in Guatemalan slums. As a former resident of Guatemala, the stories were familiar and the history still heart breaking.

The film recounts the stories of some dedicated people working towards restoring their communities one person at a time. A well produced film by a small group of independents.

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The Blind Side (2009)

A bit heavy on the sap, but considering the true story it's based on, a pleasantly passionate retelling. The Christian element of sacrifice and love seemed secondary to the grave class division - a dire consequence of Christianity gone amiss in the United States. Again, I did enjoy the film and I was moved by the compassion.

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Goya's Ghosts (2006)

Stacked with very fine actors and a compelling story, this film ultimately doesn't satisfy because of the multi-layered melodramatic threads in the fictional tale.

Francisco Goya, the famed political artist, is witness to the horrors of both the Catholic Inquisition and the invasion by Napoleonic forces into Spain. Caught in the midst of the worst kind of injustice is the daughter of one of Goya's patrons.

The film is not horrible, it just fails to bring much hope nor does it make the hopelessness palpable.

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Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Another polemic and necessary film from Michael Moore. This time he indicts the worship of capitalism and the evils that stem from it. In particular he attacks the privatization of public works, the domination of investment banks, the foreclosure epidemic and the mistreatment of employees by corporate giants.

He again does a fine job organizing the information in a humourous way, still infusing it with stunts of his own (like trying to make a citizen's arrest of bankers on Wall Street). Plus he fuels anger many people have against this rotten system that doesn't distinguish between free market and capitalism.

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Basquiat (1996)

Jeffrey Wright is a fantastic actor and he holds up this fascinating film about 80's artist Jean Michel Basquiat.

Bordering on homelessness in NYC, a drug dependent Basquiat makes a name for himself through graffiti. He boldly enters the art scene by presenting himself to Andy Warhol and procuring a devoted agent. From rags to riches over night, he struggles to control his bad habits and maintain fame without bowing to it.

The film is director Julian Schnabel's first before making Before Night Falls and one of my all-time favorites, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Aside from all of these films being biographical, he brings a beautiful sense of the imagination and cinema clothing his subjects with a sense of self without giving over to straight narration.

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Death Defying Acts (2007)

In a similar way that Public Enemies romanticized the last days of John Dilinger, Death Defying Acts takes a melodramatic look at the end of Harry Houdini's life.

Plagued with the recent death of his mother, famed illusionist Harry Houdini is on a quest to speak to the dead - or at least demonstrate clairvoyance to be fraudulent. He meets his match in Scotland where a beautiful single mother promises to help him communicate with this dead mother.

While the story is a stretch from real events, they are remarkable in that they even resemble the truth. It is an interesting tale and the acting in it is acceptable.

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Il Postino (1995)

The Postman is one of the gentlest and most beautiful films I have ever seen. Absolutely enjoyable and touching.

Mario, very simple Italian island peasant (played magnificently by the late Massimo Troisi) who isn't interested in fishing takes a low paying job at the post office. He has one delivery to the famous poet Pablo Neruda, a political exile from Chile. As the two become friends, Mario's life begins to take form and he gains much confidence and purpose. But Neruda is not left unaffected either.

The poetry in the film is superb as it actually comes from Neruda. I loved the film for its portrayal of innocence and the power of friendship. It also demonstrates the potency of poetry and beauty and its accessibility to everyone irregardless, of social standing.

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Oliver Twist (2005)

This most recent adaptation of Charles Dickens famous novel is an exceptional portrayal of the tenderness of young Oliver. Roman Polanski is a suitable director as his early life carried with it many hardships as well.

Oliver is orphaned and is either passed from one owner to another or escapes and joins another ending up in the hands of a ruthless ringleader of pickpockets in the streets of Victorian London. His life is in the balance when an opportunity for love presents itself.

I was thoroughly impressed by the acting in the film. It did almost border on caricature at some points, but managed to avoid the lightness of the musical. Full of grace and the dire need of it, Oliver Twist will remain a classic for these virtues alone, let alone all of the colourful characters.

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The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Ireland is raked over the coals of internal strife after they drive the British from their shores.

Young Dr. Damien is recruited as a freedom fighter against a brutal and unforgiving British occupying army. Damien fights alongside his neighbours and his brother in an informal military force that must discipline itself to the point of executing traitors - their own friends and brothers. When victory is achieved, the nation is plunged even further division because of a disagreement of the terms of truce. More blood is shed.

There is no pleasure in watching this film aside from the sheer power and anguish expressed. The Wind that Shakes the Barely belongs on the shelf with other tragic classics.

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L'albero degli zoccoli (1978)

I saw an earlier picture by Ermanno Olmi - Il Posto - that was quite affecting with its simplistic portrayal of life in postwar Italy. This time, Olmi portrays rural peasantry in the late 19th century in a three hour epic called The Tree of Wooden Clogs.

Farmers inhabit a common building on the property of a local wealthy landowner. Each year a portion of their harvest is given as rent to their landlord. We see children born, a child attend school, a cow become sick, cooking and eating corn meal, the faith of some of the residents, a courtship, etc. Ultimately, there is a tragic event that demonstrates the vulnerability the peasants endure.

None of the characters are played by actors and this really brings home the simplicity and innocence of the time. A rewarding film if you aren't after glamour and special effects and contrived stories.

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Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand (2004)

One of the earliest films made in Iraq during the current war, Turtles Can Fly passionately depicts the plight of children during wartime, particularly those who are already refugees in their own country.

An enterprising young teenage Kurd leads a workforce of children who clear fields of land mines in northern Iraq and setting up satellite dishes for the surrounding refugee camps and villages. He becomes enamored with a girl who cares for a baby and her older maimed brother. The United States are about to invade Iraq.

The film is made with non-actors and this makes it even more affecting as you know these children actually live in these conditions. The story becomes even more tragic as the girl's history is told and her future is obliterated.

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