Etz Limon (2008)

A government official moves to the edge of one of Israel's borders with Palestine. One the Palestinian side, a lemon grove grows right to the border of the back yard and this is seen as a security risk by the Israeli government as a sniper could easily hide in the grove and harm the official. So the grove is ordered to be cut back with significant impact to the grove's owner, a Palestinian widow.

This David and Goliath battle happens in the press and in court.

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The Life of David Gale (2003)

This crime thriller evokes the many 1980s and 1990s classic plot twist films. That isn't to say that it is any less clever than its precursors, but it does use a well-used mechanic with its audience.

David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is on death row for a murder of a colleague. Ironically, both he and his colleague were unpopular advocates against capital punishment. A reporter (Kate Winslet) is called in to interview the prisoner just days prior to the execution. She begins to unravel the real story, but will she unravel it in time to save David's life or not?

The film presents four distinct culture clashes: midwestern vs. university vs. press vs. prison. This helps the viewer see the topic of capital punishment from varying perspectives and does a fair job of fleshing out the debate.

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Win Win (2011)

Win Win is a superb film with plenty of flawed (but very entertaining) characters. The collision of two families each with a unique struggle who then lean into the other is a picture of communion and love.

Paul Giamatti plays another semi-neurotic character, but more subtle and relatable in the role of a small town lawyer. His counterpart Kyle, a loner and gifted teen, is played by a newcomer - a real live wrestling prodigy. The five main supporting actors add great humanity and comedy to this beautiful story.

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Midnight Express (1978)

Midnight Express is based on the true story of a man who was caught smuggling heroin out of Turkey in the 1970s. From the beginning we are shown that Billy's decision to board a plane with drugs strapped to his body was a clear mistake and not one he made of sound mind pushing us to want clemency for him. The Turkish authorities decide to use him as an example - I guess to keep the drugs in their own country? - and sentence him to over 30 years in prison.

Billy nearly goes insane in the harsh prison conditions and almost loses hope. The film seemed quite balanced in its approach to justice, American patronization, and freedom.

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Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

This is a very well made documentary in that it reveals information in such incremental and emotionally charged ways that the viewer can not dismiss anyone's point of view.

A father and son are accused of molesting children in their basement as they offered computer classes. The film documents the accusations and through home movies it also follows how the accusations and sentences affected the Friedman family. It is a raw and gut wrenching film despite the lighthearted treatment of the issues by some of the family.

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A Murder of Crows (1998)

Everything is nicely resolved in this mystery/crime drama. It's too bad since it could have been far more dramatic and interesting if things didn't get tied up so nicely - the story is quite clever.

A New Orleans lawyer gets a conscience and subsequently is disbarred. He moves to Florida to write a novel when out of the blue, an old man shares with him a novel manuscript about a man who murders lawyers. When the old man unexpectedly dies, the lawyer peddles the book as his own yielding consequences from the true facts in the novel.

The film was made for the masses, offering little cerebral tension, but Cuba Gooding Jr. shares some life lessons that lend a modicum of meaning to the film. As a mystery, it works on the same level as a good Agatha Christie film.

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Presumed Innocent (1990)

What I particularly love about this dated mystery drama is the title. I found myself pondering the topics of the film and the opening and closing statements for days following having watched it.

Harrison Ford plays a prosecuting lawyer who is charged with the murder of his mistress. The story follows his struggle to prove his innocence in the face of politics, home problems, and a corrupt legal system.

While films have come a long way in keeping the subplots more submerged, I really liked the story told here.

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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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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Clint Eastwood presents this moral tale in the deep south. A magazine writer becomes entangled in a scandalous murder trial of a local celeb and self-made man. There big twist in the story is that everyone knows the defendant is gay, but when it has to come out into the open, people cease to support him.

The story is full of colourful characters and a twisting plot making it a fun watch.

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Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

The maker of The Fog of War brings another personal interview based documentary focusing on the abuses of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib. Errol Morris points the camera at the people charged with mistreatment of prisoners and the people charged with investigating the matter. We get an inside look into the minds that were demonized in the media and the policies that allowed the abuses.

The film is affecting and enraging.

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Erin Brockovich (2000)

A battle between single mom and corporate America is handily portrayed by Steven Soderbergh and a feisty performance by Julia Roberts.

Brockovich finagles her way into working in a small law office. As she begins to investigate a real estate deal, she uncovers a mammoth tainted water cover-up by a local factory. With the lawyer she works for, she builds a class action suit to get compensation for the sick victims of the dirty water.

The story is touching and does make the point that there should be more accountability for big business, but it did not make me like the title character. She was self-involved and possessed tunnel vision at the cost of the people who loved and needed her. Sure, she did a great thing, but her crass and rude interchanges make her more of an ante-hero.

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A Passage to India (1984)

This epic film tells the story of a colonized India that is nearly ready to revolt the the personal story of some Brit ex-pats and local nationals.

Adela travels to the interior of India to become engaged to a British city magistrate. She befriends an Indian professor who is so smitten by the fact that a white woman would take the time to befriend him that he decides to extend incredible hospitality to her. He invites her on a trip to see a set of caves. The result is catastrophic and the entire empire goes on trial.

It helps that the film is based on a thick novel giving it incredible depth. Some of the events are somewhat difficult to piece together, but the thread holding the film intact is the parallel of one people's subjugation of another and the one thing that can mend the brokenness.

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Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Since Polanski has returned to the spotlight in the recent efforts of extradition from Switzerland to face his criminal charges in the United States, I thought it was time to watch this documentary about the crime in question.

The film tracks Roman Polanski's life from start in World War II Poland through to his current work as a director. What is clear is that Mr. Polanski has led a tortured life with his near death experiences in the war, the murder of his wife and then being faced with imprisonment for statutory rape. Despite all of this, Polanski is able to create potent Oscar winning films.

The meat of the film is a look at the trial after Polanski was arrested for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. The trial judge is portrayed as fame hungry and as a result inept.

Certainly the issue is not resolved is California still wishes to sentence Polanski.

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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Divorce in Manhattan still isn't glamourous and with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep at the helm of this multiple Oscar winner, the film resounds with sentiment.

When a discontented Joanna Kramer walks out on Ted Kramer and their young son Billy, Ted is given the gift of parenting, though his work becomes more stressful as a result. Extraordinary tension mounts when Joanna returns a year later, her life back together, with a desire for custody of Billy.

There are some deeply relational issues tackled by the film - between husband and wife, between each parent and their son, between society and parental roles, etc. As a parent watching the film, it is difficult to not judge the parents' battle over their son and their divorce as simply selfish.

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The Informant! (2009)

Steven Soderbergh dishes out an entertaining view of the midwest with the true story of an FBI informant who turns rogue.

Mark Whitacre knows that his massive corporation is price fixing, so he turns to the Bureau to do what is right. What follows is an incredible 2 year operation with the FBI where Mark collects evidence. Ultimately, Mark's character makes the film. Matt Damon delivers him as no one special, just an enigmatic Dudley Do Right with a big problem: lying.

The film is stylized to bring us back to the early 90's (and in the midwest, it still looked like the 80's). Between scenes, Damon's character narrates the film with some insights into how he would spend money or what he finds interesting on TV or what he thinks is remarkable trivia. This gives us a sense as to what the American Dream has become.

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JCVD (2008)

In an industry that likes to clone success, an original film like this one often does not get made - or at least doesn't usually get distribution. I'm glad this one was made.

The story is fictional, but I think it puts a relatively real Jean-Claude Van Damme in a unique situation where we can see more clearly what his reaction would be. Van Damme plays himself as a down and out actor whose life is in a the last rounds of a downward spiral. He's back in Brussels, Belgium where his stardom is still potent. He enters a post office/bank as an armed robbery is in progress and as the police arrives, they believe he is the perpetrator. We watch as Van Damme deals with the situation and his celebrity.

The best part of the film is Van Damme exposing a wretched self with a wellspring of goodness.

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I Am Sam (2001)

We're faced with a difficult question in I Am Sam: How should the state respond to parents who may not be capable of caring for their children? The film offers a simplistic answer.

Sean Penn completes a formidable role as Sam, a man with functional autism and diminished mental abilities. Sam fathers a girl and cares for her in his way with a support system. After an unfortunate incident, social services removes his 7-year-old to state care. A legal battle ensues and Sam acquires the aid of a high powered attorney.

The whole tale is quite unlikely, but it makes a great story. The soundtrack is delightful as it's made up mainly of Beatles covers.

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To Kill a King (2003)

The same story erupts in nearly every revolution. This one takes place in Britain during the reign of Charles I.

When Sir Thomas Fairfax leads an uprising against the king's troupes because of the tyranny Charles I imposes upon his people, Fairfax's faithful supporter puritan Oliver Cromwell becomes ever more zealous. The Parliament is easily bribed by the king and stronger measures are needed to "persuade" the king to yield more authority to the commons. Fairfax and Cromwell disagree on the method that ought to be utilized and they part on poor terms. Cromwell, who is played extraordinarily well by Tim Roth, seizes power and becomes as despotic as the king he beheads.

The film focuses on the relationship between Cromwell and Fairfax and keeps the audience more in the background of this well known story. The story isn't overly romanticized as the recent Elizabeth films are and it attempts to maintain an earthy and realist tone. 

The message is clear - diplomacy always yields better results than violence.

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Frost/Nixon (2008)

A more personal Nixon is revealed in this drama based on the historical interviews conducted by David Frost.

Ron Howard directs behind the scenes stories as both Frost and Nixon vie for popularity. The only way they will win the hearts of Americans is if the other capitulates during the taping of the interviews - Frost wins if Nixon confesses and Nixon wins if he can keep Frost from asking the right questions.

The acting in the film is superb, Frank Langella's Nixon especially. We get a dramatized version of the icon that still represents corruption and self-interest on the grandest scale. The film is stylistically done to keep the flavour of the era strong.

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The Merchant of Venice (2004)

This is a wonderful film production of Shakespeare's meditation on mercy. It helps that the play is a masterpiece to begin with.

As anti-semitism is widely practiced in 16th century Venice, a Jewish money lender called Shylock sees no problem in making a deal with a gentile business man, Antonio, that the cost of default on the loan would be a pound of his own flesh. Of course there is romance in Shakespeare's play and this is played out with Shylock's daughter eloping with a Christian which only firms Shylock's hatred of the Christians and then there is Antonio's protogé Bassanio who borrows the money in order to seek the hand of the princess Portia.

The romantic side stories and Portia's antics actually diminish the greater drama played out between Shylock and Antonio, though Portia's own role at showing mercy to her husband echos that of the courtroom.

The acting and set design are exquisite, but nothing beat the fact that I wanted justice as much as Shylock did and I actually rooted against mercy in all cases causing much reflection following the film - Why do I prefer justice over mercy when I have been shown so much mercy?

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