Forerunner Film Festival Recommended Films

In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title.

The time is now. The Chief’s eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins – a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Pai.

Grief-stricken, her father leaves her to be raised by her grandparents. Koro, her grandfather who is the Chief, refuses to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. But her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line, she sees a child in desperate need of love.

And Koro learns to love the child. When Pai’s father, Porourangi, now a feted international artist, returns home after twelve years, Koro hopes everything is resolved and Porourangi will to accept destiny and become his successor.

But Porourangi has no intention of becoming Chief. He has moved away from his people both physically and emotionally. After a bitter argument with Koro he leaves, suggesting to Pai that she come with him. She starts the journey but quickly returns, claiming her grandfather needs her.

Koro is blinded by prejudice and even Flowers cannot convince him that Pai is the natural heir. The old Chief is convinced that the tribe’s misfortunes began at Pai’s birth and calls for his people to bring their 12-year-old boys to him for training. He is certain that through a gruelling process of teaching the ancient chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future leader of their tribe will be revealed to him.

Meanwhile, deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is responding, drawn towards Pai and their twin destinies.

When the whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals an apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the people…the Whale Rider.

http://www.whaleriderthemovie.com/

Get an automatic update to this blog by subscribing to the RSS feed here….

Tags: Drama, Reform by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Djanta, a bright young female student, returns to her parent’s village at the behest of the pastor who raised her since she was a child. There, she is surprised to find that her family wishes to marry her to a man to whom she was betrothed as a baby. Djanta runs away from the village, returns to university and sets about to free women from traditional constraints. But is this even possible?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039893/

Tags: Drama, Social Justice, World Issues by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Boy, what a frustrating film to watch….even though it is very good and has been a part of my collection for a number of years now. Still, it’s hard to see the good guy, the little guy, beaten up by the big guys. Here’s one story where Goliath beats David.

Anyway, this was an interesting supposedly- true-life story of how Preston Tucker got a raw deal form the Big Three car-makers of the day, and by the government after he built a much better automobile in 1948. The film details how the big boys made sure Tucker’s company never sold any of those cars.

As mentioned, it’s maddening to watch at times, to hear lies and false charges brought against a man who had the right ideas about car safety and engineering and was way ahead of his time.

The 1940s atmosphere in this film is very good and the old music is fun to hear, too. The cinematography is great, too, with some tinted vintage-type color at times. It looks wonderful on DVD.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096316/

Tags: Biography, Drama, Science and Technology by Mediaguy
No Comments »

A classic story of one person making a world of difference.

More details here…..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113862/

Tags: Biography, Drama by Mediaguy
No Comments »

“God afton, herr Wallenberg” is perhaps one of the most emotionally engaging films I have ever seen. Even though it’s a good film, it deals with a difficult topic of the Jewish concentration camps and the systematic destruction of a people. Wallenburg, stands against the powerful Nazis at great risk he rescues many Jews who would have been killed otherwise. He is a good example of a forerunner.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/

Tags: Biography, Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Mr. Gowariker has selected an incredible cast with Aamir Khan in the lead. He makes an stunning performance as the village rebel, Bhuvan. He tries to unite the village in a struggle for life against the greedy Britons. The Britons exploit the villages by collecting lagaan (tax). This means that most of the harvest surplus is gone and there is just enough left for food for the farmers themselves. It’s a classic war between “David”, the native villagers of India, and “Goliath”, the powerful and greedy Britons. But what makes it really interesting is that this war is fought in a Cricket arena. This is a challenge from the Britons, who are well known with Cricket, against the village, where most people have never laid eyes upon a cricket bat. If the villagers win, there will be no lagaan at all, for three years! And if the Britons win, they will collect triple lagaan, which will mean the end of the village. The stakes could not be higher!!

I can’t remember a movie being this thrilling and having so much life in it. And the music has a huge impact thanks to the great voices of Udit Narayan, Lata Mangeshkar etc. And the dancing is a chapter in itself! Few or none will leave this movie not remembering the song “Mitwa, sun Mitwa”. It is a must see for everyone, inside and outside of India. And this movies has been totally righteously nominated for an Oscar too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes all the way to the top. It has my vote! It gets 10 out of 10 from me. Excellent!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169102/

Tags: Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

“Romero” is about injustice in the world but presents this theme without “preaching.” It draws in the viewer through the excellent performance of Raul Julia (rest his soul! he is missed!). “Romero” is also about class differences and the intolerance of the powerful towards social change. It’s a great film for teaching Americans about what life is like in the rest of the world. It’s a Hollywood film that managed not to go Hollywood.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098219/

Tags: Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

In the days when ships measured themselves by yardage of sail and bank of cannon, knowing your north-south latitude was easy. Finding your east-west longitude however (and keeping your ship off the reefs) was hit-and-miss. That could get you killed. The cure was to know the time in London, precisely, but keeping time accurate on a rolling ship was tougher than keeping milk fresh; pendulum clocks need stable ground, and pendulum clocks were all they had.

Queen Anne (Br., 1665-1714) had another idea: a 20,000 pound-sterling prize to anyone who had a solution. Problem was, no one expected a country carpenter cum-clockmaker to do it. John Harrison (Michael Gambon) was that carpenter, and it became *his* problem–a three-decades-long problem. It would also pose one for Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) two centuries later, as a marriage-busting, sanity-breaking obsession over restoring Harrison’s neglected prototypes: clocks that could keep time at sea better than the quartz-timed digital you might be wearing now.

“Longitude” weaves seamlessly–almost–between the two eras, tracking the exertions and miseries of John Harrison and Rupert Gould with the same kind of synchronicity Harrison spent half his life pitching to astronomers who had scarce respect for the tinkerings of a hayseed. Michael Gambon’s passionate performance as John Harrison is truly Oscar-calibre, eclipsing Irons–but only because the tunnel-visioned Rupert Gould is hardly a vehicle for the memorable. Too bad this was “only” a TV mini-series. As a theatrical release it would have lent due reknown to a scarce-remembered true epic of genius.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192263/

Tags: Drama, Science and Technology by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Review Summary

The Long Walk Home is a recreation of a troubled era in American history. The time is 1955; the place, Montgomery, Alabama. When Rosa Parks, an African American woman, is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, it is the first volley in the great Bus Boycott, organized by Dr. Martin Luther King in order to desegregate the Birmingham transportation system. The boycott is a decided inconvenience for Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), a well-to-do white woman. Now, Miriam must drive to the black section of town to pick up her maid Odessa Cotter (Whoopi Goldberg) and bring her to work. Outside of her own social circle, Miriam realizes for the first time just how privileged, sheltered and self-centered her life has been. What brings this fact home is the realization that Odessa has literally been raising two families: the Thompsons’ and her own. Odessa has also sacrificed her own health and wellbeing to serve her employers without question or complaint. Awakened to the true inequities of “Separate But Equal”, and impressed by Dr. King’s edict of nonviolent resistance, Miriam joins the boycott. This stirs up the racist feelings harbored by Miriam’s husband Norman (Dwight Schultz), who at the behest of his goonish brother Tunker (Dylan Baker) joins the Klanlike White Citizen’s Council. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/29947/The-Long-Walk-Home/overview

Tags: Biography, Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

“This movie had to win Best Picture.” I think it’s one of the best epics of all time. It masterfully tells one of the most important stories of the 20th century, that of India’s struggle to free itself, spearheaded by one of the most extraordinary men of all time, Mahatma Gandhi. I would be hard pressed to name anything lacking about it. Direction, cinematography, costumes, they’re all great. And Ben Kingsley! Without a doubt his portrayal of Gandhi is one of the best performances of his career, if not THE best. Playing the pacifist Indian lawyer-turned-leader couldn’t have been an easy task, and I don’t think anyone could have pulled it off as well as he did. This movie deserves all the praise anyone gives it and more. Excellent.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/

Tags: Biography, Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »