THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS

THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS - (1956)

RATING - NR but probably PG

STARRING - Clifton Webb, Gloria Grahame

AWARDS - BAFTA 1957 BEST FILM NOMINEE, BAFTA 1957 BEST BRITISH FILM NOMINEE. WINNER, BAFTA 1957 BEST BRITISH SCREEN PLAY.

STORY - Based on a true story that took place in 1943 during WWII, The British want to deceive the Germans into thinking they are really going to attack Greece. If successful, it will save hundreds, if not thousands of British soldiers' lives. The plan is to find someone already dead and create a 'fictional officer' who drowns carrying secret fake orders to invade Greece and have the Germans discover the body and the orders. Easier said than done, they go about creating a 'life' for this MAN WHO NEVER WAS. The plan seems to be working until the Germans decide they need to send a spy to England to verify this person's history. The plan starts to unravel. Can they convince the Germans this person was for real and the orders are legitimate? If you're a WWII buff (or even if you're not) and you enjoy espionage, this is a very entertaining and interesting slice of WWII history. Very suitable for families. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 9/27/2007

LINKS - AMAZON, IMBD

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF LIFE

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF LIFE - (2001-NR)

THEME- DOCUMENTARY, WHERE DOES LIFE COME FROM?

STORY-Where did we all come from. Did life originate from a single simple cell with 'Natural Selection' as proposed by Charles Darwin in THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES? With our knowledge today of DNA and amino acids and protein, would Darwin write that book today? We'll never know, of course, but based on his own words regarding the foundation of his system based on the simple cell concept, it would seem not. The film features world class scientists and state of the art computer graphics to present the case for an Intelligent Designer rather than random chance. Showing that life cannot be reduced to a simple cell based on DNA evidence, it proposes that information (DNA) requires Intelligence. It does not make the case for Who or What might be the Intelligence, just that the overwhelming scientific evidence today points to an Intelligent Design. It is not preachy, it does not mention the word God and concentrates on the science behind ID. While I have not heard a convincing argument AGAINST ID, perhaps someone reading this review has one. Are scientists today being honest if they reject ID? Isn't science the pursuit of truth wherever that may lead without any presuppositions? Is the path of Natural Selection a cold trail and we should be pursuing the lead of Intelligent Design, wherever that may end up? While science has not 'scientifically proven' the case for an Intelligent Being as the source of life, the evidence is mounting and the question is what will science do with it. Very educational for all levels and worth watching no matter what perspective you follow. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 9/25/2007.

LINKS- AMAZON, IMDB

THE LOST CHILD

THE LOST CHILD (2000-TV)

RATING-NR but probably G/PG

STARRING-Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl

THEME-RELATIONSHIPS, CULTURE & HERITAGE

STORY- All of us have to deal with the great questions of life such as 'who am I?', where did I come from?, 'where am I going?'. But what if you're adopted and you're not just thinking in the abstract but you really want to know where you came from? What if your adopted parents were white and Jewish and you found out you were born to Navajo Indian parents? That's the story of this HALLMARK film based on a true story. Can your marriage survive when your husband finds out? Can your children handle the ridicule? Obviously made on a lower made-for-TV budget than Hollywood, this is a very entertaining as well as informative movie about the Navajo culture, both the good and the bad. Can Becca take what's best from her Indian heritage and also bring 'the white man's solution' to an area of great pain in the Navajo culture? A wonderful family movie.

LINKS: AMAZON, IMBD

TOMORROW

TOMORROW (1972)

RATING-PG for thematic elements. There is one intense scene of pain during childbirth but nothing explicit. A murder happens on-screen but nothing graphic or closeup.

STARRING-Robert Duvall. Screenplay by Horton Foote.

THEME-Unconditional love and compassion.

STORY-Based on a short story by William Faulkner, the film opens with the brief flashback of a night scene where a young man and woman are apparently trying to elope without her parent's knowledge. The family is aroused and the young man is shot and killed by the father. The camera then moves to the courtroom of a small Mississippi town where a murder trial is in its final argument stage. As the defense wraps up its final argument, the camera pans the jury zooming in on Jackson Fentry (Duvall). When he casts the lone vote against acquitting the father resulting in a hung jury, the defense attorney wonders why would this man vote against 11 of his peers, in this his first trial as a lawyer. The rest of the movie tells us why by taking us back 20 years in the life of Fentry. Duvall is at his best in his role of Jackson Fentry, an introverted cotton farmer who leaves his father's farm to be the watchman at a rural sawmill about 30 miles from home. We see a tragic and touching love story between Duvall and a young, pregnant woman who has been deserted by her husband. In Duvall you see man's capacity for love and to do good. In the end we also experience man's capacity for evil and to do harm to his fellow man. This is not a fast-paced action film with lots of special effects but the acting is outstanding and well worth watching. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews 9/15/2007.

LINKS-IMBD, AMAZON

SALT OF THE EARTH

SALT OF THE EARTH (1954)

RATING-NR but probably PG

AWARDS-National Film Registry, Library of Congress (1992) and the only blacklisted film in American history.

THEME-Civil rights and feminine rights.

STORY-Based on the true story of the strike against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico. The Mexican-American miners are fighting for equal wages and equal safety conditions with the 'Anglo' miners. When there is a serious injury caused by lack of safety precautions, the Mexican-American union decides to strike. Ironically, there is a 'strike' brewing on the home front of these workers as well. As bad as these men are treated at the mines, they don't do much better with their own families. Living in the 'company owned' town (we own the flowers-the company owns everything else) the wives are forced to live without indoor hot water, forcing them to chop wood 4-5 times a day for cooking, washing, etc. Several bold wives dare to show up at the union meeting and suggest they make hot water part of the bargaining. The men reject their proposal and a long, ugly strike ensues. When the miners are ordered off the picket line by a federal judge, the wives realize that this doesn't apply to them. This creates a whole new dimension of friction among the miners and their families as many of the men refuse to allow their wives to enter 'their' world. It also creates some humorous times as the men try to handle the home responsibilities and soon realize firsthand what their wives were complaining about. Because the producers and directors had refused to participate in the Congressional anti-Communist inquiries, they were 'blacklisted' and the film was banned by the government, the only blacklisted American film in history. A powerful film that anticipated the civil rights and feminist movements by nearly 10 years. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 9/15/2007.

LINKS-IMBD, AMAZON

MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING

MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING (2001)

RATING-NR but probably PG

AWARDS-ACADEMY AWARD BEST DOCUMENTARY

THEME-IS THERE LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL?

STORY-This is amazing story of 15 year old Brenton Butler of Jacksonville, FL who was wrongfully accused of murder. On a Sunday morning, an elderly white couple were returning to their motel room after breakfast. They were confronted by an armed robber. Something went wrong, the thief panicked and shot and killed the woman. As the police set up a man hunt in the area, Brenton happened to be walking in the area. The police picked him up, believing he matched the description of the killer (he didn't come close) and the husband identified him in a lineup. This began the worst nightmare any citizen could experience. Not only were the police incompetent, they were prejudiced and anxious to get 'their killer'. While, this is certainly not the norm for all police work, this is a MUST WATCH to see how our system can and does work for some people. The public defender assigned to this case is amazing. What an example of what a public servant should be and can be. Watch this along with DEADLINE, a documentary of those mistakenly living on death row. One reviewer commented that this should be required viewing at every police academy. I would agree. MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING is easily one of the best documentaries I've ever watched. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 9/12/2007

LINKS: AMAZON, IMBD

TURTLES CAN FLY

TURTLES CAN FLY (2005)

RATING-PG-13 For violence, disturbing images and mature thematic material, all involving children

AWARDS-14 wins and 3 nominations at many prestigous film festivals.

STARRING-Kurdish Iraqi children, none of whom had acting experience.

STORY- TURTLES CAN FLY is not a feel good movie. It's a movie about children and about war. It takes place on the Iraqi-Turkish border right before the start of our Iraq war. The children are mostly orphaned and many maimed from the attacks on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein. The film centers around 'Satellite', a 13 year Kurdish boy, so named because of his ability to install satellite dishes and translate news of the pending US invasion. Satellite is a natural leader and controls teams of children who earn a living by clearing fields of land mines and selling them to the UN. The missing hands and feet among the children are also hazards of the trade. It even shows one boy with no arms disarming a mine using his teeth. The tensions and excitement mount in this village of mostly tents and a huge dump of rusted out used weapons as the time for the war to begin draws closer. Into the village wander another 13 year old boy with no arms and a younger sister with an illegitimate child. The girl is very pretty and obviously very troubled (you learn the tragedy she and her brother lived through in a flashback scene). The brother has had visions since losing his arms and is able to predict the future, something Satellite wants to exploit. While many of the children are cute and great on the screen (none were actors before the film) and there are some very funny scenes, it is not an easy film to watch. Watching 6 & 7 year olds without parents dismantle bombs for a living is not the way children should grow up. They are old way beyond their years. The ending is not happy, in fact, some might say shocking, except for knowing the tragedy many of them have already endured. This is not a film about the politics of war but the results of war (specifically Saddam's ethnic cleansing of the Kurds) on children. How many other parts of the world could this same story be reproduced. Could be very appropriate for mature teens but you might want to watch it first. The violence is not graphic as the film builds up to the violence and then cuts away and leaves it to your imagination. A fascinating story of a tragic slice of life in the Middle East. -Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 9/10/2007.

LINKS- IMBD, TRAILER, AMAZON