Life During Wartime: To Forgive or Forget?

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2009 / WINNER – BEST SCREENPLAY
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2009
TELLURIDE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2009
NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2009
BOSTON INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2010

Directed By Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Storytelling, Happiness, Palindromes)

Starring: Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy, Paul Reubens, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Charlotte Rampling, Dylan Riley Snyder and Michael Kenneth Williams

Extraordinary acting! A brilliant Plot: A mature Todd Solondz brings the theme of Happiness into a fuller, ever more intense film about Sex, Crime and the "ideal" Family Life.

Plot:
Separated from her incarcerated husband Bill (Ciarán Hinds), Trish (Allison Janney) is about to be married again. Bill is a pedophile, so Trish couldn't be more excited to have Harvey (Michael Lerner), a “normal” father figure for her two sons. But when Bill is released from prison and the boys finally meet their future stepdad, the family is forced to decide whether to forgive or to forget.

There is so much happening in this intellectual exploration of our prejudices, our frailties that cloud our preceptions and make our decisions often not in tune with our best interest nor of those we care about. At the heart of the film is that all important question of fatherhood, what does it mean to be a father, what does it mean for a man and for his son.
This identity issue looms large while the crimes that the father commits seems often trivial to the lies that surround and permeate us all. But who is the Father.

There is strong evidence throughout this film that the personal father with whom we immediate associate to "father" also refers to Israel, the Fatherland where the same criminality issue felt and experienced for this country that murders, bulldozes homes and has striped life as we know it from huge number of people in the Middle East is the Father exposed in Life During Wartime with all the complexity of feeling/thought/duplicity/longing for a better person /country to embrace.

Pedophilia is a crime. The crime's of the paroled men are multiple. Crime crime crime but even for a criminal there is a humanity and that is the point...to look at our committed lies politically and personally: Do we forget? Do we forgive? And if we forget, will we ever remember again.

Life During Wartime uses brilliant human interactions to carry it's message and there were many moments when I felt certain this film would be one of my favorites of all times but

As with so much of politics, it lack an emotional device to pull me in or get me involved in a primitive non intellectual way and that unfortunately is the life blood of the film viewing experience.

To forgive or forget: that is the question because you can not forgive what you have forgotten.
Life During Wartime is a film you won't want to forget.

Opens theatrically in NY on 7/23

The Solitary Man: middle age woes

Brian Koppelman
David Levien

A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Louise Parker and Jenna Fischer


Alone, "talking to your bed at night"; the other side of the bell-shaped U-curve, Michael Douglas, along with Susan Sarandon and Danny DeVito, bring to the screen the ups and downs of a once successful man as he strives to maintain his distinguished position as a "respected" member of society while all the measures of his valued worth crumble.

This is not an easy film to watch. Detailing the loss of vitality in a man who seems unable to adapt to his changed self - the lack of integrity, the unscrupulous behavior, particularly sexually - even the great Michael Douglas loses his appeal in this portrayal of the middle-aged man in our midst.

While the dialogue is consistently strong, the plot construction and scene transitions fail to work at a high level . Overall, the film might not hold the viewer's attention but it does address a serious problem for those who are fortunate enough to live into old age.

For a look at life without that sexy youthful appeal, see The Solitary Man.

Now playing in New York City theaters.

Israeli Assault: To Cover up or Expose. That is the question!

By Yvonne Ridley
edited by Linda Zises

June 01, 2010 "Information Clearing House" --

How many of you remember the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro way back in October 1985?

Four members of the Palestine Liberation Front took control of the liner off Egypt as she was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said.

It was a bungled operation in which the hijackers killed disabled Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and then threw his body overboard.

The incident created headlines around the world and polarized people over the Palestinian cause.

It also prompted the law makers to create new legislation making it an international crime for anyone to take a ship by force.

And this is the reason for the brief history lesson - under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process.

The treaty necessarily adopts a strict approach. One cannot attack a ship and then claim self-defence if the people on board resist the unlawful use of violence.

In other words, according to international law, the actions of the Israeli military were beyond the law and those involved should be treated no differently than, say, the Somali pirates who are also in the habit of boarding ships by force.

Any rights to self defence in such dramatic circumstances rests purely with the passengers and crew on board. Under international maritime law you are legally entitled to resist unlawful capture, abduction and detention.

What those on board the Freedom Flotilla did was perfectly legal. I believe they acted with great courage in the face of heavily armed IDF commandos, while others might have thought their actions reckless.

Several people paid the ultimate price for their international right to resist.

What will you, what will the World do now?