It was freezing cold in Toronto and I yearned for the heat. Weary of the January weather, my wife and I decided to book an all-inclusive package to Cuba. We chose Cuba because it offers what far more expensive destinations in the Caribbean also offer: great weather, nice sandy beaches and comfortable hotels. We had read […]
Incitement and peace don’t mix, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently, referring to a persistent and disturbing pattern in which Israel and Jews are demonized and delegitimized by the institutions of the Palestinian Authority, the representative body of the Palestinians currently engaged in peace talks with the Israeli government. Charging that the PA’s campaign of […]
North American filmgoers are probably familiar with Paul Verhoeven’s Hollywood films — science fiction blockbusters like Total Recall, RoboCop and Starship Troopers, the erotic thriller Basic Instinct and the bust of all busts, Showgirls, which almost ruined his career. It would be fair to say they know much less about his Dutch-language films, from Turkish Delight, one of his […]
Few countries were as traumatized by World War II as Poland. Six million of its 32 million inhabitants, including three million Jews, were killed. The Nazi extermination camps, built to eradicate European Jews, transformed Poland into one big killing field. Poland’s eastern provinces were gobbled up by the Soviet Union, which proceeded to drag it into the […]
Lech Walesa’s astonishing rise to prominence as a modern Polish hero is chronicled with verve and vivacity by Poland’s greatest living film director, Andrzej Wajda, in Walesa, Man of Hope. In sweeping fashion, Wajda charts his historic journey from shipyard electrician and Solidarity trade unionist to political activist, Nobel Prize laureate and power broker. The 128-minute […]
Say this for Bangladesh newspaper editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury: He’s an incredibly courageous man. Recently, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for his supposedly subversive articles and his abortive attempt to visit Israel, which citizens of this Asian nation are not permitted to visit. He plans to appeal, but will probably have […]
David Landau’s biography of the late Ariel (Arik) Sharon could not have been better timed. I received Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon (Alfred A. Knopf), by Israeli journalist David Landau, a few days before his death on Jan. 11. It’s a massive book, running to more than 500 pages, and it’s well worth reading. […]
Ariel (Arik) Sharon was an iconic warrior and politician, an Israeli who exemplified the rough-hewn patriotism, tenacious fighting spirit and stubborn spirit of a nation born in and shaped by war. Sharon died in Tel Aviv on Jan. 11 at the age of 85, eight years after a massive stroke felled him. A Sabra whose […]
Boiled down to its essentials, the subliminal message of Eran Riklis’ Zaytoun is: Why can’t we just get along? This simple yet trenchant phrase informs his touching film. A runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Zeytoun is set in Lebanon and Israel on the eve of the 1982 war and unfolds […]
Kenneth Lonergan’s film, Margaret, clocking in at 150 minutes, has finally emerged from post-production woes and a raft of lawsuits. Shot in 2005 and supposed to have been released in 2007, it was mired in artistic and financial quarrels pitting Lonergan against the studio. As a result, Margaret did not appear in theatres until 2011. The […]