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 […]
On Jan. 19, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will begin a four-day visit to Israel. He will be greeted like a rock star when he addresses the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and becomes the first Canadian leader to do so. “I (will be) pleased and proud to host the prime minister of Canada, a brave and true friend of […]
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Newest Biography on Sharon Well Timed
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 […]
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Humanity Trumps Politics in Zaytoun
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 […]
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Margaret Brims with Sub-Plots
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 […]
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Memories and Grievances collide in The Past
Anyone who’s been around for any length of time knows that the past is never dead and buried and that it can haunt you until the end of days. Asghar Farhadi’s new film, The Past, now playing in Toronto and Montreal, explores this perennial theme with subtlety and sensitivity. Marie-Anne (Berenice Bejo), an attractive French […]
I think it would be fair to say that Big Bad Wolves is a radical departure in Israeli cinema. It doesn’t deal with the convoluted political and emotional intricacies of the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the pain and trauma of the Holocaust, two of the most enduring themes in Israeli film. Nor does it touch on […]
Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, the French comedian known as Dieudonne, likes to crack “anti-system” jokes that infuriate the politically correct in France. But all too often, his barbed humor veers into antisemitic rants and denigrations of the Holocaust, while the hand gesture he invented, the quenelle, is little more than an inverted Nazi salute intended to offend […]