Angelina Jolie plays Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom’s docudrama about the kidnapping and murder of her husband, the journalist Daniel Pearl. After United 93 and several other pointless exercises in dramatizing the “War on Terror,” you might ask: why bother? We all know what happened to Daniel Pearl–what’s the use in rehashing the story? Is the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘terrorism’
Civic Duty
Civic Duty steals liberally from Falling Down, Rear Window, and Dog Day Afternoon to milk September 11 paranoia for a contrived, rickety potboiler. Peter Krause (Nate from Six Feet Under) plays Terry Allen, a laid-off accountant who becomes obsessed with a middle-eastern neighbor he suspects to be a terrorist (Khaled Abol Naga.) Allen’s unsupportive wife [...]
Day Night Day Night
A harrowing movie about a female suicide bomber headed for Times Square. Unlike Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, which followed two Palestinian “suiciders” into Israel, Day Night Day Night refuses to give any kind of context. The nationality, ethnicity, religion, political and private motivations of the girl with the detonating knapsack (Luisa Williams) are never revealed; [...]
Catch a Fire
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this South African biopic, the story of Patrick Chamusso (played by Derek Luke), a refinery worker and family man who turns freedom fighter after a vicious guardian of apartheid (Tim Robbins) tortures him and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna.) The acting’s good, the images look crisp, and Robbins is a [...]
