Saw some great movies over the week-end!
Mom's discovered the film collection of the library at our university, so she's been diligently catching up on all the hit movies that we've missed because we were too broke to see them when they were in theatres or to rent them.
So this week-end we watched Munich and The Constant Gardener. All I can say is, if you haven't seen these movies yet, run do not walk and see them. They're great! Now granted, if you're of the "Israel can do no wrong" school of thought then you'll probably hate Munich, because it sharply criticises the whole idea of trying to stop violence with more violence, and the mythologies which people use to try to justify that policy. Spielberg does point out though in his little prologue thing that Israel is by no means the only nation of whom that critique can be made.
The constant Gardener is about how big drug companies use third world countries, in this case Africa, as testing labs for new products. It's about how they force people to participate in the trials in order to have health coverage and then cover up negative results of the tests so that they won't have to spend the time and money to redevelop drugs that have nasty side-effects. It's a great movie, if somewhat sad. It's told from the point of view of a British diplomat whose wife, who was writing a report on the issue, is murdered for her activities, and how her husband rediscovers who his wife was: her dedication, her courage, her moral convictions which not even propriety was allowed to stand in the way of. The character of the wife, Tessa, is great! I wish I had one tenth her guts! The movie is actually a little scary though, as you see in it just exactly how ruthless these corporations can be when it comes to suppressing information they don't want to get out, and what they're willing to do to Tessa, and later her husband once he realizes what she was working on and tries to pick up where she left off, in order to try to keep them from talking. It only reinforces my conviction that you can't trust Western medicine.
Anyway, had better go. Need to get butt dressed and off to my shrink. God I hope her secretary has coffee on!
So this week-end we watched Munich and The Constant Gardener. All I can say is, if you haven't seen these movies yet, run do not walk and see them. They're great! Now granted, if you're of the "Israel can do no wrong" school of thought then you'll probably hate Munich, because it sharply criticises the whole idea of trying to stop violence with more violence, and the mythologies which people use to try to justify that policy. Spielberg does point out though in his little prologue thing that Israel is by no means the only nation of whom that critique can be made.
The constant Gardener is about how big drug companies use third world countries, in this case Africa, as testing labs for new products. It's about how they force people to participate in the trials in order to have health coverage and then cover up negative results of the tests so that they won't have to spend the time and money to redevelop drugs that have nasty side-effects. It's a great movie, if somewhat sad. It's told from the point of view of a British diplomat whose wife, who was writing a report on the issue, is murdered for her activities, and how her husband rediscovers who his wife was: her dedication, her courage, her moral convictions which not even propriety was allowed to stand in the way of. The character of the wife, Tessa, is great! I wish I had one tenth her guts! The movie is actually a little scary though, as you see in it just exactly how ruthless these corporations can be when it comes to suppressing information they don't want to get out, and what they're willing to do to Tessa, and later her husband once he realizes what she was working on and tries to pick up where she left off, in order to try to keep them from talking. It only reinforces my conviction that you can't trust Western medicine.
Anyway, had better go. Need to get butt dressed and off to my shrink. God I hope her secretary has coffee on!