Why Leftist Hollywood Loves Dictators

Someone asked a great question the other day: Why is leftist Hollywood so enamored with dictators and socialism? You would think they would fear having their artistic expression stifled under a Castro or having all their wealth confiscated under Hugo’s socialist or communist regime. It seems counter-intuitive, no…? That’s a damn good question but erroneously based on the premise that we’re discussing normal people.

Hugo Chavez: Toast of the Venice Film Festival

When you and I picture life under Obama’s vision for America, we see a dreary existence spent in breadlines, drab apartments and small jail cells with rat cages strapped to our face conditioning us to say “Herstory” instead of “History.” These Castro-lovers and Polanski-defenders see something completely different.

Watch “The Lives of Others.” Not only is it one of the best films of the decade, it also answers the opening question. You’ll see how life under fascism is the complete fulfillment of every narcissistic desire Susan Sarandon, Barbra Streisand, Oliver Stone, Sean Penn and the rest of their sorry lot has ever had. (more…)

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Tags: capitalism, communism, Hugo Chavez, movie stars, Obama
Posted Nov 17th 2009 at 5:53 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 264134126 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/17/why-leftist-hollywood-loves-dictators/Why+Leftist+Hollywood+Loves+Dictators2009-11-18+01%3A53%3A35John+Nolte

Klavan on the Culture: God in 60 Days

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Tags: America, Atheism, communism, God, Islam
Posted Nov 9th 2009 at 2:27 pm in Political Humor, Religion, Video | 26039869 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aklavan/2009/11/09/klavan-on-the-culture-god-in-60-days/Klavan+on+the+Culture%3A+God+in+60+Days2009-11-09+22%3A27%3A36Andrew+Klavan

Mr. Obama, Tear Down Your Wall!: Reflections After 20 Years

I recently attended an event at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event titled: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Wall: Reflections from Yesterday, Lessons for Today, was a conference packed with an impressive list of speakers ranging from world leaders, dignitaries and influential personalities from around the world. 

–

The event was comprised of three panel sessions and a luncheon keynote speech. The goal of the conference was to look at specific events that led to the fall of the wall, the people responsible, the impact of that historic event, and the legacy of the man who led the charge to end the Cold War, Ronald Reagan. There were two sessions that stood out at this event.  The first was the keynote speech by former Secretary of State for Ronald Reagan, George P Shultz.  His speech shed light into the unique leadership Ronald Reagan provided that we fail to find in our elected officials today.  Shultz delivered a rare look into the mindset of the Soviets at the time, and the determination and constancy of purpose that Reagan possessed.  He spoke of how Reagan approached the use of force with a subtle pot shot at the Obama administration.  (more…)

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Tags: America, Berlin Wall, communism, George P. Shultz, Obama
Posted Nov 9th 2009 at 2:11 pm in Politics | 26033031 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dbroes/2009/11/09/mr-obama-tear-down-your-wall-reflections-after-20-years/Mr.+Obama%2C+Tear+Down+Your+Wall%21%3A+Reflections+After+20+Years2009-11-09+22%3A11%3A59Derek+Broes

All Trick no Treat(ment)

And for the other bad guys…

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Tags: Barrack Obama, big government, communism, Harry Reid, henry waxman
Posted Nov 1st 2009 at 12:44 pm in Art, Politics | 25605413 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bfawstin/2009/11/01/all-trick-no-treatment/All+Trick+no+Treat%28ment%292009-11-01+19%3A44%3A42Bosch+Fawstin

For Liberty Lovers ‘We The Living’ Arrives on DVD

An extraordinary film just came out on DVD which couldn’t be more timely.  It’s about a fiercely outspoken, beautiful woman trapped in a country rapidly descending into socialism, with the government steadily ratcheting up control over all aspects of life.

No, it’s not The Ann Coulter Story.

The movie is We The Living, based on the Ayn Rand novel of the same title.  Rand said that We The Living “is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write.”

Conservatives and libertarians have long lamented the scarcity of movies that depict the evils of communism.  Let’s see, there’s Doctor Zhivago, The Killing Fields, The Lives of Others, and… and, well, now there’s We The Living — a long-lost classic filmed in 1942, and now available on DVD for the first time ever.

WTL takes place soon after the Bolshevik takeover of Russia (which Rand experienced as a young woman).  The stunning Alida Valli plays Kira, a fiery college student who detests the communists ruining her country.  (Valli is perhaps best known to American audiences for her indelible performances in The Third Man and The Paradine Case.) (more…)

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Tags: Alida Valli, Ayn Rand, Bolsheviks, Censorship, classic movies
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 4:03 pm in Film, Politics, Reviews | 25336234 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aleigh/2009/10/30/we-the-living-for-liberty-lovers-and-for-our-time/For+Liberty+Lovers+%27We+The+Living%27+Arrives+on+DVD2009-10-30+23%3A03%3A20Andrew+Leigh

The Worst Song of All Time: ‘Imagine’

In a world of Starland Vocal Bands, Lady GaGas, Bon Jovis, Snoop Doggs and 1910 Fruitgum Companies, it takes real talent to write a song so unbelievably horrible that it transcends mere awfulness and crosses the frontier into a whole new realm of sheer crappiness.  An artistic, musical and philosophical failure of staggering proportions, John Lennon’s “Imagine” is the worst song of all time.

Many feel this ballad is a touching hymn that gives voice to man’s yearning for a better world.  They are wrong.  “Imagine” is a cloying, boggy, sonic swamp of numb-skulled sentiments that sound like they were recycled from a bong-fueled, 2 a.m. bull session between a couple of pampered, credulous UC Berkeley lit majors.  It’s the national anthem of the hopey/changey crowd — all at once pretentious, smug, tiresome and intellectually bankrupt.  (more…)

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Tags: 1910 Fruitgum Company, American Idol, Atheism, Bon Jovi, communism
Posted Oct 27th 2009 at 12:53 pm in Music | 251898469 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/10/27/the-worst-song-of-all-time-imagine/The+Worst+Song+of+All+Time%3A+%27Imagine%272009-10-27+19%3A53%3A09Kurt+Schlichter

9/12 Tea Party: Talking With the ‘Turf’

On September 12, 2009, I grabbed my MiniDV camera and moseyed on over to the Tea Party protest in West Los Angeles to chat with some super-charged “Astroturf.”  I spoke with numerous varieties from a vast spectrum of turfdom including the ever-vivacious, Evan Sayet polypropylene turf with advanced Anti-Intellectual Dishonesty Guard™, and the high-performance, all-weather Sonja Schmidt turf. 

(more…)

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Tags: 9/12, AstroTurf, communism, Congress, conservative
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 2:42 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Video | 22776637 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vdipippo/2009/09/20/912-tea-party-talking-with-the-turf/9%2F12+Tea+Party%3A+Talking+With+the+%27Turf%272009-09-20+21%3A42%3A38Veronica+DiPippo

PBS Drama Episode Centers on Evils of Communism

The latest episode of PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery includes a surprise: criticism of communism.

The U.S. TV network PBS and the British Broadcasting Corporation, both government-owned, tend to soft-pedal the evils of communism while placing every imperfection of life in the United States under a microscope. Hence it’s rather noteworthy when those organizations air a program in which the central problems are traceable to communism. That’s what happened in last week’s episode of Masterpiece Mystery. (more…)

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Tags: BBC, communism, Inspector Lewis, Masterpiece Mystery, pbs
Posted Sep 17th 2009 at 6:22 pm in Reviews, Television | 22483048 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/09/17/pbs-drama-episode-centers-on-evils-of-communism/PBS+Drama+Episode+Centers+on+Evils+of+Communism2009-09-18+01%3A22%3A32S.T.+Karnick

Ladies of the ACORN Video I Will Hire You

I just found out that the two women featured on the undercover ACORN video posted on our sister site Big Government were fired by the community organizing group.  This is really good news.  First, it proves that the ridiculously funny and unbelievable video is real.  At first glance, it’s so over-the-top that one assumes it must be fake.  Now, we have the proof that these women really were ACORN employees and not the most talented improv actors to ever live.  Secondly, it means that these two women are now unemployed.

And I want to hire them immediately.

These women can navigate the tax code so well that they managed to gin up dependent child tax credits for underage El Salvadorian prostitutes.  They provided detailed instructions on how to obtain a low interest, government subsidized mortgage for a brothel.  They gave clever insight into laundering a pimp’s take of prostitute earnings into a campaign account for a would be Democratic politician. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, AIG, capitalism, communism, Darwin
Posted Sep 15th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 22229890 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lscott/2009/09/15/ladies-of-the-acorn-video-i-will-hire-you/Ladies+of+the+ACORN+Video+I+Will+Hire+You2009-09-15+12%3A02%3A59Leigh+Scott

Honduras Nips Dictatorship in the Bud

Democracy is built of fundamental principles that allow for growth and change to occur that is beneficial for the good of all the people: the right to vote for our leaders. Honduras is the latest battlefield where democracy quickly and prayerfully used Rule of Law to defeat a heavy-handed attack by would-be Dictator Mel Manuel “Mel” Zelaya. Former left-wing president, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, was voted into office by the slimmest of margins (1%) and with a new vote coming up he had to move quickly to maintain power. Hugo Chavez provided him with the plan and the money needed to facilitate democratic collapse and implement a democratic transition to Communism by paying people to vote his way. 

Zelaya would call for a vote known as the 4th Box, to change the constitution, eliminate term limits and give him greater power over the government. Deemed unconstitutional and unlawful by Congress and the Supreme Court, Zelaya ordered the ballots to be printed anyway, forcing the issue. Honduran printers refused to print the illegal ballots so Chavez offered printers in Venezuela, and for no extra charge the printers printed a “Yes” vote right in the box marked “Yes.” Zelaya then ordered Military General Romeo Vasquez to distribute the additional ballots to all the polling places. General Vasquez refused the order and was fired by Zelaya. Congress responded by saying he couldn’t be fired for following the law and refusing to obey an unlawful order. General Vasquez was promptly reinstated and the Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya for violating constitutional law. A Supreme Court judge accompanied the military in arresting Zelaya at his home so that his paid supporters could not start a riot. Zelaya was removed to prevent bloodshed and given the choice of what country to go to. He chose Costa Rica.  (more…)

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Tags: 4th Box, Castro, chavez, communism, dictatorship
Posted Jul 18th 2009 at 11:41 am in Featured Story, Politics | 186254117 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sfairburn/2009/07/18/pray-for-truth-democracy-the-rule-of-law-and-honduras/Honduras+Nips+Dictatorship+in+the+Bud2009-07-18+18%3A41%3A23Sean+Fairburn

Malden Brought Depth, Morals to Film Roles

Actor Karl Malden, who died at age 97, was a fine performer who stood for good principles and conveyed a sense of moral responsibility in his performances.

Malden was instrumental in pushing the Motion Picture Academy to give a lifetime achievement award to writer-director Elia Kazan, who directed Malden in perhaps his best and most memorable role, that of Father Berry in “On the Waterfront.”

Kazan had been an outcast in Hollywood for several decades before the 1999 award, because of his opposition to communism. Malden’s support of him carried a great risk of ostracism by Hollywood’s political correctness police.

A measure of Malden’s integrity is that he was married to the same woman for seventy years and was surrounded by family members when he died. (more…)

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Tags: "One-Eyed Jacks", "The Streets of San Francisco", Baby Doll, communism, Elia Kazan
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood | 17547028 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/07/03/malden-brought-depth-moral-responsibility-to-film-roles/Malden+Brought+Depth%2C+Morals+to+Film+Roles2009-07-03+14%3A03%3A45S.T.+Karnick

President Obama and the “C” Word

Well, they are finally starting to use it.  I think you might remember I was the first.  I bravely spoke it to the Hollywood Congress of Republicans (October, 2008), who put it on the Internet; and then I spoke it on O’Reilly and Hannity.  My husband scolded me.  He said no one would take me seriously if I was such an alarmist.  I got hate mail.  I lost friends.  I probably lost jobs.  I didn’t want to be mean.  It really isn’t mean.  It’s probably a compliment to the President since he likes to quote his Marxist professors, and by his own words and actions is trying his very best to “change” our country from Capitalist to Communist.  I kept repeating, “but Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, so what’s the difference between Marxist and Communist?”  No one had an answer.

I think it has something to do with the McCarthy era, when everyone was using the “C” word, and pointing fingers at everyone and getting everyone in trouble.  But it’s different now.  Anything goes, and we’re all “tolerant” and “inclusive”, right?  I think we can use the word if it fits the situation.  Words are just letters and sounds we use to communicate our ideas.  Of course, words are powerful and should be used politely and accurately, so I assumed an attitude of kindness, and did my homework.  (more…)

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Tags: communism, Marxism, Obama, pelosi, socialism
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Political Humor | 175790188 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vjackson/2009/07/03/president-obama-and-the-c-word/President+Obama+and+the+%22C%22+Word2009-07-03+12%3A03%3A42Victoria+Jackson

Politicians Are What’s Wrong With Politics

So, Mark Sanford had an affair.  Big deal.  Who really cares?  He screwed up his own life.  He screwed over his wife and kids.  It happens everyday.  His family will deal with it.  He will pay a personal price, either by losing his family, the mistress he claims to be in love with, or most likely both.

The media and the Muckadoos on the Internet think that this is once again an example of “conservative hypocrisy.” I’ve seen no less than ten news segments dedicated to discussing whether or not the GOP needs to shift focus away from family values, religion and morality because even the standard bearers of the ideology can’t stay the course.’

Two things.  First off, if this is “conservative hypocrisy” isn’t every Democratic scandal involving money an example of “liberal hypocrisy?” The statist agenda is to take your money and have the government spend it because, supposedly, they can do it better and fairer than you can.  So when we indict a Democrat over bribes, theft, or kickbacks why don’t we talk about how that effects their agenda?  Shouldn’t the Rod Blagojevich scandal generate a full Anderson Cooper show about how the Democrats are going to proceed in telling us that they should take care of the cash when they are all a bunch of crooks? (more…)

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Tags: communism, creeps, pedophiles, politicians, sanford
Posted Jul 1st 2009 at 2:45 pm in Politics | 17258632 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lscott/2009/07/01/politicians-creep-me-out/Politicians+Are+What%27s+Wrong+With+Politics2009-07-01+21%3A45%3A53Leigh+Scott

I Guess You Had To Be There: The Barack Obama Celebrity Roast

(Thundering tympanies, swirling spotlights)

Announcer

Live! From the fabulous Turtle Bay Ballroom at United Nations Headquarters, it’s the Rat Pack of Evil All-Star International Celebrity Roast of President Barack Obama!

(orchestra fanfare: ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’)

With Pyongyang funnyman Kim Jong-Il! Borscht Belt headliner Vlady Putin! Queen of Mean Liz Windsor! Saudi Sheik of Schtick King Abdullah! Beijing jokeslinger Hu Jintao! Wacky al Qaeda Caveman Ayman al-Zawahiri! Nick ‘the Knife’ Sarkozy! Sassy Wanda Sykes! South-of-the-border slapstick team Hugo Chavez and the Castro Brothers! Taliban Madman Mullah Omar! Jon Stewart! Lovable Libyan lush Muammar al-Ghadaffi! Grovelin’ Guvner Gordy Brown! Bashar “The Chin” al-Assad! The Hamas Fattah Dancers! And starring your Master of Ceremonies — that suntan man with a plan from Iran — that Persian with a nuclear perversion — Sheckyyyyyy Ahmedinejad!

(applause)

Shecky Ahmedinejad

Okay, okay, pipe down. Let’s get this thing over with, this straitjacket is a rental and my magic carpet is double-parked on East 43rd. Mohamed H. Prophet, will you get a load of the evil on the stage tonight? I haven’t seen this many bombs since Janeane Garofalo played the American Legion convention. (more…)

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Tags: "without preconditions", Ahmedinejad, al qaeda, American Legion, Andy Kauffman
Posted May 13th 2009 at 5:57 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Political Humor, Politics, Religion | 1346345 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dburge/2009/05/13/i-guess-you-had-to-be-there-the-barack-obama-celebrity-roast/I+Guess+You+Had+To+Be+There%3A+The+Barack+Obama+Celebrity+Roast2009-05-14+00%3A57%3A28Iowahawk

El Curioso Caso de William Morgan

I ask you, folks, wouldn’t this make a great movie:

Late 1950s, Toledo, Ohio, USA.

The Hero, rugged, blue-eyed, blonde-haired, is a searcher, misunderstood by family and friends. He is a freewheeling, Kerouacian type who in his twenties never kept a job or stayed in one place for long. He did a stint in the US Army: stationed in Japan, he went AWOL, got himself time in the brig and a dishonorable discharge. The Hero tried working on a ranch, scratch. Joined the circus. Nope, not a fit. Everywhere the Hero goes, he confronts the questions: Why am I here? What do I do? Now 30-ish, he needs a purpose in life.

The Hero

One day the Hero learns that another American, a close friend from his Army days, has been murdered by goons of the corrupt dictator of an island nation. The Hero heads down to the Island and joins the rebels to fight against the dictator that killed his buddy. For perhaps the first time in his life, the Hero finds someplace where he is needed, and where he can make a difference. He’s had freedom all his life and has not known what to do with it; he finally finds his purpose: helping others fight for their freedom. The Hero’s military training proves invaluable to the rebels, among whom he eventually rises to the rank of Comandante, the highest rank in the rebel army. He falls in love with, and marries, Olga, a lovely 22-year-old rebel who is as fiery and committed as he is, and they have two daughters. The rebels triumph over the dictator and at first the Hero and his wife are happy in their new life, but the leader of the rebels in due time reveals himself to be a worse dictator than the one who preceded him, turning to the far-right and establishing not just a new authoritarian dictatorship, but an out-and-out totalitarian dictatorship. (more…)

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Tags: Castro, Che, Che Guevara, communism, Cuba
Posted May 7th 2009 at 5:03 am in Entertainment, Politics | 1241264 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jlima/2009/05/07/el-curioso-caso-de-william-morgan/El+Curioso+Caso+de+William+Morgan2009-05-07+12%3A03%3A02Joe+Lima

The American Gorbachev?

Remember Gorbachev, that bold round-headed Russian tractor loving peasant-Secretary whom the West loved so much?  The West loved him perhaps because he was the first one in the short but depressing succession of the Soviet leaders who did not really aspire to wipe out Poland from the face of the earth. 

I remember him too, in a different way, though. Half of the country hated his guts back in the Soviet nightmare. Gorbachev was liked abroad but gradually became hated within his own country for the same reasons he was loved outside. He seemed not to be working in the best interests of his country, or let’s say, the interests that he was pursuing were far more interesting for the West than the people of the Soviet empire. As he was actively pursuing warm relations with the West, his own country was rapidly collapsing from within. Not that it was a country worth saving or that it was his fault or that he really didn’t care about his country. It just seemed that way.  (more…)

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Tags: bush, capitalism, communism, Gorbachev, Obama
Posted Apr 15th 2009 at 6:39 am in Politics | 105278No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ykochar/2009/04/15/the-american-gorbachev/The+American+Gorbachev%3F2009-04-15+13%3A39%3A33Yervand+Kochar

Og, The Original Forgotten Man

Perhaps it went something like this…

Og, Bog, and Grog were out hunting mammoth one day somewhere in the mountains of Prehistoric Europe.  Grog’s job was to select the most succulent, Grade A Prime Mammuthus primigenius available in the Mesolithic grocer’s aisle and herd it towards his spear-bearing buddies who were hidden in the brush.  Grog made his choice and, using his trusty, flaming torch, chased the big woolly one brush-ward.  Unfortunately, in the midst of all the excitement, Grog forgot the cardinal rule of torch-bearing hunters everywhere: always stay at least ten stone lengths away from the back end of a mammoth after it’s eaten a fir tree for lunch.

Over Grog’s ashes, Og ponders the lesson of his friend’s untimely incineration and thinks: “I’m gonna recommend the Chief hold a hunter’s refresher course and change it to twenty stone lengths.”  Meanwhile, Bog, though he has access to the same information, processes it differently.  He ends up dismissing the whole episode as a fluke and decides that, even if the conditions were similar, the same result could never happen to him.  As Og is busy absorbing the cause and effect of Grog’s sudden demise, Bog thinks: “Let’s see, I had half a bison for breakfast, eighteen crow eggs, hand full of pine cones, pig fat smoothie with a scoop of roe deer hoof powder…which means, if I jog back to the cave reallyreally fast I can eat that entire pit of flame-broiled grubs.” (more…)

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Tags: 111th Congress, capitalism, change, communism, Communist China
Posted Mar 22nd 2009 at 7:03 am in Political Humor, Politics | 85586106 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vdipippo/2009/03/22/og-the-original-forgotten-man/Og%2C+The+Original+Forgotten+Man2009-03-22+14%3A03%3A25Veronica+DiPippo

Review: ‘The Echelon Conspiracy’ Is Shameful

The Echelon Conspiracy could spin off a veritable global economy of work in the form of books, magazine articles, documentaries and parodies to investigate and explain the dissonance between the picture’s pre-production pedigree and the post-production fiasco. There are surely a lot of fascinating stories here: How such a rancid wreck got made in the first place; how it didn’t end up going directly to DVD; how so many A-list actors such as Ving Rhames, Jonathan Pryce, Ed Burns and Martin Sheen got involved; why screenwriters Michael Nitsberg and Kevin Elders figured they could rip off the end of War Games—at times, nearly line-by-line—and that no one would notice; and how a movie with a reasonably interesting premise, at least one notable idea at its heart, and enough Bush-bashing to please every liberal film critic in America could end up (as of this writing) with a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. (more…)

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Tags: 20 million, after dark, communism, echelon conspiracy, ed burns
Posted Mar 9th 2009 at 11:47 am in News, Reviews | 7563065 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mlong/2009/03/09/review-the-echelon-conspiracy-is-shameful/Review%3A+%27The+Echelon+Conspiracy%27+Is+Shameful2009-03-09+19%3A47%3A40Mike+Long

Review: Torn From The Flag

My parents were both born in Hungary but immigrated to the States in the early 1950’s. Although I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I speak fluent Hungarian and grew up playing the violin at various Hungarian events commemorating the 1956 Hungarian Revolution or fundraising for Hungarian Freedom Fighters. The photos I saw as a child of heroic Hungarians struggling against their vicious Soviet oppressors burned themselves into my consciousness and I attribute much of my visceral hatred for Communism and its related political doctrines to those searing images. Many of my friends and their families were drawn from among the 100,000 Hungarians who fled their beloved homeland once all hope for lasting freedom was crushed. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I was even interviewed a number of times by Radio Free Europe, so I proudly claim a nearly infinitesimal grain of credit for helping to hasten the collapse of the “Evil Empire.” (more…)

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Tags: "Torn From the Flag", communism, Hungary
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 9:57 am in Politics, Reviews | 5763824 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ebalogh/2009/02/23/review-torn-from-the-flag/Review%3A+Torn+From+The+Flag2009-02-23+17%3A57%3A59Endre+Balogh

‘Torn From the Flag’ – New Doc Rips Communism

Documentary filmmakers spend plenty of time examining the Bush administration, the Iraq War and the aftermath from Hurricane Katrina. All are fair game, but few directors tackle the horrifying impact Communism had across the globe during the 20th century. Last year’s “The Singing Revolution” did just that, recalling the Soviet’s cruel occupation of Estonia and how the country kept its culture alive through several torturous decades under Communism.

Now, Hungarian filmmaker Klaudia Kovacs gives us “Torn From the Flag,” a film the Hollywood Reporter dubbed “perhaps the most comprehensive chronicle of the [1956] Hungarian uprising yet caught on film.” “Torn,” which won First Prize at the Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Festival, will be shown at 4 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 21) at The Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. (more…)

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Tags: "Torn From the Flag", communism, Documentaries, Klaudia Kovacs
Posted Feb 18th 2009 at 11:04 am in Entertainment, Politics | 5390238 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/02/18/torn-from-the-flag-new-doc-rips-communism/%27Torn+From+the+Flag%27+-+New+Doc+Rips+Communism2009-02-18+19%3A04%3A27Christian+Toto

Cannes’ Voyage to the Neverland of Irrelevancy

During the 1963 Moscow International Film Festival, few doubted Federico Fellini’s “8 ½” was a masterpiece. The film was not merely contending for the Grand Prize; it was clear that no conventional prize could put a tag on the sheer artistic genius and refreshing power of the movie. Threatened by Fellini’s highly formalistic language, the Communist Party’s movie department (who were making decisions behind the scenes), as usual, suspected something potentially harmful for the cause of the international proletariat. They put pressure on the head of the jury, a Soviet filmmaker Grigori Chukhrai, not to award the Grand Prize to “8 ½.”

Chukhrai was in a tight spot. He had his share of problems with the system with his 1959 war movie “The Ballad of a Soldier,” when he did not depict Nazis as stupid animals but rather as a highly organized and evil intelligence. Because of that, some in the government tried to ban Chukhrai and label him a Nazi sympathizer. They failed. First, Chukhrai’s movies about the war were Soviet classics and second, Chukrai himself was a war hero who fought through almost every battle of the war all the way to Berlin. (more…)

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Tags: Cannes, communism, film festivals, sean penn, Tarantino
Posted Feb 3rd 2009 at 5:15 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 3833017 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ykochar/2009/02/03/cannes-voyage-to-neverland/Cannes%27+Voyage+to+the+Neverland+of+Irrelevancy2009-02-03+13%3A15%3A48Yervand+Kochar

First Name in News You Can Use

This CNN video shows us that in these tough economic times, there is only one place to turn for tips on how to live well–Communism.

Watching this report from Havana, it almost seems fun living under totalitarian rule–Cubans are certainly “free” to work long hours on their cars. Communism also teaches you to make do with less, helping you to be more creative and resourceful, and affording you the opportunity to tool around in a classic Chevy or Caddy. Just look at that grill–living in Cuba is like being in the movie “Grease!”

CNN forgot to mention the other way that Cubans love to tinker with their vehicles.

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Tags: cars, CNN, communism, Cuba, humor
Posted Jan 5th 2009 at 9:20 pm in Media Criticism | 632521 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/01/05/first-name-in-news-you-can-use/First+Name+in+News+You+Can+Use2009-01-06+04%3A20%3A43Tom+Shillue