Judge Hollywood not only by what it spits out, but also by what it chooses to avoid.

I am always surprised when I have to explain to someone who the Stasi were. In fact, as a default I use the-Stasi-East-German-secret-police as one word. Nevertheless, I should admit that it was not so long ago that I didn’t know the meaning of the word Stasi. When did I learn? When I watched the brilliant, award-winning German film, Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives of Others). That film sparked my unhealthy obsession with the Stasi.

If someone told me they did not know what a Nazi was, I would immediately contact Starfleet to determine the possibility of an intergalactic, hostile spy network on earth. Does such a person even exist? Not unless they have been kept sheltered from all forms of media for the past sixty years.

We are blessed to have many poignant movies about the Nazis and the atrocities committed in concentration camps. As the years tick by and those who lived through those unimaginable experiences slip between the pages of history, I thank God that history has been preserved in books and film.

In contrast, I find the lack of movies about East Germany (or any country behind the Iron Curtain for that matter) rather telling. It is not for absence of living witnesses or data. It is merely a lack of will to even touch the subject. When the president of the United States snubs the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, maybe it is best to just not go there. Encouraging Americans to think about the mind-boggling amount of resources required to maintain the socialist utopia might cause them to question the entire concept of socialism. (more…)

A film hailed as the top conservative movie in 25 years enjoyed two showings in D.C. recently, this summer at the Goethe-Institute – the German cultural center in Washington, D.C. – and again last week at The Heritage Foundation’s new House-side building. For Heritage, it was beginning of a new conservative film club they’ve started – yet another reason why it’s great to live in D.C. The club was inspired by a February 2009 list of the top 25 conservative films of the last 25 years that National Review writer and BH contributor John Miller (no relation, people) compiled. The movie, “The Lives of Others,” was the list’s number one film. 

For those unfamiliar with the 2007 Foreign Film Oscar winner “The Lives of Others,” it is a German thriller about the Stasi in 1984 East Germany, the then-Communist German Democratic Republic. The Stasi, GDR’s Ministry of State Security, enforced Party policy and loyalty of speech and action. The goal of the Stasi was to know everything, and they did so through an extensive network of agents and informants that touched the lives of everyone in the GDR. 

In “The Lives of Others,” a strong, mournful Soviet-influenced string soundtrack accompanies an equally Soviet-influenced plot. East Germany’s lone socialist playwright with both talent and loyalty, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), becomes the target of heavy surveillance when a high-up GDR official falls for his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) and wants him removed. Loyal socialist Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) oversees the surveillance operation to find fault with the socialist artist. But as the hypocrisy of his GDR comrades drives him from faith in the Party, and the faultlessness of his playwright subject leaves him sympathetic, Wiesler begins to question his allegiances, and as Dreyman grows subversive, Wiesler is forced to make a choice – between a Party of falsehood and a man of merit.  (more…)

…And sometimes they’re down right exceptional. 

Paging Mr. Schlichter…paging Mr. Kurt Schlichter. You see, while reading the recent article, “Top 10: Lead Performances of the Last 25 Years” I stumbled across these words: ”And you film snobs out there are out of luck. This list completely ignores foreign language films…” 

Film snobs? WTF!? Movie lovers who enjoy foreign language films are artistic snoots in the eyes of Mr. KS? Nah, I don’t think so. Not me.

 While I could appreciate the article and some of the choices of lead performances by actors over the past 25 years, I do believe KS missed out when he decided to exclude performances by actors in foreign films. 

As reader J.B. stated in the comment section:  (more…)

Using reader scores, IMDB ranked their top 15 films produced since 2000. Other than “The Departed,” which along with “Mystic River,” “Crash,” “Crash,” and “Crash,” ranks in the top 5 over-rated films of ever, there’s little to quibble over. Taste is a subjective thing.

My personal Top 15 are ranked as my favorites always are — based on nothing more than re-watchability. “Rocky Balboa” might not be better written, photographed or acted than any number of films not on this list, but I’m going to watch it a helluva lot more, that’s for sure.  

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Ever since the lights came up after that first screening, like a drug this lyrical, gorgeously photographed piece of myth-making has tugged me back for another taste. This isn’t easy to admit, but I think I admire Andrew Dominik’s directorial debut even more than John Ford’s “Young Mister Lincoln” (1939), which it resembles in so many ways. Were this also a listing of the greatest performances of the new millennium, Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Robert Ford would rank #1, as well.

2. The Passion of the Christ (2004) – Easily, the purest and rawest emotional cinematic experience I’ve ever had. The Left’s bigoted, venomous attacks combined with the film’s eventual blockbuster success were almost as satisfying as the re-election of George W. Bush. (more…)