The story of Joan of Arc has been filmed so often that it need not be repeated here. This 1935 version obviously can’t quite compete with the masterworks Dreyer, Bresson, or Rivette derived from the same story, but it’s nevertheless a very effective film which focuses much more on the intrigues of the men around Joan than on the girl herself, who gets surprisingly little screentime. Read More »
Biography
Pirosmani (1969) Giorgi Shengelaia, Avtandil Varazi, Dodo Abashidze, Givi Aleksandria, Biography
This film is about the great Georgian painter – primitivist Niko Pirosmanashvili (1862-1918). An unknown, self-taught painter roams the streets of a city, painting his pictures. Read More »
Il vangelo secondo Matteo / The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) Pier Paolo Pasolini, Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Biography, Drama, History
Along a rocky, barren coastline, Jesus begins teaching, primarily using parables. He attracts disciples; he’s stern, brusque, and demanding. Read More »
Esther and the King (1960) Raoul Walsh, Mario Bava, Joan Collins, Richard Egan, Denis O’Dea, Biography, Drama, History
When a modern-day girl faces a big challenge in her life, her mother teaches her about the power of fasting by sharing the story of a heroine from the Bible.
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Der Choral von Leuthen / The Anthem of Leuthen (1933) Carl Froelich, Walter Supper, Otto Gebühr, Olga Tschechowa, Elga Brink, Biography, Drama, History
The story of the rise to power of King Frederick II (aka “Frederick the Great”) of Prussia of his military campaigns to make Prussia a major power in Europe.
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Raging Bull (1980) Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Biography, Drama, Sport
When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he’s a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he’s a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment.
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My Left Foot (1989) Jim Sheridan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Biography, Drama
Christy Brown is a spastic quadriplegic born to a large, poor Irish family. His mother, Mrs Brown, recognizes the intelligence and humanity in the lad everyone else regards as a vegetable. Eventually, Christy matures into a cantankerous writer who uses his only functional limb, his left foot, to write with.
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Käthe Kollwitz (1986) Ralf Kirsten, Carmen-Maja Antoni, Gerd Baltus, Gabriele Barth, Biography, Drama
One dramatic event marked the life of the great German artist in particular. At the beginning of the First World War she was already world famous for her etchings, lithographs, carvings and drawings.
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Wolz – Leben und Verklärung eines deutschen Anarchisten / Wolz: Life and Illusions of a German Anarchist (1974) Günter Reisch, Regimantas Adomaitis, Heidemarie Wenzel, Václav Kotva, Biography, Drama
Ignaz Wolz, for whom the world had been fine until the First World War, returns from it with hatred for the exploitative capitalist hierarchy and commences his own war a war against the rich.
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Another Way / Egymásra nézve (1982) Károly Makk, János Xantus, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak, Ildikó Bánsági, Grazyna Szapolowska, Biography, Drama, History
Political and sexual repression in Hungary, just after the revolution of 1956. In 1958, the body of Eva Szalanczky, a political journalist, is discovered near the border. Her friend Livia is in hospital with a broken neck; Livia’s husband, Donci, is under arrest. In a flashback to the year before, we see what leads up to the tragedy. Eva gets a job as a writer. She meets Livia and is attracted to her. Livia feels much the same, but as a married woman, has doubts and hesitations. In their work, they (and Eva in particular) bang up against the limits of telling political truths; in private, they confront the limits of living out sexual and emotional truth.
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