Day: October 17, 2015

History And Movies

We all remember the history books from our school days. The text was often bland, flat and devoid of the real story behind the facts.

Sometimes we learn more about our history not from a school history book, but from a fictionalized telling of that history.

Two movies are coming out soon that will bring history to life.

The upcoming movie Race (2016) is about Jesse Owens. In 1936, Jesse Owens, an African-American won four Olympic medals for track and field. The games were held in Nazi controlled Germany. He is still remembered today as one of the greatest athletes in Track and Field.

The other movie is Trumbo (2015). Dalton Trumbo was one most respected writers in the 1940’s. Then he was accused of being a communist. Blacklisted because of the accusation, he wrote under a pen name. Two of his films that he wrote while he was blacklisted, Exodus and Spartacus, are still remembered today as timeless classics.

Whether or not these films will be successful, only time will tell. But if the audience learns something, regardless of the box office receipts, then these films have succeeded.

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Sufragette-A Movie That Every Woman Must See

Suffragette opens  Friday.  This movie has been on my must see list for months. Here is why it should be on every moviegoers’ must see list.

  1. To appreciate the present, you must understand the past: For women under a certain age, the idea of going to school, getting a job and being independent (read i.e. single) before settling down and having a family is completely normal. We think nothing of extending our education as far as it can go or climbing the corporate ladder while maintaining the traditional life of marriage and motherhood. This idea is a relatively new one. It was an unspoken tradition that women’s education up until a few decades ago was minimal or non-existent. If a woman had the want or the financial need to work, the opportunities were limited, the working conditions were deplorable and the paycheck, compared to their male colleagues was pitiful.
  2. Women voting and having an active voice in their government is still a relatively new idea. American women have only been able to vote for 95 years. Other countries granted women the right to vote only a few decades ago.
  3. Women are still a minority in Hollywood: Many of the decision makers are men. Many of the directors and producers are men. A majority of the speaking roles are  written for male characters. This movie has a female centric plot, a female centric cast and production team made up of women. I hope and pray that this movie succeeds and proves once and for all the women’s voices in Hollywood are just as loud and capable as men.
  4. It reminds us why we still need feminism. Many of the issues that our fore-mothers were fighting for are still being fought for today.

Whether or not the movie is successful is to be seen. I hope and pray that it is.

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