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Films for Fenians, Rebels, Brawlers, Proles, Moonshiners, and
Revolutionaries
Reviewed
By Rory Dub.
This brilliant epic, directed by Ken Loach, and written by Paul Laverty (who also wrote the screenplays, “The Angels Share”, “Even the Rain(También la lluvia””, “Route Irish” and “Blood and Roses”), won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and portrays the lives of two Cork rebels and brothers, Damien and Teddy O’Donovan (played by Cillian Murphy and Padraid Delaney) , who fought in the War of Independence and would ultimately end up on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War, and really captures, the best I think , that any film could, of the essence of the struggle for Irish Freedom and its socialist elements, in a moving , tragic, painful yet beautiful manner. Lead character, Damien O’Donovan is said to be loosely based on the life of Ernie O’Malley, and its grim conclusion is very reminiscient of the current political quagmire in the north of Ireland, with former Republicans now turning their backs on their principles and former comrades, for a better political office and a British pay cheque. One of my favorite parts of the film, is how the role of the Church is seen, condemning Fenians, as in times of yore, and anyone who doesn’t kow tow to the Establishment’s current doctrine. Seems like that will never change. No wonder I haven’t stepped foot inside of a Church for over twenty years….
2.) Hunger (2008)
Written by Dubliner and playwright Enda Walsh, and Steve Mc Queen, who also directs a gripping and heart breaking kind of movie, one that will profoundly affect you, like any powerful and inspirational film based on the trials and tribulations and sacrifices of the 1981 Hunger Strikers. German-Irish actor, Michael Fassbender, plays the role of Bobby Sands, while Liam Cunningham (who also plays the Irish Citizens Army guerilla who shares a cell with Damien O’Donovan in “The Wind That Shakes The Barley) plays the role of the priest, Father Dominic Moran, attempting to dissuade Bobby Sands from taking part in the second Hunger strike. The actor does a brilliant job defending his position as a Republican hunger striker, and soundly defeats the priests redundant and empty slogans and religious rhetoric. Must see film if you haven’t yet.
3.) Even the Rain (También la lluvia) (2010)
Directed by Spanish director, Icíar Bollaín,
Yet another revolutionary film , written by stellar Scotsman and screenwriter, Paul Lavery, telling the tale of the indigenous rebels of Cochabomba, Bolivia, fighting another battle against a new conquistador, the multinationals that lay claim to ownership of the waters that nourish the people of Cochabomba. Willing to fight against a brutal Police State owned by European multinationals, against police batons, live bullets and the Bolivian military, the indigenous Bolivians win out in the end, proving to their countrymen that the “water is yours!” , as Establishment Media headlines scream : “Multinationals Pull Out of Bolivia after Water War”. This time around, Christopher Columbus, got his fat ass, handed to him , los Compañeros.
4.) Baaria (2009)
This Italian film was directed by the man who brought you “Cinema Paradiso”, Giuseppe Tornatore, this stunning film captures the battle between the Socialists and Partisans of a small working class village in Palermo, Siciliy in the 1920s and 30s , versus the Fascists, Black Shirts, The Royalists and The Mafia, for bread, and land and freedom. It also shows how former revolutionaries can become turn coats, and choose privelege and comfort over revolutionary principles and workers justice, as been seen in most political struggles, whether it’s Fianna Fael, The Stickies, or current Provisional Sinn Fein or the road that some former dedicated trade unionists have taken, like Hoffa, for example, choosing weekend getaways playing golf and country club life over the fight for freedom. Its sickening isn’t it? But too fucking common.
5.) Flammen and Citron (2008),
Provocative and stirring tale of Danish resistance against Nazi occupiers and their Quisling collaborators, the film is loosely based on true events involving two of the most active resistance urbn guerillas in the Holger Danske resistance group during World War II - Bent Faurschou-Hviid (known as Flammen, played by Thure Lindhardt) and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (known as Citron, played by Mads Mikkelsen), as these courageous freedom fighters assassinate high-ranking Nazis and their Danish collaborators, they also have to be careful of Femme Fatale double agents, sneaky Gestapo undercover police and fair weather friends turned Quisling. Really reminds you of the Irish Freedom struggle, the Cuban Revolution, and the battle of the Cypriot guerillas against the Brits, it’s a film that any rebel, revolutionary or freethinker is bound to love.
6.) Bronx Tale (1993);
Robert De Niro’s directorial debut, written by Bronx native, Chazz Palminteri, whose screen play is said to be an autobiographical portrait of his youth , growing up in the Bronx of the 1960s, amidst Mafia control of his neighborhood, racial tension between the Italians versus their black neighbors, that could remind you of neighborhoods in Belfast or Derry, with Protestant kids throwing stones at Catholic kids and vice versa, or the racial turmoil of Irish-americans in Southie versus their Black neighbors in Roxbury, it’s a deep and moving story about how easy it is, for poor kids, that have so much in common with each other, being pulled into violent and sometimes deadly confrontations over who is going to “rule the roost” or control whose turf, and the fact that some kids, are smarter, and realize that it’s a waste to be squabbling over crumbs and throwing bricks and molotov cocktails at your neighbors just because they gave you a hard stare, follow a different religious path or their parents come from another country than your own. I still see this kind of bigotted behaviour still taking place, in NJ as well in NY, its not only in the deep south that you encounter racial hatred and religious bigotry, but this film shows that you don’t always have to be a knucklehead and follow the mob and be a muppet or join in with the lynch mob. Another unique thing about this film is that its one of the rare NY films writteb by an Italian-american, that doesn’t glorify the Mafia. Chazz Palminteri has a lot of heart and is a damn good story teller.
7.)
Machuca (2004) :
Written and Directed by Andres Wood.
Written and Directed by Andres Wood.
I wanted to
recommend this brilliant Chilean film , which is basically the only movie I
have ever seen that shows the truth of Class War from the point of view of
grade school students, a story of a school kid growing up in Santiago when
Salvador Allenda was in power and shortly after removed by the CIA backed
military junta of Augosto Pinochet, and the repercussions on the poor
after Pinochet took power .
This film shows the
massive chasm that lies between the haves and the have nots of Santiago in the
early 1970's, which could really be any place or town or city or nation, in
Europe, North, Central or South America, today, showing, El Barrio of
New Brunswick with its poverty and desolation and less than two miles away, the
sparkling estates and riverfront condominiums on the Raritan river of New
Brunswick, Highland Park, South Brunswick, or North Brunswick, or perhaps
taking you from the yuppie splender of Park Slope to the bleak ghettoes of
Bedford Stuyvesant, and the fight for social and economic equality by
those who opposed such a inequality and the radical changes brought about by
socialists like Salvador Allende, whose legacy has, I believe, sparked
the massive move towards socialism and socialist governments in modern Latin
America, with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, former Roman Catholic Bishop and
political prisoner, Fernando Lugo, in Paraguay, a student of
"liberation theology" (which is often
termed "Christian Marxism" by its detractors due to its
emphasis on the fight for the poor and social justice), and Evo Morales in
Bolivia, the first indigenous leader to become a president of Bolivia, when he
was elected in a massive landslide of 53.7 % of the popular vote (the largest
electoral victory in Bolivian history) on December 18, 2005, only to
substantially increase this majority in a recall referendum on August 14, 2008,
where he won more than two thirds of the votes, and again won the presidential
elections in December 2009 with a 63% majority in tbe national vote.
This movie
teaches the timeless lesson of Class War and even focuses on proponents of
"liberation theology", in this movie, in the form of a rebel priest,
who is shown as being either socialist or very sympathetic to socialist ideas,
Father McEnroe, who is allegedly based on the historical rebel priest, Father Gerardo
Whelan, who was the priest who taught at the school that this film's director,
Andres Wood attended, Saint George's College, a rebel priest who stands up
against the wealthy "elite" and their fascist backers. Great film and
a recommended film for any socialist or anyone who understands the importance
of Class War in *any revolutionary struggle*
8.) REDS (1981) :
Written by and directed by Warren Beatty, tells the true travails and tribulations of radical socialist, Wobbly, and journalist, John Reed, and his Irish-american wife, journalist, marxist and feminist, Louise Mohan Bryant, and John Reed’s coverage of the Bolshevik Revolution (which was turned into his award winning book, “Ten Days that Shook the World”) and how it profoundly impacted the Socialist movement in the USA. Well worth a watch, its one of those classic American proletarian tales that would make John Wayne look like a wuss.
9.) The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
This kick ass biopic, based on Che Guevara’s journal entries of his motorcycle trek across South America, directed by Walter Salles, written by acclaimed Puerto Rican playwright, José Rivera, really must be one of the best films on Che, capturing the revolutionary guerilla in his youth, and really does a great job on showing the very human side of every socialists working class hero. Drinking, chasing women, and even running from a mob of angry dudes from a Peruvian dance hall, are sides of Che that most are not familiar with. Or that his trek’s final destination was an amazonian Leper colony, where Che went to show his true revolutionary credentials as a man of compassion and a true friend of the underprivileged, the weak, the sick, and those who had been forgotten by the so-called “beautiful people”.
10.) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
