Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Frank
Kicking It – Review
The following was authored by Sarah Heanaghan – Supporter Relations Co-ordinator at TEAR Fund NZ.
Homeless but not Hopeless
Susan Koch and Jeff Werner’s documentary, ‘Kicking It’ based on the Homeless World Cup, explores how a ball can change the world.
Far from the stereotypical view of homelessness, this documentary seeks to challenge our preconceived ideas. It embraces your heart and views with the lives of six diverse individuals from all corners of the globe. As the movie progresses we learn of their stories that lead them into homelessness, into soccer and to the homeless world cup.
Posted on February 18, 2009 - by Drew
Waltz with Bashir – Review
Even when a movie scores rave reviews and a truck load of awards there’s still no guarantee you’re going to enjoy it… and you probably won’t enjoy Waltz with Bashir. It’s a grueling watch, not for the faint hearted.
Waltz with Bashir is a 90 minute animated documentary, recorded in modern Hebrew and subtitled, made in Israel last year by Ari Folman. Folman was a 19 year old conscripted soldier in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon. He was a witness to massacres in the Beirut Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. This experience was so traumatic that Folman blocked the memory from his mind until in 2006 when he met with another former soldier, still suffering nightmares from this nasty war. As Folman researched events and spoke with other Israelis who had fought in Beirut his memories gradually returned and he made the film based on these painful revelations.
Posted on January 15, 2009 - by Frank
Review: War Dance (DVD)
This review also appears at Filmguide.
Northern Uganda is an area ripped apart by war. The children of this area have been subject to atrocities many of us couldn’t even imagine.
The directors of War Dance, Sean Fines and Andrea Nix Fine, traveled to the area with the intention of making a film about the problems of Northern Uganda and found the children of Acholi, the tribe most affected by the strife.
The film follows the lives of 3 children (Dominic, Nancy and Rose) from one of the schools in a displaced persons camp as the school prepares and competes in Uganda’s national music and dance competition.
Posted on December 21, 2008 - by Frank
Review: Taxi to the Dark Side (DVD)
Originally written for Filmguide.
Taxi to the Dark Side chronicles the story of a young man from Afghanistan called Dilawar, a taxi driver who was taken into custody and detained in 2002. He died in the American prison in Bagram only months later. Dilawar was innocent and had no part in the incident that he was supposed to have been an accomplice in.
Posted on October 7, 2008 - by Frank
Film Review – Shoah
Many of us have grown up hearing stories about the holocaust through school, television, film, books and museum trips. There is a sense where sometimes it feels too familiar; that the horror of the event is just another of those tales we hear of the past and thus the horror of the catastrophe of the second world war loses it’s human face – a face of darkness and suffering.
Shoah is a 9 hour catalogue of the humanity that lived and breathed during the holocaust. It gives us the face of the tragedy and introduces us to real people with real stories. Its method is pure and simple; interviews and location shots. There is no archival footage with images of countless broken people we will never remember. There are no images that so haunt the memories of humanity where we see rough black and white footage of starved, suffering people who have been subjected to the ravages of human oppression. How many of us forget the faces of those people because when shown that footage, there are so many? Shoah does not allow us that escape. It does not allow the blur of images past.
Posted on September 9, 2008 - by Frank
In Support of – Jedidiah Clothing (with video)
The Humanitarian Chronicle supports socially reponsible businesses whose very reason for existence consists of more than a drive to generate a profit. we support businesses that have written into their DNA a drive to positively impact the world.
We identify Jedidiah, a California based clothing company, as one of those businesses. Jedidiah exists to serve the world around them and was born in 2001 as an entity shunning the pitfalls and extremes of the consumer driven world around us. Essentially, clothing was identified as a means to generate a healthy community. That community is being formed amongst those who work for the brand, those who identify with the brand and those organisations that benefit from the brand.
Jedidiah has done a magnificent job of forming partnerships with humanitarian organisations that directly benefit from its sales. They have dedicated to giving 1% of their revenue to humanitarian organisations, but also have the Hope Collection – a line of clothing where 40% of the revenue goes to the organisations that have inspired the designs.
As you would expect, Jedidiah sum themselves up well:
Mission StatementEstablish Jedidiah as a premiere message driven brand in the fashion industry so that we can create a revenue stream to assist those less fortunate than us through increased awareness, financial contributions and service projects.
The following six principles will help guide us to measure the purpose and effectiveness of our decisions.
• Create a heartfelt work environment where everyone is treated with respect, dignity and compassion.
• Use the highest standards of excellence in designing, sourcing, producing, branding, selling and shipping our products.
• Embrace our clothing as a platform to convey our message of Hope, Grace, Encouragement, Forgiveness and Love.
• Develop and maintain passionate customers through thought provoking product and superior customer service.
• Contribute to the world around us through financial, emotional, relational and prayerful support.
• Understand that being profitable is essential to our future and fulfilling the desires of our hearts.
Jedidiah is a good example of what can be accomplished when it’s about more than simply making a profit for shareholders – the world can be made a better place. May the old model of pure profit driven businesses quickly give way to such socially conscious businesses that realize they leave an imprint with what they do and choose to make that imprint a positive one.
Jedidiah, you get the Humanitarian Chronicle thumbs up…. and we love your website!
Posted on July 31, 2008 - by Frank
Review – Standard Operating Procedure
Written By Jacob Powell (Film Critic)
Reprinted with permission from Filmguide. For more reviews from the NZ Film Festival or more reviews by Jacob Powell, visit Filmguide.
Chances are you’ve seen some of the shocking photographs of torture, humiliation and death that emerged into the wild from the goings on of the American military prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq; or at least you’ve heard of these pictures via the media aftermath that followed their release. The latest offering from inimitable documentarian Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War), Standard Operating Procedure (Hereafter: S.O.P.) is, not so much a direct indictment of the comportment of the American military during the war in Iraq, but an exploration of the Abu Ghraib photographs themselves and the specific contextual situations that produced them.
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