Afrikan

(2006 Director: Edward Zwick) This motion picture reaches toward social conscience in this study of the oppressive civil conflicts within parts of Africa and the diamond trade as it is set in the 1990's during the brutal Sierra Leone civil war. Jennifer Connelly portrays a genuinely spirited American journalist, Maddy Bowen, driven to get her story...pursuing Leonard DiCaprio who plays Danny Archer, a S. African mercenary born in S. Africa. Yes this deals with the civil war factions within S. Africa and the terrible toll this is wreaking on family structures as pre-teens are kidnapped and forced to join gangs which recruit more "labor" for the diamond trade. This is another film where Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Deep Rising) stole the show as the empassioned father captured into slavery mining for diamonds in Sierra Leone. Hounsou earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor:

DiCaprio earned both an Academy Award nomination + a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama). Zwick's direction moves at a fast pace and the brutality and cruelty of the S. Africans toward their own peoples will not be easy to watch. Extreme violence.

(2003 Director: Caroline Hicks)

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Wow!!! German language authentic portrayal of what people have to do to stay alive!! Sensitive, alluring, but still true to the miseries of World War II (WWII)!! THIS MOVIE IS 5 STARS & IN ALL OF MY TOP FAVORITE LISTS BECAUSE IT IS MY FAVORITE@@ He loves her; he loves her not; he ..HE LOVES her!!

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2005 Lord of War (Director Andrew Niccol) & 2003 Matchstick Men i feel are BOTH MUST SEES!! I have not yet seen Ghost Rider but both these films touch the souls of "real" actually basically honest men whose perspectives are torn askew by their circumstances. They truly moved me! The direction of this was startling..directed by Andrew Niccol, Nicholas Cage takes the lead in Lord of War (or War Lord!) as a desperate family man resourceful enough to begin an international arms trade in order to support (financially) his family--and an extravagant wife!! Touching story...great view of war-torn Liberia & other African countries in
civil war [see video clip] [Itger Flixster review in French: JohnSilver MCT: 66 (Best friends) April 7, 2007 Je vais vous avouer que je ne sais pas trop quoi en dire; excellent ou bien minable ! Alors, pour cela, je vais attendre le revisionnement pour lui accorder une note qu'il méritera ;) ! ! ! ]

(Oct. 2006 Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu) Hmmm.....Watched this beginning of this movie as I began a local move....and just finished it today (as i finished my move)!! So I have seasoned thoughts & fresh thoughts both about thi movie detailing how 3 families lives are impacted by the simple gift of a rifle made by a Japanese traveler to a Morrocan guide...COMPLEX, GRIPPING, INTENSE three words to describe the variety of sensations this movie will leave you with..

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(Above photo Pitt & Blanchett) Story becomes intense as a young wife (Cate Blanchett) is shot by rifle bullet--while travelling with her husband (Brad Pitt) by touriest bus in remote Morrocco...It is said things come in 3's and that is the basic premise of this movie I believe along with messages on family complex social interactions & general communication breakdowns. Flash to Pttt & Blanchett's 2 children (having recently lost a third an infant). The couple's young chlidren are left with their Nanny of many years...who innocently brings them with her into Mexico...so that she can attend her son's wedding..

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Parents I believe this movie gives us food for though on WHY we should NEVER force the babysitting issue!! Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Golden Globe winner for Best Drama.

hmmm...i JUST READ THIS REVIEW ON NETFLIX WHICH MIGHT IN PART EXPLAIN THE COMPLEXITY OF THIS MOVIE:

quoting "One of my most favorite recent films! Babel explores the tension between our feelings of isolation and Indra's net - the Hindu belief that everything in the world is connected to everything else by a network of fine invisible filaments. Pull on one filament and it effects everything else in the world. Well acted. Well structured. I loved this film."

Toast..."Rose-lipped maidens, light-footed lads." (1985 Direector: Sydney Pollack) Ever tried Kenyan coffee? It is superb--the flavor of an expresso but without the harshness....The new Baroness & Baron Von Blitzen move to Kenya, friends marrying for "convenience" & begin a coffee plantation...a 3-4year cash crop...[Dialogue between the young couple: Baron: "I didn't buy cattle. We are growing to grow coffee." Baroness" "That's not what we planned..." This serious dispute begins a rocky marriage between long-time friends!!]

Klaus Maria Brandauer

About the best film I have ever seen!! Some amazing quotes, perhaps the most famous of which are: "I once had a farm in Africa..."

Karen (the Baroness Blixen-Meryl Streep) is Danish and an incredible storyteller... Her life in Kenya is rich with wonderful stories...and naturally her marriage to her good friend the Swedish Baron Blixen (Klaus Maria Blandauer aka "her lover's brother") is doomed to fail....but her life...ooooohhh her life in Kenya proves to be rich with experiences..
MERYL STREEP & ROBERT REDFORD...AHHH THEY COULD TEACH HOW TO ACT!! Here's a movie to watch again and again...and I will always cry....more sensitive portrayal of love (and necessity-syphillis) than almost any I have seen! Redford and Streep! WOW!!! Her first storytelling was begun by Denys with, "There was a wandering Chinese named Chen Wong livng in my house and a girl named Shirley...... Chen Wong lived alone in a room on Hermosa St. He looked out his window, and in his poor, listening heart he could...." Movie is based on a true story published under the pen name of Isak Dinese. http://as.starware.com/

."Does she have money..of course she has money....I will have to accuse you of something... [on divorce]"

"When the Gods wish to banish you, they grant your prayer."

"You've ruined it for me. Ruined what? Being alone."

The Baroness Blixen gets to the heart of matters & seemingly falls in love with this country and its peoples (with the setting 1913 & at the start of WW I in Kenya near Nairobi, Kenya "near the foot of the Mtsn" at a time when the British in Kenyan are not quite yet a "colony & the motor car is a brand new invention). So much she loves these peoples she wishes to start a school for the Kenyan [Kukuyo children, something which true to the times meets with great opposition from some of the other British colonizing the region.

"What did the Chief say?" "He says this Kukuyo can do this work."

Movie is based on a true story published under the pen name of Isak Dinese. http://as.starware.com/

Val Kilmer was only better in Alexander the Great than in this movie!! HOT!! Hmmm film is set in 1898...which is significant because of the train..and I suppose somewhat primitive rifles. KIND OF ON AN AFRICAN-THEMED KICK Omi Pur has a great role and so does Bernard Hil. Well developed plot & I would enjoy seeing M Douglas & Val together again!! Good chemistry in this filml

(1975 Director: Ralph Nelson) An interesting movie which co-stars Sidney Potier and Michael Caine and an all-star cast. Aoartheid? S Africa? Hmmm... perhaps a little idealistic though I would actually say the cliche stereotypical characters offered quite a bit of satire throughout.

(1964 Director: Cy Endfield) In the 1960's did people perhaps feel differently about imperialism? Has the US left too little of its imprint (for a young country I mean)? This film focuses on one battle at Rorke's Drift on 01/22/1879 where the British survivors won the Victorio Cross (Britain's highest war medal). Richard co-stars with Michael Caine.

Here is some trivia to get a jump on the quizzes!
Q. In the film 'Zulu' what is Stanley Baker's Lt Chard supervising the construction of when he first encounters Michael Caine's Lt Bromhead?