Absolutely fascinating documentary. Saying it now, this is gonna be a long review, because this film is packed and to even give an outline of the setup is to dive into a thoroughly messy time in history. Reckonings outlines the story of how Germany came to agree to pay reparations for the Jews killed in…
We Left The Camp Singing is a look at the musical culture in Theresienstadt, the ‘model’ ghetto the Nazis used for propaganda purposes. It was considered by the Nazis to be one of the less harsh places Jews were sent, that there were enough vestiges of a normal life to give the appearance to others,…
I was in two minds about watching this documentary because I’m in such a happy queer space right now and I knew this was just going to be wall-to-wall religious trauma. But it’s such an important subject and it’s such a rare opportunity to have see inside what takes place in conversion therapy. “The religious…
Really well put-together drama. Simon lives in a nice middle-class block of flats, and to get some money to do up the kitchen, he sells the storage space he has in the building’s basement. It’s basically a swanky tenement with a sub-floor, that is divided into individual rooms for the tenants, each looking a lot…
Excellent film. Based on the minutes of the actual meeting, The Conference shows the meeting where the Final Solution was proposed and planned. The film contrasts the high stakes and utter brutality of the subject matter discussed with the sedate and bureaucratic procedure of what takes place in the room. That is the twin achievement…
Closing out the UK Jewish Film Festival is Sin La Habana, which is a funny coincidence with all the Cuban movies I’ve been watching with Havana Glasgow. Sin La Habana is about a Cuban ballet dancer who makes a plan to get him and his girl out the country. The opening scene is of Leo…
Wow. That was amazing. In a fortnight of watching some really excellent documentaries, this one is something else. I highly recommend you watch it. Kings of Capitol Hill is about the powerful Washington lobbying group AIPAC, which stands for American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. Its job is to ensure the US supports policies that favour…
I fell in love with the very first shot. The cinematography is so gorgeous, I was like, literally wherever this movie goes, I am in. Neighbours tells the story of Sero’s first year of school. Set in Syria in the 80s, Sero is a 6-years-old Kurdish boy. We see the world through his eyes, as…
The World Without You tells the story of a family coming together over a weekend for the one year anniversary memorial for their son who was slain overseas. The son, Leo, was a war reporter who was killed in Iraq. The grief has caused his parents’ marriage to disintegrate, and they are now considering divorce.…
I went into this film knowing nothing and the last thing I expected to see was Kai Winn. Louise Fletcher is in this, as a good guy for once, and she’s great as always. Rod Steiger also appears as a Nazi colonel, bringing his signature moral ambivalence to the role. And Brett Marx, the kid…