Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Book, Movie & Podcast Reviews The Netflix Thread

Just watched a South African movie that I really liked...I think. I'd have to see it again to be sure.

The movie is "Tsotsi," a word meaning "Thug." "Tsotsi" is the nickname of a small-time thug. Tsotsi and his gang pull off small-time property crimes, but Tsotsi himself pulls a few crimes against humanity (as well as his own gang members).

Early in the movie, Tsotsi, working alone, shoots a woman in the process of a carjacking. He drives away in the car, but he's not a very good driver - so when he hears the cry of a baby from the back seat, he drives into a post.

The rest of the film is about Tsotsi, the child, and the effect they have on each other.

I liked the CD, in particular, because of an extra feature. This movie has two likely endings, and both were filmed. While editing the film, the director decided on a third ending. (Both were fairly predictable.) The alternatives are included in the DVD. (I like the ending the director finally used, best.)

I'm not as crazy about Tsotsi as I was about Willow Tree, but Tsotsi has a lot more happening. I haven't seen a lot of South African movies but will have to start looking for them.

I didn't know until 10 or 15 years ago that "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" was written by Pete Seeger. I didn't realize until a few years ago that the reason I didn't know he wrote the song was that when I was hearing it, he wasn't allowed to sing it anywhere I might have a chance of hearing him. He was confined to college campuses; others, like Peter, Paul, and Mary, or the Byrds, recorded his songs and got airplay.

For a long time now, any time I have the chance of hearing Pete sing, at some point I will break down in tears. Sometimes, if it's the right song, I will absolutely sob. It's a strange reaction and I've never understood it. After watching this movie, I think I have a clue.

I am essentially a cynic, far more negative than I have any reason to be. But for 90 years, Pete Seeger has put one foot in front of the other, doing what he believes to be right, and in doing so, he has effected major changes, certainly in people, certainly in the world of American music, and through those two things, most likely in the actions of his government.

He believes if you act, you can make change. And he has believed, and acted, for 90 years, and he has not given up.

The Dalai Lama is said to be the embodiment of compassion. I think Pete Seeger is the embodiment of hope. If he sees something he thinks should change, he goes to work to see what can be done. He has had every reason for despair and bitterness; instead he picks up a banjo and gathers an audience.

Arlo Guthrie wrote that, and sang it, but Pete Seeger made it his life.

Most people who have that much faith and hope just seem a little silly to me. Don't they ever learn, I think? But at one point Seeger's government was against him, and he refused to give up.

Things I learned that I didn't know -
* Seeger left the Weavers because they had agreed to do a commercial for a tobacco company. They needed the money. Seeger said he didn't need it that badly.
* I knew that Woody Guthrie's guitar carried a sign that said "This machine kills fascists." I did not know that Pete's banjo says "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."
* I did not know that unlike many others who took the 5th in front of HUAC, Pete Seeger did not. He simply said "I believe what I believe, and I believe I have the right to believe it and keep it private." (paraphrased)

Several scenes that stand out:
* Footage of Pete and his wife Toshi, at various stages in their lives, with "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" in the background. The film is careful to give full credit to Toshi for making Pete's career possible.
* Seeger appearing on the Johnny Cash tv show, around the time that he (Pete) went to North Vietnam. Cash is careful to explain that he has the greatest respect for Pete and considers him a patriot.
* Seeger receiving the Medal of Arts in Kennedy Center, as someone (whose name I should remember) begins singing "Turn, Turn, Turn."
* Julian Bond saying "Pete Seeger was involved in civil rights long before I got there."

I recommend this movie without reservation to anyone who has ever loved folk music, and to anyone who has a love for this country, and to anyone who is interested in 20th century history. I agree with Johnny Cash - Pete Seeger is a great patriot, and I'm glad this movie was made while he was still around to have his say.

Waist Deep (Smothers Brothers)

Just finished watching the end of and HBO series called "The Wire." Fanxxxxingtastic

Well, it is a big commitment to watch it all. And it is so popular, that you may have to wait for the disks from Netflix. But, it really is just simply great.

One terrific thing about having it on DVD is you have the option of subtitles. Much of the action happens around African American street gangs in Baltimore, and the vernacular can be thick.

I heard an interview on fresh air about this series. One comment from that interview really sticks with me. Terry Gross was asking where he found so many good black actors. His response was something like .... people seem surprised that I could find so many good black actors. The truth is that there are great black actors all over the place begging for work. I just took a few of them. There is great acting in this series.

More than that, there is great writing with intersecting arcs of story lines that cover 5 seasons. The series looks at drugs, crime, police, schools, politics, lawyers, media, academia, on and on.

There is not much I have ever seen I would rate as better.

Agreed Ardy. We don’t subscribe to HBO but we’ve rented the series through season 4. I’ll rent 5 when in comes out in DVD.

It’s an amazing series with season one about the Bell/Barksdale empire, two about the Baltimore docks in decline, three back to Barksdale et al, and four about the Baltimore public school system (in a nutshell anyway as there are subplots upon subplots swirling around). It’s a series you really have to pay attention to or you will miss something critical. And you couldn’t help but root for Stringer Bell to succeed although as a reformer he met his inevitable fate.

The series humanizes everyone from the criminals to the cops to the politicians to the union workers. Best series I have ever seen and I am curious to see season five which I hear is about the decline of the newspaper industry.

If you have time for a award winning foreign movie with a message I suggest adding '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" to your queue.


A little background about abortion in Romania: Ceauşescu's Communist Romania severely repressed abortion (the most common birth control method at the time) in 1966 and forced gynecological revisions and penalizations for unmarried women and childless couples. However, in many years there were more abortions (illegal as well as legal) than births. Even after the fall of communism in 1989 abortion was very popular among women in Romania. In 1990 alone there were 992,265 reported abortions, a bit short of the record of 1,115,000 in 1965.

The latests numbers I could find are from 2006 when there were 219,483 live births and 150,246 reported abortions.

When taking these numbers in account you have to remember that there are only about 20-22 million people in Romania.

I have SO tried. A few years back I bought the first season. I made it through part of the first episode, quit, and gave the DVDs to the library. I kept hearing wonderful things about it--here and elsewhere. I netflixed the first DVD of the first season. I forced myself to watch all 3 (maybe 4) episodes, returned the DVD and took it out of my list. What am I missing? I love Baltimore; I own "Homicide" and watch it every few years. I love cop stories; I love minority stories. Why does "The Wire" leave me cold?

PS After reading the next post: I love stories that deal with the public education system. I so want "The Wire" to grab me.

kap, thanks for the reminder; I keep hearing about this one and now I'm going to go order it. (Oh, available for instant watching - even better!)
j

I would venture to guess that the fact that the plot lines are subtle and meandering and the dialogue doesn’t have a lot of overly clever Hollywoodish dialogue, it might leave some, or many, out in the cold. I think many viewers are trained to expect snappy and overly clever dialogue from the police and criminals and black and white (no pun intended) good guys vs. bad guys. Also, in most cop dramas, don’t the cops or the DA’s always get their guys? All of this is blurred in The Wire, the bad guys are not always caught—or redeemed for that matter—and there is also the lack of fancy zooming in and out, herky jerky camera techniques and hookish music. (With the exception of the opening song IMO.)

There is also a huge cast to keep track of, and complicated meandering story lines, and possibly “too many blacks”. As I said, it is not for everyone and I would venture to guess more would find it not to be their cup of tea than would. That being said, I loved it but can understand how many would not.

Education doesn't enter the plot til 3 or 4 season.

Why you did not like it, hard to know. Did you turn on subtitles? I found it much easier to follow this way.

Also, as Ken sort of said, the general story line is how everything mostly always get's messed up. So don't look for a classic happy ending. It is sort of like a realistic movie about the invasion of Iraq might be... which is to say that mostly everyone who tries to accomplish anything gets screwed, success is fleeting and illusory, innocence is despoiled, good intentions are frustrated. So although I think it is pretty realistic, it is also pretty cynical.

Something I found particularly interesting were the intricate strategies that characters had to develop. The gangs developed amazing evolving strategies to overcome police enforcement tactics. And police who want to break the gangs are constantly fighting their superiors who are only driven by statistics... which they manipulate according to the political needs of the Mayor

This is another film that is almost heavy handed with a dedication to "reality." It is an excellent film, but as is the case with real reality, the pacing is slow... and don't expect a hollywood ending