“Africa Onstage: Let us tell you a story…” at the Stanford Summer Theater (SST), in Stanford, CA, will offer a look at the cultural and political impact of the West on Africa through theater, storytelling, dance, and music. Included are 4 stage productions and a Monday night film series. (now thru 8/26/07)
Kate Winslet is an actor who delivers. I recently watched “Little Children” and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Ms. Winslet is very consistent, consistently excellent. The first movie I saw her in was Quills, (I am that odd person who has never seen Titanic)
Both of these Motion Pictures indirectly question our belief about who we think we are.
The usual suspects, not the film, but the movies you would expect, made the list of American Film Institute’s “100 films/100 years” – “All About Eve”, “Casablanca”, “Lawrence of Arabia” and the same #1 as 10 years ago when AFI published its 1st poll, Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane”.
(Don’t quite know how accurate this all is, since it is all opinion, but, it is fun.)
Chosen from ballots sent to 1,500 Hollywood filmmakers, actors, writers, critics, etc, a few of the films have moved around – up, down or a complete push out into the ether. And, there were additions: “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (#50), “Saving Private Ryan” (# 71), “Titanic” (#83) and “The Sixth Sense” (#89).
Those that dropped from the 1998 “100” were: “Doctor Zhivago” 1965, “Amadeus” 1984, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” 1977 , “Dances With Wolves” 1990 and “The Jazz Singer” 1927.
How many have you seen/ missed/ want to revisit? See the top 25 below:
1. “Citizen Kane,” 1941.
2. “The Godfather,” 1972.
3. “Casablanca,” 1942.
4. “Raging Bull,” 1980.
5. “Singin’ in the Rain,” 1952.
6. “Gone With the Wind,” 1939.
7. “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962.
8. “Schindler’s List,” 1993.
9. “Vertigo,” 1958.
10. “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939.
11. “City Lights,” 1931.
12. “The Searchers,” 1956.
13. “Star Wars,” 1977.
14. “Psycho,” 1960.
15. “2001: A Space Odyssey,” 1968.
16. “Sunset Blvd.”, 1950.
17. “The Graduate,” 1967.
18. “The General,” 1927.
19. “On the Waterfront,” 1954.
20. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 1946.
21. “Chinatown,” 1974.
22. “Some Like It Hot,” 1959.
23. “The Grapes of Wrath,” 1940.
24. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” 1982.
25. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” 1962.
Some of my favorites: “Westside Story”1959, (# 51) and “Goodfellas” 1990, (#92)
*The complete 100 can be found at the AFI link:
http://www.afi.com/
African film makers highlighted in the July’07 “Africa issue” of Vanity Fair Magazine, pg 184, can be said to be the sons and daughters of the “Father of African Cinema” Mr. Ousman Sembene. The 84 year old recently passed away in his native city, Dakar,
These artists – writers, directors, producers – from Ghana, Nigeria,
“Black Girl” (1965), Sembene’s first, is commonly referred to as the first African film. He wanted to tell stories from his African point of view , which was a controversial position at the time, however, his work was appreciated over the years and he won prizes at the Venice Film Festival in 1968 (for “Mandabi”) and 1988 (for “Camp de Thiaroye”), and at Cannes in 2004 (for “Moolaadé”).
He was a founder, in 1969, of FESPACO, the biennial festival of film and television held in Ouagadougou,
His vision continues.
Can some explain why we are bombarded with information that neither educates or propels our vision. We are served up the same old same oh stuff. We pay for things that are free and feel good about it. We love people who apologize, we adore them when they go to jail and we hate them when they get out. 
We feel we have made a contribution when a nobody (meaning nobody we know) wins A.I., cause we phoned in our vote (also not free).
Currently there are about 90 people running for President of the United States and all are asked beauty contest questions, and you can see their eyes search for the answer that Paris Hilton would give, cause that would certainly be the right answer.
If we need to be entertained, go to a play, see a good movie, go to a museum or a little league game but don’t watch the news, cause it’s not new or free.
You have these casual conversations about what movies you saw/missed; relaxed, casual chats – until one of you mentions “Children of Men”. Inevitably, everyone sits up straighter and says, in stereo – “That was a good movie!” Meaning, “It was a lot better than I thought it would be” (and I kept thinking about it way after it ended.)
Set 20 years into the future, women are no longer able to bring a fetus to full term. A 17 year old, the youngest person in the world, dies suddenly and there is universal mourning. Perhaps as a result of air and earth toxins new life stopped being created and supported by the universe. Based on results, mankind is on a slippery slope.
Enter the “miracle” – a sole pregnant woman is discovered in England and she must be saved if the human race is to go on.
A reluctant savior, Clive Owen, at his craggy faced/ 2 day stubble best, is enrolled by his ex-wife in taking the young woman to safety. Thru bullets, treachery and strange, fierce characters, he must get the mother-to-be to an outlawed group called the” Human Project”. They search for doctors that can keep her and the baby alive – and so the adventure begins.
The movie is both dark in atmosphere and premise, the film’s city scenes are mostly sepia and gray contrasting greatly with the few lighter, green country locations. The director, Alfonso Cuaron, wrote the screen play based upon a 1992 novel by P. D. James, famous for the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. Her vision of a barren future was translated by Cuaron into a cramped, desperate city filled with angry, lonely people.
While on the run, the fugitives do get a chance to experience the lush greenness of the countryside, but, the pastoral is slowly being encroached by the urban insanity. Huge betrayal and huge amounts of violence is encountered while trying to escape those who wish to use the baby for propaganda and gain. In the midst off all this dreck, there is a possibility of “future”.
The baby represents “hope” and many are enlisted to assist in preserving the miracle, keeping it alive and getting it to a haven, even at great risk to themselves.
A totally engrossing film. The actors are all terrific, regardless of the length of their scenes or dialogue. Owen is wonderful, and so is Michael Caine. (He makes an appearance as a kind eccentric.) The actress who plays the mom to be, Claire-Hope Ashitey, makes you believe that she would be a great mother – even though her character only remembers seeing children on television. The ending is both triumphant and tragic.
“Children of Men”- this is a good movie!
((Released in 2006, now on DVD).