Cautionary tales often have some of the most significant impact when brought to life on the big screen. These pictures generally deliver powerful, troubling, concern-filled messages with a sense of graphic, in-your-face urgency, all aimed at warning us of catastrophes potentially waiting to happen. And, when they reveal the nature of those calamities, they shock us into submission in the hope that we take steps to avoid them before they materialize.
No one likes to go through life without access to one’s personal power. Doing so leaves us vulnerable to being taken for granted and under the thumb of others who care only about themselves and have no regard for us. So how do we extricate ourselves from such situations?
“A Private War” (2018). Cast: Rosamind Pike, Jamie Dornan, Stanley Tucci, Tom Hollander, Faye Marsay, Greg Wise, Corey Johnson, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Alexandra Moen, Fady Elsayed, Raad Rawi, Amanda Drew, Jérémie Lahuerte. Director: Matthew Heineman. Screenplay: Arash Amel. Story Source: Marie Brenner, “Marie Colvin’s Private War,” Vanity Fair magazine. Web site. Trailer. Getting at the truth under trying circumstances can be challenging, to say the least. But imagine what that undertaking might be like with the added dangers of bullets whizzing overhead and unseen land mines potentially lurking in the path of our every step. Such a pursuit takes someone genuinely committed and eminently earnest about arduous tasks like these, the kind of individual profiled in the gripping new biopic, “A [...]
“The Insult” (“L’insulte”) (2017). Cast: Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamond Bou Abboud, Rita Hayek, Talal Jurdi, Christine Choueiri, Julia Kassar, Carlos Chahine, Georges Daoud, Elie Njeim, Rifaat Torbey. Director: Ziad Doueiri. Screenplay: Ziad Doueiri and Joëlle Touma. Web site. Trailer. Oftentimes, when people quarrel, they’re not really debating about what they claim they’re arguing about. In many instances, there are issues beneath the surface that are the actual source of the conflict, most of which are far removed from the problem at hand. These proxy disputes provide a buffer against the real issue coming out, either because we don’t recognize the true root of the disagreement or because we’re not ready to deal with it. However, if [...]
