Saturday, February 23, 2013

Oscar Party: Best Documentaries (video)

Amber Dorrian, Bela, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Oscar.go.com/nominees

Real soldiers may cry (about being betrayed)
"The Invisible War" - Oscar and Emmy nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have co-created a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America's most shocking and best kept secrets: the epidemic of gay and straight rape in the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem: A soldier in a combat zone is far more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of [War] estimates that there were a staggering 19,000 violent sex crimes in the military in 2010. Judging just by those who report it, 20% of all active-duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted. The epidemic is now exposed, breaking open one of the least reported stories of our generation.


Rodriguez Sixto Sugar Man, rock icon
"Searching for Sugar Man" - In the 1970s, folk singer Rodriguez didn't make too many waves in his native USA. But without knowing it, he was the "voice for a generation" in Apartheid-era South Africa. Then, one day, he just disappeared. Reports at the time claimed he had committed the most spectacular suicide in rock 'n roll history -- offing himself onstage like a bat in Ozzy's maw. However, two South Africans fans never gave up hope, and they eventually uncovered the truth. They found the singer alive and well in blue collar obscurity, never having known he was famous. They determined to resurrect his voice for an eager audience in this inspirational documentary! Rodriguez returns as the Latin Bob Dylan.


 
"The Gatekeepers" - Shin Bet is a secret military force/intelligence agency charged with attacking all threats to the state of Israel, particularly if they are Palestinian in origin. This film is amazing in that it is a compilation of Israeli war criminals confessing to their crimes against humanity in the service of Netanyahu and other Israeli prime ministers. For the last 30 years, Shin Bet has been led by only six men. They have never been interviewed -- until now. They felt it was right and their duty to extra-judicially kill anyone they labelled a "terrorist." Why give human rights to those dehumanized with a label?


  
"Five Broken Cameras" - This film documents Israeli oppression of the indigenous Palestinian people who were displaced when British and Zionists decided to create a "homeland" in Arab Palestine (killing and displacing the millions who lived there using biblical claims as the equivalent of land ownership deeds). Inspiring and amazing, this entry has almost no chance of winning because it is a sympathetic chronicle of a Palestinian farmer's nonviolent resistance to the actions of the overwhelming force that is the nuclear equipped Israeli Army backed by an endless supply of US and British funding. Israeli crimes are exposed such as creating the world's largest outdoor prison surrounded by a militarized border wall and a maniacal asymmetrical force of undercover agents, conscripts, PR firms, Jewish occupiers in illegal settlements, and dual citizens from all over the world.
 

"How to Survive a Plague" - The story of the brave young men and women who successfully reversed the tide of an epidemic, demanded the attention of a fearful nation, and stopped AIDS from becoming a death sentence. This improbable group of activists bucked oppression and, with no scientific training, infiltrated government agencies and the massive pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma), helping to identify promising new treatments and move them through trials and into the hands of the needy in record time. 

In the process, they saved their own lives and ended the darkest days of a veritable [government] plague, while virtually emptying AIDS wards in American hospitals in the process. The powerful story of their fight is a classic tale of empowerment and activism that has since inspired movements for change in everything from breast cancer research to Occupy Wall Street. Their story is inspiration to future generations, a road map, and a call to arms. This is how we change the world.
Non-fiction: We are preparing for massive civil war

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