THIS WEEK
VOICES
NEWS
ARTS
MUSIC
CLASSIFIEDS
HEARTLAND CAPSULE REVIEWS
FROM PAGE 18
The Network r Documentary by Eva Orner following the creation of Afghanistan’s first independent TV network, TOLO TV, founded in 2004 by four siblings of the Mohseni family (co-founder Saad Mohseni is described as “the Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan”). The self-congratulatory piece has numerous interviews, plus clips from a network soap opera, a dubbed Sesame Street and On the Road, the first Afghan travel show. Loved that part, especially the road trip to the USA, where two members of the cast and crew “escaped.” The documentary is best near the end, when it addresses some headier topics. Wish there had been more of that and less back-patting. Still, an interesting documentary well-worth a look. — ED JOHNSON-OTT
Barzan r Filmed in Iraq and Seattle, the documentary Barzan introduces Sam “Barzan” Malkandi and his wife and children. Sam and the Mrs. are Iraqi immigrants, the kids are American citizens. Life is good for the family until the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which threw the country into despair and paranoia. The newly-formed Homeland Security agency turns its eyes on Sam over a perceived link between him and a high-level AlQaeda operative. What follows is Kafka-esque, as the post-9/11 trauma births an aggressive bureaucracy where having olive skin draws suspicious government eyes prone to assuming the worst. The compelling feature includes beautiful sand animation sequences. — ED JOHNSON-OTT The Retrieval r Civil War era drama about capturing escaped slaves. Young Will (Ashton Sanders) and his uncle Marcus (Keston John) work for bounty hunter Burrell (Bill Oberst Jr,) retrieving runaway slaves. Their job is to use their skin color to get close to the escapees (who would expect black men to be hunting black slaves?) and then alert 20 FILM // 10.23.13 - 10.30.13 // 100% RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Go with Le Flo e Beatrice and Benedick, meet Jenny and Florian, your modern-day counterparts in a sweet romantic comedy. Set in Berlin, Go with Le Flo is slice-of-life peek into the lives of childhood friends whose relationship is love not mere friendship, a fact clear to everyone else but them. Between telling moments in Jenny’s mouthwatering bakery shop and Florian’s scent wafting French delicatessen, we their boss. Everything changes when they encounter free man/wanted murderer Nate (Tishaun Scott), who is being pursued by their boss. The bulk of the film is a cross country journey that is predictable, but well presented. The cast is good, with Scott’s Clint Eastwoodesque performance drawing the most attention. — ED JOHNSON-OTT
Dancing in Jaffa r Pierre Dulaine, who designed a highly successful dance program for New York City schools, returns to Jaffa, his birthplace, to encourage Palestinian-Arab and Israeli school children to respect themselves and each other even. It’s not easy. We hurt with him when children, parents, teachers resist. He perseveres: “When you put two human beings so close to each other, the good feelings come out. You can move with each other as one, there’s leading and following, but no one is the boss.” The doc
witness Florian’s ill-fated romantic alliance with the petulant Camille. The cast of many is amazing, coming primarily from the Berlin Ensemble Theatre Company. What started for writer Michael Glover in Los Angeles moved to Berlin following a friend’s suggestion. — RITA KOHN
provides context and empathy, making us angry that adults foster hatred as a way of life. — RITA KOHN Hava Nagila (The Movie) r It’s a lot of fun learning the story behind the title song — and why the melody with or without words is universally known and adopted, particularly by headliners including Harry Belafonte, Elvis, Bob Dylan, Glen Campbell, Connie Francis. It’s ‘borrowed’ by Hollywood, Bollywood, comedians, satirists, TV writers. Homer embraces it on The Simpsons, The Muppet Show gives it a whirl, even Ed Sullivan gives it attention. In this tracing of Hava Nagila’s roots from the Ukraine over a century ago to every continent and corner, we learn about ourselves, what seeps into our soul, and turns individuals into family and community. — RITA KOHN Life According to Sam r Sam doesn’t want you to feel sorry for him: Progeria (the very rare premature aging syndrome that inspired such tripe as Jack and Benjamin Button) is only one part of his life, and it’s only a protein deficiency. He’s a well-adjusted teenager, energetic, smart and wellspoken. And his parents are well poised to fight for
his life: Both are medical doctors, and Mom abandoned her residency to head up research on progeria. She performs a balancing act as she talks candidly about her life with Sam — and leads the first ever drug study for a progeria treatment. A well-made but not slick doc, produced by and now airing on HBO, that happened to leave this viewer continually verklempt because, well, it’s hard not to feel sorry for kids robbed of an “normal” childhood (Sam looks like he’s roughly 80, and his parents were told he’d live to 13). — SCOTT SHOGER Walking the Camino t Filmmaker Lydia B. Smith follows six travelers from all over the world as they set off (separately) on a nearly 500 mile pilgrimage across Spain to the Cathedral of