This is a tough review to write. I didn't like the movie, but because I thought the heart of the story was important, I really wanted to. I think this would have made a good live action short, instead of 90 minutes. The Milk of Sorrow is a Peruvian film that centers on a young woman whose birth was the result of her mother being raped by paramilitary soldiers. There is a folk belief that trauma experienced by women who were raped can be passed on through the breast milk. After Faustina's mother dies, she needs to make her way in the world, but she is severely handicapped by the trauma. Faustina moves from her rural home to Lima to be a maid at for a rich lady. Honestly, I'm not really sure of too much else. The reason I wanted to like the movie is because invading, conquering or fighting forces have used rape as a means to humiliate, demean and suppress their enemies, and it's a difficult, but important topic; it gives women a voice and some way to fight back and reclaim what has been stolen from them. But, I didn't really like it, and perhaps that was due to me not totally understanding all of the nuances of the film or Peruvian culture. I felt very badly for Faustina, and the actress portraying her had a very tough role, but...something just didn't work for me. If you're interested, I would encourage you to make up our own mind. The Secret in Their Eyes won the Oscar that year, and I did really like that movie, it kept me on the edge of my seat.
1/16/17 Malcolm X, 1992, National Film Registry
Denzel Washington plays Malcolm X in this biographic film directed by Spike Lee. The movie takes us from Malcolm's childhood, through is troubled adulthood that saw him spend time in prison and discover Islam through his assassination in 1965. Spike Lee packs a lot of information and history into three plus hours, but unlike some long movies, I didn't really notice the length of the film. Malcolm X was a contemporary of Martin Luther King, Jr., and for most of their time in the Civil Rights Movement, they were not on the same side, and the movie only tangentially refers to their contemporaneous paths. Malcolm was a smart kid, but like so many black children, there were very few outlets for that intelligence; he was also raised by a father who was outspoken about black rights at the time, and was brutally murdered by white men. Malcolm turned his brains into running numbers with a local gangster in New York. He also gets involved with a white woman, Sophia, not exactly the safest relationship in the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s. Eventually, he and Sophia team up with Malcolm's buddy, Shorty (Spike Lee) to commit burglaries; this is what gets him sent to prison. Before prison, Malcolm is not a very nice person, especially towards women. Sophia and a young black woman, Laura, are used and then tossed aside, or treated very badly by him. In prison, Malcolm meets Baines, a practicing Muslim, who tells Malcolm he will help him get through prison life and improve his mental, emotional and spiritual being. Malcolm is a wise guy, but eventually starts studying and converts to Islam. After leaving prison, Malcolm meets the prophet Elijah Muhammad and begins speaking and proselytizing around the streets of New York City. Eventually he meets his future wife, Betty (Angela Bassett), who isn't cowed or intimidated by him. He makes his pilgrimage to Mecca where he meets Muslims of all colors, including white, which causes him to re-think the anti-white rhetoric he has believed for many years. Malcolm, intentionally or unintentionally, builds his own following and group of supporters, which creates rifts between him and those close to Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm learns about some of Elijah Muhammad's extramarital relationships with young women in the Nation of Islam, and becomes disillusioned. His disillusionment leads to him breaking away from the Nation of Islam and threats against him and his family. This is the third or fourth time I have watched Malcolm X and every time, I pick up something new, or put Malcolm's life in context of the turmoil of the 1960s, and understand his role in the Civil Rights movement. I think Lee did a wonderful job of telling Malcolm's story, using music, great actors in large and small roles (Washington was nominated for Best Actor, and I think Bassett should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress - she was a powerful, but quiet force). The costumes were fabulous, especially the zoot suits that Shorty and Malcolm wore early in the movie. If you haven't seen this before, I would suggest you watch; it may give perspective to some of the events of the past few years.
1/22/17 Hidden Figures, nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, 2017
I love movies that make me laugh, cry, cheer, get pissed off. Boy, Hidden Figures does all of that and more. Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start, really. Hidden Figures is about the women known as 'computers' who did the computations, calculations and derivations in the nascent space program. There were black and white women who worked as 'computers', but this movie focuses on the black women, specifically three of them, who were working in the 1960s (the same time that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were leading the Civil Rights Movement) in Virginia. The three women, Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) who is a genius in geometry and other mathematical things (although, honestly, to me, all of those women were geniuses); Mary Jackson, an aspiring engineer (Janelle Monae who is sassy and not afraid to speak up and challenge the system); and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer in an Oscar nominated performance), who essentially supervises the black women without the actual title or pay, she becomes a leading expert in Fortran and the supervisor. Kevin Costner is the gruff, but somewhat open-minded Director of the Space Task Group, Al Harrison; Kirsten Dunst is the supervisor of the women computers, and butts heads with Dorothy. I really want you to see this movie, so I'm not going to tell you too much more, except it's an incredible story. I don't think it sugarcoats the racism that these women experienced; it's nothing that hits you over the head, but I think if you are the slightest bit enlightened or just human, you feel sick at the separate rest rooms, separate sections in the library, and the other injustices. I did; I was embarrassed, even more so because there are people who would rather ignore what happened. But, even as I was angry, I still laughed; laughed at Mary who speaks her mind, and drives like a bat out of hell as the women get a police escort to Langley; laughed as the women quietly got the better of their male counterparts, and the men knew they were beat. I cheered as Katherine finally explains why it takes her forty minutes to use the bathroom; seriously, I was pumping my fists, hoping the audience would burst into cheers; cheered as Dorothy figured out the new IBM computer, when the actual computer programmers couldn't even plug it in correctly. Jim Parsons is allowed to be other than the lovable, but quirky Sheldon Cooper as he plays Paul Stafford, head engineer of the STG, and he has serious issues working with Katherine, and is threatened by the fact that she has to double-check his work. Theodore Melfi directed, and he directed St. Vincent starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy, which incorporated humorous and serious material very adeptly, and he brings out some very good performances from the cast. I would watch this movie again. Support your local STEM programs!
