In the documentary “Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul,” filmmaker Hu Jie investigates the life and execution of a young woman who struggled for human rights in China.
The struggle for human rights has been an ongoing battle throughout history. Many heroes, like Martin Luther King Jr., are justly lauded for their work. But for each person we celebrate, there are thousands of forgotten heroes who also stood up to oppression and gave their lives to make the world a better place.
Lin Zhao, who was born January 23, 1932, was a student at Peking University in China when she was imprisoned for speaking out on behalf of students who were being persecuted during Chairman Mao Zedong’s Anti-Rightist Movement in the late 1950s. Lin was a writer who wrote articles and poems. And when her captors forbade her to use pens, she used a hairpin dipped in her own blood to write on the walls of her cell.
On April 29, 1968 the People’s Republic of China executed Lin Zhao by gunshot.
With memory of her seemingly lost to history, filmmaker and independent historian Hu Jie encountered her story. And he quit his job so he could investigate Lin’s struggle for civil rights and bring her story alive in the documentary, “Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul” (Sometimes translated as “In Search of Lin Zhao’s Soul.”
The movie, released in 2012, won Best Film at the Sunshine Chinese Documentary Film Festival. If you can track it down, there is a version of the moving documentary about Lin Zhao with English subtitles that periodically appears on YouTube.
Nicolas Cages gives one of his best subdued acting performances in the drama “Pig” from writer/director Michael Sarnoski.
If you are looking for an entertaining and thoughtful drama as a break from explosive super hero films, look no further than Pig (2021), starring a scraggly Nicolas Cage. While the premise and the star may make one expect a certain genre, the film may surprise you.
In Pig, we meet Robin (Cage), living in the woods of Oregon with his only companion, a pig who helps him hung for truffles. The film never fully explains how Robin ended up in these living conditions, but we piece together much of the story, recognizing early on that Robin is grieving a loss.
Before we get to know more about the pig, though, thieves show up and make off with the pig. Thus begins Robin’s trip back to his former environment in the city to try to get his pig back. For much of this journey, Robin is joined by the man who purchases his truffles, Amir (Alex Wolff).
From there, one might expect Cage to go into full action mode to track down the pig-nappers. But the film goes in another, more serious direction as Robin leads Amir on an adventure that is as much about living and grieving as anything else.
The film, which also features Adam Arkin, is an impressive debut from writer/director Michael Sarnoski. I sought out the film after seeing several people on the Internet use superlatives about the film that I will not repeat here. I was perhaps a little disappointed as those comments made me think the film would be life changing. While it did not change my life, it is still a very good film and you should seek it out without me building your expectations too high. Take it for what it is, an excellent story with one of Nicolas Cage’s finest subdued acting performances. If then you find even more from the tale, then that is all good too.
Pig is currently streaming on Hulu and available for purchase or rental through the usual services.
What did you think of Pig? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In some quarters, most people who know about Bryan Stevenson and his work see him as a hero. But many do not know about the wonderful work he has been doing for decades. The new HBO documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality hopefully will reach a wider audience about the work done by Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which Stevenson started in 1989.
Stevenson and his colleagues at EJI in Montgomery, Alabama have worked to help wrongly convicted and unfairly sentenced defendants. They have won reversals for more than one-hundred people on death row. And Stevenson has personally argued before the U.S. Supreme Court several times.
Stevenson and EJI also work to educate the country about the history of racial injustice. They created the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, working to educate people about 4,400 victims of lynching.
Great Work and a Fascinating Man
The accomplishments are amazing, and the documentary provides insight into the racial discrimination present in our criminal justice system. Just hearing Stevenson’s clients discuss their cases and see reactions to the lynching memorial make watching True Justice worthwhile. But Stevenson, who has long shied away from participating in a documentary despite his many awards and public appearances, makes this film essential viewing for all Americans.
Stevenson is an amazing person, perhaps one of the closest things we have to a saint walking among us. His work is humble and selfless, as the documentary lightly touches on the sacrifices Stevenson has made to do to work he has done. But Stevenson does not see himself that way, as the glimpses we get of his personal life show someone who is happy in the choices he has made.
Stevenson is a great speaker whether talking intimately to the camera or appealing to a large crowd. Maybe the nearest we get to understanding what drives him is his stories about his family and grandmother. For example, he recounts a story when as a child he had laughed at another kid who stuttered. He tells how his family corrected him, not with punishment, but by telling him to apologize to the other little boy and to hug him and tell him he loved him. The response the young Stevenson receives surprises him, but one can see the foundations of his life reflected in that moment.
Movie viewers will soon learn more about Stevenson because his memoirs, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, is being made into a film starring Michael B. Jordan. The film is set to be released in January 2020, but you should take the opportunity to catch the real thing now. HBO currently is allowing everyone to watch True Justice on its website for free.
I became intrigued when I saw First Reformed (2018), starring Ethan Hawke, appearing on many lists of the best movies of the year. The movie rightfully belongs on such lists. Fifty years from now when someone wonders what it was like to live during our current decade, one would do well to advise them to watch First Reformed.
The movie says nothing about our current president. But it says a lot about the angst of our modern age. During a time when our historic foundations have been shattered, for good or for ill, we face a world with new anxieties, uncertain about our future, overwhelmed to inaction.
First Reformed tells the story of a priest played by Ethan Hawke in one of his best performances. The priest serves at a small historic church in upstate New York that is attended by few people. The small church, though, is connected to a more popular mega-church. The priest considers what humans are doing to the environment, even as his own body is failing. He contemplates the meaning of faith and the responsibilities of good people in a world coming apart.
Part of the crisis of faith arises when a parishioner played by Amanda Seyfried approaches the priest and asks him to counsel her husband. Her husband is involved with environmental activists. Her husband faces an existential crisis, wondering how he and his pregnant wife can bring a child into such a horrible world.
The exchange between the husband and the priest is one of the best philosophical discussions on screen in awhile. And the scene sets up many of the questions the priest struggles with throughout the film.
The acting is powerful. In addition to Hawke’s wonderful performance, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric the Entertainer (Cedric Kyles), among others, do a great job in supporting roles. Kyles brings nuance to a character in charge of the mega-church. Such a character might otherwise have been a caricature. And Seyfried provides a strong grounded balance to the men coming unhinged in the face of existential dread.
I will not give away more about the plot. But I will warn viewers that the movie does contain two surreal scenes that may have you scratching your head. This film is directed and written by Paul Schrader, who also wrote such films as Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980). So he knows how to push his viewers to confront bleak and uncomfortable issues in a beautiful way. The movie is challenging, which may account for the high critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (93%) and mediocre audience score (69%).
And, while the ending may puzzle you for awhile, some contemplation may make you appreciate the whole film even more. It did for me.
First Reformed is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
What did you think of First Reformed? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The film Captain Fantastic (2016) is much better than one might expect. Although a short description of the film sounds like a family television series, the movie rises above expectations so that the sum of its parts make it one of the more enjoyable movies of the summer.
Captain Fantastic, written and directed by Matt Ross, stars Viggo Mortensen as Ben, an idealistic father trying to raise his six children away from society in the wilds of Washington state. As the movie opens, we learn that Ben’s wife is away being treated in a hospital.
Ben is serious about the education of his children, teaching them such activities as defending themselves with knives and rock climbing. But he equally teaches them about politics, philosophy, and literature. For example, the anti-capitalist family celebrates Noam Chomsky‘s birthday instead of Christmas.
As the movie progresses, word about Ben’s wife leads him and the children to go on the road. Some of the more humorous moments involve the family clashing with modern society. Ben also clashes with family members, in particular with his father-in-law Jack, played by Frank Langella.
From a description, so much of the movie seems predictable. But the movie works for several reasons. First, the actors are outstanding. Mortensen, of course, dominates the film. But the actors playing the children do an excellent job of giving personality to the roles. Actors Samantha Isler and George MacKay, for example, show that they have promising careers ahead of them.
Another reason the movie works is that the characters are three-dimensional. Producers of movies like this one are often tempted to make the father character perfect, but Ben is far from perfect, just as Langella’s character is not all bad.
Captain Fantastic does not give a one-sided perspective. Variety even argues that the film is both left-wing and right-wing.
I will not say more about the movie because it is better enjoyed without knowing too much about it. It is not a big-budget summer blockbuster, but it is an enjoyable movie that may be under the radar. Is Captain Fantastic fantastic? I will have to think more about the question, but the movie certainly does restore your faith in small summer movies.
Rotten Tomatoes gives Captain Fantastic a 78% critics score and an 85% audience score.
What did you think of Captain Fantastic? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I became intrigued when I saw First Reformed (2018), starring Ethan Hawke, appearing on many lists of the 
