Topic: Movie Preview

Life as a gay pioneer is no “Milk” run

By David W. Shelton | October 26, 2008 |

Let’s face it. A name like Harvey Milk practically begs for a pun in the title in any article written about the martyred Board of Supervisor from San Francisco. Like any person in American history, there’s a great deal more to this man than his vitamin-D name. His story will be told to audiences everywhere beginning this week when Milk, a new film from Focus Pictures, will be premiered in San Francisco.

I remember the first time I heard about Milk; it was during a meeting of the gay-straight alliance at Austin Peay State University. The advisor was long-time gay activist and art professor, Dr. Bruce Childs (who’s now enjoying a very well-deserved retirement). Childs mentioned Harvey Milk in passing during a conversation, which inspired me to learn more about this keystone piece of American gay history.

Back in 1977, when Milk first came to light in San Francisco politics, the country’s gay community was beginning to enjoy some much-needed exposure and was well on its way to achieving a few minor protections and gay-rights laws. (Some, like the anti-discrimination law passed in Dade County, Florida, were later repealed through the work of “religious right” leaders). Bryant later received her thanks: a pie in the face. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Opinion | 1 Comment »

‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ details U.S. torture

By Bill Larson | December 19, 2007 |

From the director of “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” Alex Gibney’s Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush Administration.

By probing the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration’s willingness, in its prosecution of the “war on terror,” to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: what happens when a few men expand the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded.

Incorporating rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, and interviews with former government officials such as John Yoo, Alberto Mora and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, interrogators, prison guards, New York Times reporters Tim Golden and Carlotta Gall (who wrote the first stories about the homicides in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan) and the families of tortured prisoners, the film dissects the progression of the Administration’s policy on torture from the secret role of key administration figures, such as Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | 1 Comment »

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