Sara Lynch
February 7, 2004
Movie Reviews
The first video that we viewed was titled “Mein Kampf” which translates to “my
philosophy.” This is a movie about the
life of Adolph Hitler. He was born on
April 20, 1889. He wanted to be an
artist and go against his father’s wishes.
At 16 years old, he got tuberculosis and left school to become a part
time laborer. He paints his own post
cards. He starts anti-Semitist against
blond haired people. He wants to become
the master race. He believes that the
Jews are the devils and he uses the swastika as his symbol.
He decides to become a politician and writes and
autobiography titled Mien Kampf. His book is not read by a lot of people and
they seem to joke about it. Hitler and
his men become the strongest party in Berlin.
In 1932, he becomes a German citizen and soon becomes chancellor. Hitler was the head of the National Socialist
Party. He gains power and prohibits all
other parties. If people choose to stand
in his way they are outlawed.
The youth is educated in a daily Nazi routine. There are concentration camps for those who
do not go along with his wishes. Jews
must wear the Star of David on their arm.
There are certain cars that are only for Jews. There were 13 people to a room, which were no
better than prison cells. They get 200
calories a day, have to wear wet clothes and are treated like rats. They await death as a savior and the dead lie
in the street.
While watching this video, I was more educated than ever
about Hitler and his people. I knew of concentration camps and so forth but I
didn’t know the actual conditions that really took place. It must have been a terrible life to live
with no way to get out of it. I feel
truly sorry for anyone who had to go through that type of torture.
The second video was titled Ameena. This movie was in
1992 about a girl named Ameena Baker who was 13 years old. Where Ameena comes from the girls have a
reputation of being good looking. Then
some are sold off by their poor parents.
Ameena was placed on a plane wearing brides clothing and was going to be
married off to an old man for money. Her
parents told her that if she came back home they would kill her and then commit
suicide. The Arabs get 200 dollars to
marry a girl. They want a young, pretty
virgin. It takes only 4 hours to settle
agreement and marry that same night.
Amrita was a woman on the plane. She got passengers to sign a petition to stop
what was going on. When they arrived in
Delhi, the Saudi man in his 60’s was arrested for marrying a minor. We later found out that he already had 4
wives. Until Amrita attempted to do
something about the situation nothing had ever been done. Ameena’s parents were charged with selling
their daughter. The Arab man could marry
someone as young as 9, as long as she reached puberty.
Ameena was put behind bars with prostitutes and also
troubled children. The court wouldn’t
let Amrita who was Hindu adopt a Muslim child and they wouldn’t send her
home. She was sent to 3 years in a
juvenile home. A higher court overruled
it and let her go home which was a harsher sentence. She decided to go back with the Saudi man. In this case the victim became the criminal.
When I saw this video I was outraged. I couldn’t believe that it was that easy for
an old man to marry a child. I recommend
Amrita for stepping and trying to do something for that young girl to help
her. I also think that it is ridiculous
that just because Amrita was not the same religion as Ameena that she could not
adopt her. That should not happen.
The third video that I watched was called Spartacus.
This was point blank about the life of Spartacus. He finds out he is going to have a child and
he is overwhelmed with joy. Is goal is
to free the slaves in Italy. Spartacus
and his army must fight Rome itself instead of fleeing because they already
fought along the way by sea to their homes.
In the end there was a battle and Spartacus was victorious.
I was not very interested in this movie as I was for most
of the others. It could be because we
didn’t watch it from the very beginning so it was hard to follow along
with. I thought the battle scenes were
very realistic and I enjoyed them.
Video number four was titled Tobacco Slaves. This was a
video about things called Bidi’s that you smoke and they taste like candy. It is the fad for the children of 2000. It is made up of tobacco rolled in a leave. Young girls, even as young as 5 years old,
roll 500 per day. Some parents sell
their kids into slavery.
In 1976, India had a law that banned servitude but even
today it still occurs mainly with children.
Children can be purchased for as low as 25 dollars. Girls work 10 hours a day, 6 days a
week. When the United States comes to
India to bust them for the illegal act, it is law to tell them they are coming,
which gives them enough time to cover it up.
The National Justice Mission freed more than 200 children
in the past year. For some kids if you
are late on the job you get beat up. One
boy got burnt on his thigh with the knife that they use to cut the leaves. Recently the United States banned the sale of
Bidi’s.
This video was interesting because when I was a senior in
high school which was the year 2000 these Bidi’s were very popular among my peers. I think it is great that we have banned the
sale of these but that doesn’t mean that other countries have. This concludes that these children are still
put under these harsh conditions to produce.
Video number 5 was called The Bible and the Gun. This
was a short movie about Cecil Rhodes.
These people were chained together at the feet and hung at the nearest
tree. In 1902, at his death, his body
laid and was carried through the streets.
The coffin was carried during the night for burial. He was buried at “Rhodes View”. He lies in the heart of the country that he
conquered. He’s the empire builder and
millionaire.
I found it amazing how they carried
his body over night for the funeral that would take place the following
day. They named his burial place “Rhodes
View” after him. That is significant
because you see that a lot in our world today.
If someone important dies we may sometimes name something after them
like a park or a street.
The sixth video watched was titled The Magnificent African Cake. This
video took place on the west coast of Africa.
One magnificent case was the Gambia river, which the French were eager
to gain from Britain. The river was 300
miles long and 30 miles wide. In 1895,
the king made a strong plea for peace.
It wasn’t enough because they wanted land and privilege. In 1896, they surrendered and the Kings went
to exile.
In 1906, the British minister said, “ we can’t go on
killing these defenseless people”. His
name was Winston Churchill. In the
1920’s gold mining boomed. Twenty people
died each week for thirty years.
Discipline was brutal and health care was non-existent. After 1930, the labor system had you working
on plantations. This is called migrate
labor.
This was interesting to see how people were forced to do
hard labor in order to live. It is also
amazing to see how many people died each week trying to do harmless things such
as building a railroad. It makes you
think how hard they were actually working.
Video number 7 was called Apartheid. This means
apartness. It is a hateful symbol of
racial prejudice. The largest African
group is the Zulus and the majority live in the ghettos. Apartheid was used to find you own
identity. Africans were competing with
the white man in commercial agriculture.
Africans were restricted to 7% of the land when they were 70% of the
people. They had to work on the farms
but they weren’t paid anything.
While watching this movie you realize that many Africans
had no rights at all. I personally
cannot imagine working the harsh and long hours that these poor people did and
then not get anything out of it. They
must have been so depressed because you have to think in your head that you are
getting nowhere.
Video number 8 was called Maids and Madams. This was a
domestic service where black women were maids to white families. Many domestic servants were forced to neglect
their own family while watching others.
This was the largest source of employment for African women after
agriculture. They would work 7 days a
week for 10 ½ hours a day. This occurred
at the end of Apartheid in the late 1980’s.
I found it terrible that these women had to take care of
all the families and could not have any visitors, not even her own
children. It must have been extremely hard
for these women seeing as they were raising other people’s children before
getting to spend time with their own children and raise them.
Video number 9 was titled Beneath the Veil. This was
life under the Taliban rule (Islamic Militia).
A football field is turned into an execution ground. 7 out of 10 children’s parents were killed by
Taliban. Women beg on the street because
they are forbidden to work and their kids go hungry. The women executed are not allowed to take
off veils. They kneel down and are
shot. Taliban leadership is proud of
what they do on the field. They thing of
it as a place of joy. Women are deprived
of medical care and many die during childbirth.
The Taliban won’t educate girls over the age of 12. They will also be imprisoned if they are
caught wearing makeup.
I found this video to be the most
interesting. It is crazy to think that
you see all of this on the news but yet you never really know what is going on
in other countries. I can honestly say
that before seeing this movie I never once thought of what my life as a female
would be like if I was under Taliban rule.
Video number 10 is called Gandhi. This movie takes
place in South Africa in 1893. Gandhi
wants justice for his people and he is beaten by the police. He doesn’t let being tormented bother
him. He says to love thy neighbor as
yourself. All people of India must be
fingerprinted like criminals. Gandhi
states that they may try to kill him.
They will have his dead body but not his obedience. In 1915 he arrives back in India. While the Muslims gather the army fires guns
on the people of India. 1, 650 bullets
were fired killing many people and causing terror. Gandhi was killed but was remembered by all
of his people.
I feel that Gandhi led his country to freedom and he became
the spokesman for all mankind. You
realize what a great man he was and the impact he had on his people by the
number of people who came to mourn his death.
I think Gandhi had a lot of heart to continue fighting for what he
believed in.
The final video number 11 was titled Eleanor Roosevelt. This was
about the life of Eleanor Roosevelt from birth through her later life. She was a teacher, mother and a kind and
loving women. She was one of the best
politicians of the 20th century.
She was born on October 11, 1884.
She was very close with her father but he always let her down because he
was an alcoholic. When he died she
didn’t know what to do.
On March 17, 1905 she married Franklin
Roosevelt. They had a few children. She found out he had an affair on her but she
decided to stay with him. There marriage
was shaky for many years. At times they
did not live together. Franklin won the
presidential campaign but Eleanor did not like being in the spotlight. After the Great Depression Eleanor gave
lectures and visited schools and factories.
She wrote a news column titled “My Day”.
I thought this movie did an excellent
job portraying the life of Eleanor Roosevelt.
I found it interesting that at one point in time her and Franklin lived
in Albany. I never knew until seeing the
video the hard and at some times depressing life that Eleanor Roosevelt once
lived.
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