Popular Culture: Movies

Amazing True Story of Two Girls in Love
The title sums it up

American History X
Story of skinhead who begins to question his belief

And the Played On
Adapted from the book.  Details the AIDS epidemic and political refusal to deal with it.

Antonia's Line
Fun story about generations of women in the Netherlands

Before the Rain
Before the Rain is a love story told in three parts linked by characters and events that alternate between contemporary London and the mountains of Macedonia.

Bent
Two gay men's experience in a concentration camp during Nazi Germany

Blood Diamond
Wonderful movie about the diamond industry and the war, poverty and enslavement it creates so that the Western World can purchase the gem.

Bloody Sunday
Fictitious account of what happened on the "real"  bloody Sunday in Ireland, but told as if it were a documentary.

But I'm a Cheerleader
"Megan is an all-American girl. She's a cheerleader, she has a boyfriend, etc. But she doesn't like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she's pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. And she only has pictures of girls up in her locker. Her parents and friends conclude that she *must* be gay and send her off to "sexual redirection" school, full of admittedly homosexual misfits, where she can learn to how to be straight. Will Megan be turned around to successful heterosexuality, or will she succumb to her love for the beautiful Graham?"

Bowling for Columbine
Interesting documentary by Michael Moore about Columbine and guns in the U.S.

Boys Don't Cry
A story about sexual identity.  No happy ending.

Common Ground
Three short Plays depicting gay life in 50's, 70's and 90's.

Daughters of the Dust
Movie about a Gullah family (South Carolina)

Execution of Wanda Jean
Excellent documentary about the first African-American woman murdered by the state of Oklahoma

Go Fish
Contemporary coming of age film, exploring lesbian identity.

Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood's book on film

Hotel Rwanda
This film depicts the 1994 Tutsi massacre in as gentle way as possible so that viewers are not too overwhelmed with the atrocities.

If These Walls Could Talk (1 & 2)
Great movies, first movie is three different stories about abortion rights and the second movie is three different tales about lesbian politics

Kids
A disturbing look at youth culture today.

Laramie Project
This is the story of how Laramie, Wyoming reacted after the brutal murder of Mathhew Shepard

Longtime Companion
Story of a relationship in which one of the partner has AIDS

Malcolm X
Spike Lee movie about the assasinated leader

Maria Full of Grace
Story about a young girl who tries to escape the horrors of the flower industry in Columbia by smuggling drugs into the United States.

Mindwalk
Want to blow your mind?  Rent this movie.

My Life in Pink
French movie about how parents react to boy's coming out

The Nasty Girl
What one French woman uncovers about her hometown's participation with the Nazi's

Nine-to-Five
Three white, women change an exploitative working situation

Personal Velocity
Three different stories about the lives of three very different women.  Interesting, realistic -- both depressing and hopeful

Pieces of April
Lighthearted but Interesting.   Messed up family story that challenges some of our assumptions about gender and race

Once We Were Warriors
About Maori family in New Zealand trying to overcome domestic violence

Rabbit Proof Fence
True story of three mixed-race children from Australia who find their way home after being kidnapped by white, Australian officials

Roger and Me
Hilarious documentary by Michael Moore about Downsizing

Shirley Valentine
Fun story of white woman who throws off the shackles of her mundane life for adventure

Sicko
That rascal Michael Moore has done it again! He explores the U.S. failing health industry and demonstrates clearly how the losers are the U.S. public and how the winners are only the health insurance industry.

Stonewall
Depicts the life of several people before the Stonewall riot, the riot that led to the gay/lesbian rights movement.

Sum of Us
Australian movie about gay man and his father's meddling into his love life

The Tracy Thurman Story
Thurman's experience of domestic violence and her trials with the police.

Trust and the Unbelievable Truth
Two distinct Hal Hartley movies.  He's one of the few white, male directors who can portray (white) feminism positively and within an interesting story.