somersaultpress Reviews

The Sopranos (1999–2007)

the best of HBO

[10/10 · 22 August 2017]

Best series ever: The Sopranos (watched it 3 times and looking forward to the next time). The Wire (only in 2nd place because Sopranos had Carlos Castaneda references) Just saw it for the 2nd time. Most truthful show about what America is really about. Breaking Bad (have seen it twice, first time after moving to New Mexico -- what an introduction!) These three shows have completely turned me off Hollywood films. I want high art -- not crap about robots or zombies or superheroes.

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)

the truth behind male violence to women

[7 April 2017]

I'll never forget this movie. It demonstrates so clearly how a society can justify by custom and social pressure so much injustice. Briefly, a shoddy man in some backwater wants to marry a rich teenager. The wife protests as she has his children to raise and no way to make a living. Women are not just discouraged but prevented from being independent. She works to support herself after he leaves by doing housework. The husband maliciously accuses her of having an affair with her employer. He takes his sons away from her and then gets the village to stone her for infidelity. She is buried to her waist in a pit. The entire village is obliged to attend the stoning (thus everyone whether willing or not is made culpable). Her own sons are there. Then everyone present is obliged to stone her until she dies.

The Measure of a Man (2015)

Modern Life

[9/10 · 21 February 2017]

A very fine movie about life in the modern global economy. First the hero is cheated by a so-called training business center when he finds out there's no chance of his being hired for what he was trained in and the business knew it (see Trump and his so-called university -- but what do we expect from an illiterate egomaniac?). The hero who is barely hanging on to middle class life by his fingernails is constantly humiliated or badgered by experts who are "trying" to help. He winds up with a job at a box store in security where he sees people/customers humiliated, long term clerks fired for minor infractions caught on CCTV (that's the object, the co. -- a Walmart copycat -- is trying to trim down the staff and goes after long-term employees, one of whom commits suicide on the store premises). The hero also has a son with multiple sclerosis who has to pass inspection in order to qualify for college. This is what the social/economic net boils down to. The director is telling the truth ...