Directed by Leo Hurwitz • 1948 • United States
Starring Alfred Drake, Muriel Smith, Gary Merrill
In 1945, the free world rejoiced over the defeat of fascism. But the sense of peace was short-lived, and as the Cold War began, the United States entered a period of national paranoia and political repression. In response, boundary-pushing publisher and producer Barney Rosset and director Leo Hurwitz joined forces to create STRANGE VICTORY. This rarely seen, stylistically bold documentary equals the visual brilliance of landmark works like BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN and I AM CUBA while delivering an extraordinary cry for equality and justice. Skillfully combining real-life footage of World War II combat, postwar refugees, and the Nuremberg trials with powerful dramatic reenactments, Hurwitz weaves an extraordinary cinematic portrait of postwar American fascism. How could it be, the film asks, that servicemen returning home from defeating a racist and genocidal enemy found a United States plagued by prejudice, Jim Crow, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, and xenophobia?
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The Exiles
Directed by Kent MacKenzie • 1961 • United States
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Porto of My Childhood
Directed by Manoel de Oliveira • 2001 • France, Portugal
Starring Jorge Trêpa, Ricardo Trêpa, Maria de MedeirosWith the freedom and rigor that were his trademarks, Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira returned to Porto, the city where he had been born ninety-three years before, for this sublime...
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Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Directed by RaMell Ross • 2018 • United States
Starring Quincy Bryant, Daniel CollinsAn inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people, RaMell Ross’s HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING looks at the lives of Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, two young African American men from rura...
